Royal Mail delivers with 3,000 electric vans coming in on target
Royal Mail announced it had surpassed 3,000 electric vehicles across its postal delivery fleet. The roll-out largely follows cities with low-emission zones, including London, Bristol, Glasgow, Cambridge and Oxford.
Royal Mail thus delivers on its target set in June last year to roll out 3,000 electric vans to delivery offices across the UK. So far, 70 delivery offices have transitioned to either whole or part zero-emission postal operations. The first site that went live with an all-electric fleet was Bristol last summer. The 3,000th electric vehicle deployed today arrived at Peterborough Delivery Office.
As in previous news, Royal Mail did not deliver many details on the type of electric vans used. However, so far, their fleet includes the Mercedes eVito and eSprinter vans or the LEVC van and transporters by Peugeot reportedly.
The Group also announced today a deal signed for “a further” 2,000 electric Peugeot vehicles, suggesting that Peugeot also delivered previously. For example, the Peugeot e-Partner and e-Expert vans can travel up to 130 miles in-between charges, depending on vehicle type, weather and load size.
According to Royal Mail, the fully electric vans have up to 38% larger load space than the vehicles they have replaced. The postal service also expects the lower maintenance requirements will result in more on-road time and better reliability.
Simon Thompson, CEO of Royal Mail, said their target was to reduce emissions in parcel deliveries to 50 gCO2e, “about the same as having a cup of tea with milk”.
Royal Mail also aims to convert all company cars to electric vehicles by 2030, as reported. The postal service claims it has “the lowest reported CO2e emissions per parcel” amongst major UK delivery companies – however, counting the “feet on the street” approach towards its carbon footprint per parcel quite literally, i.e. the 85,000 postmen and women making three-quarters of parcel deliveries by foot or through a park and loop method.
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