The MEV XL Goes Wild at Chester Zoo
What does an electric utility vehicle have to do with more than 30,000 animals? Quite a lot, as it turns out.
The MEV XL recently headed to Chester Zoo, where the team had the opportunity to get behind the wheel and see how a compact electric workhorse could fit into one of the UK’s most distinctive working environments.
Chester Zoo covers more than 130 acres, with over 500 species, extensive gardens, animal habitats and operational areas that all need supporting every day.
That makes getting people, tools, equipment and supplies efficiently from A to B an everyday necessity.
And that’s where the MEV XL starts to make sense.
Its compact footprint lends itself naturally to internal site movements, horticulture and grounds work, maintenance teams, equipment transport and deliveries between operational areas — jobs where taking a conventional van around site can simply be more vehicle than the task requires.
There’s another reason the setting felt particularly relevant. Chester Zoo is targeting net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and specifically identifies electric vehicles among the technologies helping to decarbonise its operations.
So this wasn’t simply about bringing an EV somewhere interesting.
It was about putting it into an environment where quiet operation, zero tailpipe emissions, manoeuvrability and practical carrying capacity could have genuine day-to-day value.
No staged test. No sales pitch.
Just the MEV XL, a 130-acre zoo, and plenty of real jobs it could potentially get stuck into.
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