Austin Crompton Parkinson Electric Vehicles of Hall Green, Birmingham produced a range of battery electric vehicles with the brand name Morrison Electricar. The smallest was the BM 10cwt, then the CM 20cwt, the EM 40cwt and finally, the biggest in the range, the GM 60cwt.
The Co-operative Wholesale Society in Ipswich purchased a pair of the latter in 1951 to use for local coal deliveries, registered APV94 and APV95. Both, amazingly, remained in service until 1983, always retaining the red Co-Operative livery, rather than the newer turquoise and white colours adopted for Co-Op grocery vehicles in the 1960s. They were, however, extensively rebuilt during their working lives. Originally the bodywork had flat, faired-in side panels and more rectangular windscreens.
Ipswich Co-Op operated a fleet of around a dozen such vehicles after the war, based at their Derby Road depot, where coal was delivered by rail up until the early 1980s. After all, what
