Royal Mail has launched its first delivery office to feature an all-electric fleet, as part of the company’s continued drive to reduce its emissions.
The last-mile fleet, of the Bristol east central delivery office located in the city’s Easton area, has been converted to fully electric equivalents. This has seen both diesel delivery and collection vans replaced.
The 23 new vans can travel up to 125 miles in between charges, depending on weather and load size. As part of Royal Mail’s recent expansion of telemetry technology across its fleet, the vans will also have telemetry capabilities installed, aimed at encouraging more efficient driving techniques.
Royal Mail added the fully electric vans have a significantly larger load space than the vehicles they have replaced, by up to 60%. This gives the new vans additional capacity to deal with growing parcel volumes. With lower maintenance requirements, the electric fleet promises more on-road time and higher levels of reliability.
Simon Thompson, chief executive officer at Royal Mail, said: “It’s clear to me that customers increasingly want less environmentally impacting deliveries. And as a company, we believe it’s the right thing to do.
“We are delighted to transform Bristol East Central into the very first Royal Mail ‘all-electric’ delivery office. This is a really positive step and will help us assess the impact of these changes on both our customers and our people when compared conventional delivery offices.”
Furthermore, six electric charging posts have also been installed on the site as part of the transformation. The electricity for powering the office and for charging the vehicles is from 100% renewable sources.
CWU Bristol & district branch secretary, Rob Wotherspoon, added: “This is not just about the fight against climate change but about the air that our communities breathe. It’s great to see Royal Mail leading the charge for clean air and zero carbon delivery in Bristol.”
Read more: Royal Mail adds to low emission fleet with gas-powered trucks
