Royal Mail to add 2,100 electric vans to its fleet

Royal Mail, already the owner of the UK’s  largest fleet of electric delivery vehicles, are to add an extra 2,100 electric vans to that roster, half of which will be in service for the Christmas period.

The new vehicles will increase the fleet size from the current figure of around 5,000 to 7,100

The new vans – the first to display the new King’s cruciform and livery – will start appearing across the UK  in August with at least 1,000 taking to the road before the end of the year. 

Most of them will be charged on-site at Royal Mail’s delivery offices via a purchased 100% renewable electricity supply meaning they will be zero-emission. When all 2,100 new electric vans are in use, they are expected to reduce Royal Mail’s total emissions by around 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

According to a recent Citizens Advice report, the Royal Mail is the greenest option for delivery out of the major players. The CO2e cost of each delivery has been calculated to be 218g. Yodel’s figure is 350g, Evri’s 368g and DPD’s 600g.

Jenny Hall, Director of Corporate Affairs at Royal Mail, said: ‘We are proud to take another big step towards our target to be Net-Zero by 2040. Electric vehicles provide a wide range of benefits, reducing noise and air pollution in local communities as well as reducing our impact on the environment. We want as many customers as possible can benefit from zero-emission deliveries to their doorstep.’

In June last year, Royal Mail began using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to fuel many of its heavy goods vehicle fleet, which has already saved more than 30,000 tonnes of CO2e.

As part of their ‘Steps to Zero’ environment strategy – which has set a goal of achieving Net-Zero by 2040 – Royal Mail recently announced that they were halving the number of domestic flights they make, discontinuing a total of 18 domestic flights, saving 30,000 tonnes of CO2e

The company has already reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 18% in two years, with a target to achieve a 50% reduction by 2030.