NEP Connect delivers 16 eco-friendly vehicles to ITV

NEP Connect has delivered 16 eco-friendly news gathering vehicles to ITV as part of a multi-million-pound contract.

The vehicles will be used for regional and national ITV News coverage and have taken more than a year to design. NEP Connect engineers worked with technical experts from ITV’s news team to design three types of plug-in hybrid news gathering vehicles, custom-built to serve ITV’s connectivity and sustainability needs.

14 of the 16 vehicles are plug-in hybrids, which provide 35 miles of zero-emission driving. Each has two external plug-in points that use onboard batteries, rather than diesel generators powering the connectivity and production facilities.

The two larger national events vehicles are not hybrid, but utilise battery power for the production and connectivity equipment, offering several hours of zero emissions news gathering operation.

Equipped with a combination of bonded 4G and 5G, Wi-Fi and NEP Connect’s satellite service, the vehicles are now in the field working on ITV’s coverage of live breaking regional and national news across the UK.

They were recently used at the recent Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London.

David Meynell, managing director, NEP Connect, said: “The collaboration between ITV and NEP Connect has been hugely successful in developing and delivering this world-class fleet of vehicles. Sustainability targets were set by both companies prior to the build programme, and these have now been proven in the field. We have delivered the greenest, most eco-friendly fleet of vehicles in the world covering breaking news, and we have an exciting five years ahead delivering excellence for ITV and ITN. I am immensely proud of everyone involved with this project.”

Paul Stevenson, Director of Technology and Technical Operations, ITV News, added: “ITV is delighted with the new hybrid vehicles and service that NEP Connect is providing for our regional and national News services. The technology we developed together has now been proven in the field and it is exciting that we are operating with such innovative and forward- looking solutions. The teams at NEP Connect have delivered and the fleet will allow ITV to continue to lead the way in delivering breaking news coverage across the U.K.”

Jon Roberts, ITN director of technology, production and innovation, says: “ITN is delighted to deploy this new fleet of vehicles delivered by NEP Connect. They have already proved their worth on major news stories and special events, including being critical to the delivery of our coverage of The Coronation. These vehicles, based in London, Manchester and Malvern, will deliver both connectivity and a flexible, high-end live production capability for ITV National news. We look forward to continuing our successful relationship with NEP Connect over the coming years.”