DPD UK ahead of electrification schedule
The parcel service DPD now has over 700 electric vehicles in use in the UK, and has thus reached its target of electrifying ten per cent of its UK fleet five months earlier than planned.
At the beginning of 2020, DPD only had around 130 electric transporters in its UK fleet. The aim was to have 500 electric delivery vehicles in operation by the end of 2020. ” The feedback from the depots, our drivers and our customers has been fantastic and that has just encouraged us to go faster”, says Dwain McDonald, CEO of DPD UK. “We know retail customers want this and the reaction on the doorstep is great when recipients see that their parcel has been delivered emission-free too. So, that is a great base for us to build on.”
By the end of January DPD had ordered 300 Nissan e-NV200s that were delivered by May. In mid-February the parcel delivery company placed the order for 100 eTGE with MAN. In addition DPD intends to test the PHEV transporter VN5 of the Geely subsidiary LEVC in its fleet before the actual market launch in the fourth quarter of 2020. There are also apparently tests with the Vauxhall Vivaro-e.
Although McDonald has not yet issued a new target for the EV quota in its own fleet, the expansion of the EV fleet has not yet been completed. “But we would like even more of our new vehicles to be green EVs – we just can’t get our hands on enough of them at the moment”, says the DPD UK CEO. ” We are calling on the government and the vehicle manufacturers to do everything they can to encourage the development of more EVs, at affordable prices, so that progressive companies, like us, can become even greener, even quicker”.
0 Comments