Yodel to green-up their fleet with £15m investment

The courier Yodel will spend £15.2m on new electric vehicles, trailers and driver technology to reduce the environmental impact of its operations.

Yodel, who handles over 145 million parcels every year, has bought a Mitsubishi FUSO eCanter, their first all-electric truck, which will initially be based at Yodel’s customer delivery depot in Hayes, and used across London.

They have also invested in Microlise technology for its 1,300 tractor units and trailers, which monitors factors such as speed, location, and road traffic levels. It reports back to Yodel’s business control tower, allowing their team to view the network in real-time and adapt to conditions.

Yodel also say they are looking to expand its urban bicycle delivery service. Yodel currently uses bicycle couriers to deliver parcels in central Oxford, Stevenage, Hereford and Brighton with plans to introduce them in Birmingham, London and Manchester soon.

Andrew Peeler, CEO of Yodel, said: ‘This large-scale investment in our fleet is designed to improve efficiency and minimise the environmental impact of deliveries. I’m delighted that we’ve introduced electric to our fleet this Spring, and we have plans to expand our use of both pedal and electric power this year.

‘In addition, we have invested in technology to calculate the most efficient routes and evaluate our drivers’ driving style to further reduce our carbon footprint.

‘We are also striving to ensure that every home delivery is successful on the first attempt through the use of enhanced tracking and our Inflight service, which allows customers to redirect or reschedule if they realise they are going to be out when their delivery is due.’

A survey released last month revealed over two-fifths (43%) of consumers say they are more likely to shop with a retailer if they offer sustainable delivery options.

Click & collect firm Doddle asked shoppers a range of questions related to green shopping habits, with only two-fifths believing that retailers currently do a good enough job of offering sustainable options, and a quarter annoyed that home delivery is often positioned as the default option, generating unnecessary emissions.