Car Features
The Duke’s Electric Bedford
Prince Philip was no stranger to controversy, but he was also something of a pioneer in the alternative-energy field. For some months in 1982 his preferred mode of transport around London was in a prototype battery-electric Bedford CF ‘people mover’ van.
With encouragement from the UK Government, Bedford had been experimenting with battery-electric CF vans since 1975, aimed at short-haul, pick-up-and-delivery markets, including Post Office work. The development partners with GM UK were Lucas and the Chloride Group, which was then chaired by the soon-to-be-infamous Sir Michael Edwardes.
The Bedford CF van was converted to run on lead-acid drive batteries that were housed in a compartment below the floor. Traction came from an electric motor and step-down reduction gearbox mounted to the back of the CF’s standard differential housing. Interestingly, the first design had a front-mounted electric motor, but that had only limited production.
The rear-drive CF’s electrical control system was housed under the bonnet and a small diesel heater provided cabin heating. The drivetrain system incorporated driver-controlled, powerful regenerative braking that input some charge to the battery bank. However, it could be turned off when the van was unladen and driving in wet conditions, because it was discovered that the rear wheels could lock up unexpectedly!
As proof of concept, the Bedford experiment was a success, The five Royal Mail CF prototypes were used progressively over distances that began at 14.5km per day in the West Central area of London to 48km per day in Sheffield, on predominantly hilly ground.
Around 100 battery-electric CF vans were built and most went to the Post Office.
OK, so how did the Prickly Prince become involved?
Prince Philip and the CF – Daily Mail
The Duke of Edinburgh was looking for a vehicle he could use around the City and also on trips out to Windsor Castle, without drawing unwanted attention. Who would suspect that the Prince Consort was inside a Bedford CF van? Association with the Royal Family wouldn’t do GM, Lucas and Chloride any harm either…
The Royal Bedford was converted from ‘blind’ van to windowed seven-seater.
The terms of the ‘loan’ to His Royal Highness aren’t exactly clear, but it’s understood that the electric people mover needed to be ‘collected’ from the Sandringham Royal Mews after some months.
The Duke’s next inconspicuous mode of transport was a green taxi-like Metrocab that was powered by LPG and which he used for 18 years.
The battery-electric Bedford CF van wasn’t a market success, mainly because of the limited range of its traditional lead-acid battery bank and the payload compromises their weight caused. It was also quite expensive.
In 1987, the UK Government lost interest in promoting electric vehicles and so did GM, Lucas and Chloride. The battery-electric CF was withdrawn from sale and modern electric vans didn’t emerge until the invention of lithium batteries and computerised control and charging systems.
The 1980 Bedford CF Lucas electric van displayed in the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
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