Royal Mail launches its first Scottish all-electric delivery office

Royal Mail has launched its first all-electric delivery office in Scotland, six months after launching its first in the UK in Bristol.

The office is based in the centre of Glasgow, across the river from the COP26 Global Climate Sumitt venue. 13 fully electric collection and delivery vehicles have replaced the  existing diesel vans and will also be complemented by two micro electric vehicles. The micro vehicles are roughly the size of a golf buggy or a quad bike, and have the capacity to accommodate more than an average daily round’s worth of letters and small parcels.

Royal Mail has worked with BP Pulse in Glasgow to complete infrastructure works and install eight 7kW electric charging points. The energy to power the vehicles is from 100% renewable hydroelectric, solar and wind sources.

The Glasgow Delivery Office was selected because of the City’s plans for a Low Emissions Zone (LEZ), which will require vehicles to meet certain emissions standards to enter its centre.

Simon Thompson,  chief executive officer at Royal Mail said: “It’s fantastic news that we are able to transform the Glasgow G51 Delivery Office into the first Royal Mail ‘all-electric’ Delivery Office in Scotland. We always want to do the right thing by the communities we serve in terms of keeping our emissions as low as we can, and this is another important step in that direction. This is all in addition to our amazing posties delivering the mail by walking the streets of course.”

The fully electric vans have up to 38% larger load space than the vehicles they have replaced and can travel up to 90 miles on a single charge, depending on weather conditions and load size.

In May the Bristol East Central delivery office, located in the City’s Easton area, had its 23 diesel delivery and collection vans replaced by fully electric equivalents.

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