Royal Mail rolls out 43 zero emission delivery vans

The British post service Royal Mail has replaced the entire fleet with electric vans at its delivery office in Leighton Buzzard, a town in Bedfordshire, England. 43 new EVs will charge at twelve charging columns Royal Mail installed on site. The acquisition is part of the company’s plan to increase the number of EVs tenfold.

Andrew Selous, MP for South West Bedfordshire, said he was “very impressed” at the Royal Mail’s investment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this way and called electric vehicles “an extremely competitive option with the tax incentives provided.”

Royal Mail expects Leighton Buzzard’s postmen and postwomen to deliver letters and parcels safely and efficiently while producing fewer emissions.

The company also points to the plan to roll out 3,000 electric vans to delivery office locations across the UK. As before, they have yet to state an actual timeline or reveal the manufacturers they are working with. Previous news saw Royal Mail opting for the Peugeot e-Expert, Mercedes eVito and eSprinter vans. This fits in with the service reportedly using said manufacturers for previous small-scale purchases. Also, in Leighton Buzzard, the press images show Peugeot Partner electric vans.

Royal Mail claims it has “the lowest reported CO2e emissions per parcel” amongst major UK delivery companies. However, here the postal service counts its “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.

The postal service is also trialling two micro electric vehicles for letter and small parcel deliveries since September 2021. These are the Paxster Cargo and the Ligier Pulse 4 vehicles.

Royal Mail also targets to convert all of its company cars to electric vehicles by 2030 as reported.

Otherwise, however, Royal Mail has started the transition fairly late, especially compared to other postal services. Deutsche Post/DHL, for example turned to make its own electric vans as early as 2018 through the now sold StreetScooter subsidiary. UPS in America has taken a similar approach. The US logistics operator reportedly working closely with Britain’s Arrival to design electric vans up to spec, to name but a few examples.

bedfordshirelive.co.uk, leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk

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