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Royal Mail transitions to renewable fuel

The organisation is transitioning many of its heavy good vehicles to a new diesel alternative

Royal Mail, a part of International Distributions Services and a provider of postal and delivery services, has announced it is transitioning its fleet of vehicles to a more renewable fuel alternative.

Royal Mail’s heavy good vehicles (HGVs) are set to be fuelled by renewable diesel alternative Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).

The transition is part of Royal Mail’s Steps to Zero plan which sets to reduce the company’s emissions to net zero by 2040. 

Rob Fowler, fleet director at Royal Mail, says: “We’ve made great progress in decarbonising our operation by introducing 5,000 electric vehicles into our final mile fleet but we also need to focus on our HGVs. 

“At present, the electric and hydrogen alternatives are still in development for HGVs. Vehicle ranges are low, purchase prices are high, and infrastructure is in its infancy. That is why we have introduced the use of HVO to decarbonise the HGV fleet within our operation via the most viable low-carbon option.

The first sites to transition vehicles are Royal Mail’s Sheffield mail centre, Midlands Super Hub, and Manchester vehicle operating centre. 

HVO is a drop-in, fossil-free biofuel that can cut up to 90% of greenhouse gas emissions according to figures from Certas Energy. 

Royal
Mail has seen a number of changes over the past year largely due to the CWU
strikes which came to an end earlier this month 

Fowlers adds: “We consider HVO to be a transitional fuel that helps us to take steps towards decarbonising our HGV fleet whilst low-emissions technologies continue to advance in this area. We will continue to assess and test other emerging low emission technologies that we could potentially deploy in our larger fleet including electric and hydrogen HGVs. Many of these technologies are still in development and are currently not commercially viable to deploy at scale.”

The previously mentioned Certas Energy, a distributor of fuel and lubricants, will be supporting Royal Mail with its roll-out over the next year.

Jamie Hodges, head of national accounts at Certas Energy, comments: “Certas Energy is not just a fuel and energy partner, we are also a road fleet operator, so we appreciate the decarbonisation challenges facing the industry. 

“After exceeding our own 2025 carbon reduction target three years ahead of schedule, thanks to our successful trial of HVO across our depot network, we have every confidence that the renewable fuel will play a pivotal and positive role in plugging the gap to net zero.”

Hodges concludes: “We are dedicated to helping businesses solve the ‘energy trilemma’ and we hope the example set by Royal Mail will inspire others in the industry to take action to accelerate their own sustainability efforts.”  

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