Dinky’s N.C.B. van and the electric delivery round

Electric delivery vehicles were already part of everyday working transport long before the present generation of electric cars. Ipswich Transport Museum preserves a Smiths/NCB electric milk float built in 1948.

Its collection also includes a 1916 Ransomes electric lorry and a 1951 Morrison electric coal lorry. Battery power carried more than milk: these vehicles moved different kinds of goods around the town.

Dinky model no. 30V represents an N.C.B. electric van. Our museum example has a blunt, sloping cab front, an open-sided load compartment and blue wheel centres against a pale grey body. The large side openings leave the load floor visible, with almost none of the bodywork of a closed delivery van.