Over the next decade, toll processing firms will be aiding in one of the greatest energy transitions since the Industrial Revolution, as the vast majority of drivers will be getting rid of their existing petrol or diesel cars in favour of one powered by an electric battery.

With reports that battery electric vehicles (BEVs) had a surge of sales in May 2024, as well as developments in both battery technology, and the manufacturing of efficient vehicles, there are some potential budding signs of a transition not only away from fossil fuel cars but even away from hybrid power plants.

This reflects a spectacular rise for the electric car from a niche practically nonexistent entity throughout most of the 20th century, when, at one point at least, the United Kingdom had more battery-powered electric vehicles on the road than every other country on Earth combined.

This was a major and substantial claim, particularly given that Britain’s population at the time was just 1.57 per cent of the global population, but due to a very strange set of circumstances is quite possibly true, and is due to a type of vehicle that does not exist in the same numbers anymore.

 

The Cleanest Milk Float In The West

The remarkable statistic was published in a press release by the UK Electric Vehicle Association, and although contemporary reports in trade publications at the time suggested that the UKEVA was less than forthcoming with its research into other countries,  it was very clear as to where the UK’s electric vehicles came from.

A familiar sight and exceptionally quiet sound in the early morning was the milk float, a last-mile battery-electric delivery van designed specifically to enable milkmen to replace their horse-drawn milk carts.

Replacing them with petrol cars was not really an option; early petrol engines were very loud, which would be even more likely to wake people up during the morning round than the clomp of horseshoes. 

As well as this, they were hard to start and having to use a starting handle every 50 metres or so risked the arms of every milk deliverer in the land.

There were electric vehicles as early as 1839, and the type of light electric short-range delivery vehicle was very popular in the United States before the rise of the Ford Model T.

However, after the Second World War, milk floats became hugely popular right at the point when electric vehicles had finally stopped being able to catch up to their petrol-powered counterparts.

They typically had a top speed of ten miles per hour and a relatively limited range due to their reliance on now-antiquated lead-acid battery technology, but whilst these would be weaknesses in any other field, they were a massive advantage for milk delivery.

After all, milk rounds in vans that were typically not refrigerated had to be short by definition, and the slow speed meant that they would provide a smoother ride, even allowing a driver to hop out of the float whilst it glides gently to a halt to speed up deliveries.

The floats also tended to be light, and in the wake of post-war shortages of materials tended to use lightweight materials such as fibreglass and light metal alloys.

The year 1967 was arguably the peak of production, as the next year would see several parts of the Associated Electric Vehicle Manufacturers business group would be merged into what would become British Leyland.

As well as this, the consolidation of the self-service shopping sector in the UK led to the establishment of four big supermarket brands.

The Big Four of Sainsbury’s Morrisons, Asda and Tesco would be able to undercut local dairies and milkmen on price, leading to a gradual decline of milk floats as a consequence of this.

The milk float lasted for a long time into this new reality, however, with some manufacturers still producing significant numbers of vehicles for a smaller but devoted number of delivery drivers and the customers for whom they’d formed a bond and known for years if not decades.

In a perfect example of what is old is new again, milk floats have seen something of a revival, at least in concept if not in practice.

Whilst many heritage floats are still kept around and there are some milk delivery services still around at a local level to take care of people willing to pay a little extra for local delivery, the idea of short-range, lightweight electric delivery trucks has become hugely popular in the world of online delivery.

Even though they are unlikely to ever reach the same sheer dominance seen in the 1960s, milk floats with more modern batteries still live on.