Page 15 - Beep Beep November 21

ABC Science /
By technology reporter
James Purtill
Posted Mon 18 Oct 2021 at 4:00am
These Queensland conversations featured along with others – including Tim Harrison’s again – in a recent ABC Science News.
Long and interesting article... link below. Editor
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-10-18/ converting-classic-cars-to-electric-vehicles/100533104
Bring back the ‘Milk Float’
Originally horse drawn, ‘floats’ were invented in the 1880s to deliver milk but by the 1940s they were widely seen across the UK and Europe powered by electric motors and gliding noiselessly around the streets at the crack of dawn on their door-to-door milk deliveries.
Over the years their cargo expanded to include bread and often potatoes or similar
necessities.
Then supermarkets took over the dairy sales and doorstep deliveries faded away.
This simple and environmentally friendly small ‘truck’ has very many advantages for local delivery companies and a very few UK dairies are still using them whilst others are re- discovering the benefits.
Interestingly, we find ‘home deliveries’ making a come-back with the recent Covid restrictions on our shopping habits... even the supermarkets now delivering to our doorsteps.
Maybe this is the opportunity for an enterprising Aussie company to float the idea of launching similar vehicles here – on the surface, it would seem that there would be a buoyant market for quiet, pollution free vehicles to cruise our streets.
Myra Doyle
Strictly speaking they were electric delivery vehicles...
and history does not explain why they were called ‘floats’!
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