Three more Volvo A30Gs for Ward Plant
Trio of new machines join existing fleet of 36 Volvo articulated haulers for general hire
HAVING purchased his first Volvo articulated hauler back in 1990, Martyn Ward, managing director of South Lanarkshire-based Ward Plant Ltd, has now added a further three Volvo A30G articulated haulers to his fleet.
‘The Volvo ADT is second to none on the market today in my opinion and all the trucks I’ve ever run have proved themselves over and over again in terms of reliability, productivity and fuel savings,’ said Mr Ward. ‘And it’s like anything else – if you look after your kit, then it’ll look after you, and we’ve got some of our trucks which have achieved more than 16,000 hours on original engines.’
The latest A30Gs join a fleet of 36 Volvo haulers, predominantly made up of A30-sized trucks. ‘Whilst we still run A35s and A40s, the optimum-size for general hire is the A30, hence the reason for adding three more to the fleet,’ continued Mr Ward.
‘They really are the best there is out there, but that’s not all. We enjoy an excellent level of service from Volvo when we do get the occasional issues, and not least the trucks have an excellent residual value.’
The new trucks have been deployed on a number of large infrastructure projects currently taking place in Scotland, such as major earthworks on the A9 development near Aviemore and hire work on the M8/M73/M74 widening scheme, as well as other general muck-shifting activities.
The Volvo A30G hauler meets the requirements of Stage IV final emissions legislation, being powered by an electronically controlled, six-cylinder 264kW, turbocharged Volvo V-ACT diesel engine. This features high torque at low engine speeds, resulting in good fuel efficiency, high performance, quicker engine response and less wear/longer service life.
Purpose built by Volvo, the engine is designed to exactly match the Volvo drivetrain, ensuring the best use of power and torque even in tough working conditions. Delivering exceptional fuel efficiency, it is matched to a torque converter with built-in lock-up function and fitted with a fully automatic fast adaptive transmission. The rest of the Volvo designed and built powertrain has been reinforced to cope with the higher torque output of the engine.
With a carrying capacity of 28 tonnes and heaped capacity of 17.5 cubic metres, the Volvo A30G has a maximum speed of 53km/h. The hauler is also fitted with CareTrack, Volvo’s remote monitoring telematics system, as standard.
