Menzies Aviation, Mullen Automotive and Loop Global have undertaken a trial of new electric vehicles and charging infrastructure at Los Angeles International Airport.

Airport services specialist Menzies Aviation is piloting Mullen Automotive electric vans and Loop Global charging infrastructure across its operations at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) as it looks for innovative solutions to support its ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2033.

Menzies has a global fleet of 27,000 ground service equipment, including over 8,000 vehicles, at 250-plus airports worldwide and is committed to switching to electric wherever possible to reduce emissions in line with its sustainability strategy. 

Mullen and Menzies have agreed to a 60-day pilot programme that will evaluate the Class 1 Electric Vehicle (EV) cargo vans in several use cases across Menzies’ LAX operations, such as transporting cabin cleaning teams to aircraft.

Loop will provide EV charging infrastructure and fleet operations software to service the Mullen electric vans through its electric vehicle fleet as-a-service (EVFaaS) programme. With the Loop cloud-based charger management system (CMS), Menzies will be able to charge Mullen’s electric vehicles between each shift to keep them powered for daily operations across LAX. 

John Redmond, executive vice president Americas, Menzies Aviation, said: “Collaborating with suppliers, airports and our airline customers is absolutely vital for Menzies to achieve its sustainability goals. We have committed to switching to electric vehicles wherever possible to reduce our carbon emissions, however charging infrastructure can be a barrier so it’s great to be working with both Mullen and Loop to pilot a solution at LAX. Early feedback is positive and I’m looking forward to seeing the results from this collaboration.”

Image: Menzies Aviation