Austrian Post realises CO2-free delivery in Salzburg

In the summer of 2023, the Austrian Post announced its fleet project for Salzburg. It now says that delivery from the Thalgau logistics centre is locally emission-free. Letters, print media and direct mail items are delivered from two delivery bases in the Salzburg city area. The company has installed 126 charging stations and put 193 electric vehicles into operation. These are charged with green electricity from Austrian Post’s photovoltaic systems and with green electricity from Austria. The total investment for the ‘Green Salzburg’ project amounts to around six million euros.

In July, the Austrian Post announced 220 electric vehicles and 110 new charging stations for Salzburg, as well as an investment of 6.6 million euros. Now, there are about 30 fewer vehicles, whereby the Post counts not only vans but also e-bikes, electric cargo bikes, electric mopeds, and e-trikes among its vehicles.

“Our strong commitment to sustainable logistics is gradually becoming visible in Austria. Salzburg is now the third provincial capital, after Graz and Innsbruck, where we deliver CO2-free. We cover around 1.9 million kilometres in Salzburg annually using purely electric vehicles, saving more than 180,000 litres of diesel”, says Peter Umundum, Chief Parcel & Logistics Officer at Österreichische Post AG. The Austrian Post aims to implement CO2-free delivery throughout Austria by 2030.

Incidentally, delivery on the Mönchsberg in Salzburg has a special status: “It is the only district in Salzburg that requires a four-wheel drive vehicle for year-round delivery, which also has to fit through a narrow, historic archway”, the company writes. “As there are currently no suitable electrically powered commercial vehicles with all-wheel drive on the market, the Austrian Post will refuel this delivery vehicle with Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO) as soon as it is available in Salzburg”. HVO is a renewable fuel from waste, fats, vegetable residues and vegetable oils.

However, the main focus is on battery-electric drives. In May 2023, the Austrian Post ordered 703 electric vans from the Chinese SAIC commercial vehicle brand Maxus. Specifically, this involves 700 units of the Maxus eDeliver 3 model and three units of the larger eDeliver 9. According to the manufacturer, they will be used throughout Austria – including in Salzburg, as a press photo provided shows.

The Austrian Post has been focussing exclusively on EVs for delivery since 2022. With the implementation of the ‘Green Salzburg’ project, the Austrian Post now has more than 4,000 electric vehicles in operation. Specifically, the Austria-wide fleet now consists of over 1,200 e-bikes, electric cargo bikes, electric mopeds and trikes, and more than 2,700 electric vans. For comparison, the Austrian Post currently has around 10,000 vehicles on the road.

Furthermore, the Austrian Post has announced that it will convert its trucks to the renewable fuel HVO. “In the province of Salzburg, trucks fuelled with HVO already cover more than 5,000 kilometres a day”, it says.

news.post.at (in German)