Royal Mail deploys 5,000 electric van on delivery and collection fleet

Royal Mail has passed the landmark of 5,000 electric vehicles across its delivery and collection fleet.

The milestone vehicle arrives just six months after Royal Mail breezed through the 4,000 EV achievement and joins the Sheffield City Delivery Office fleet, alongside 50+ electric vehicles already onsite for delivery and collection functions.

Royal Mail’s EV rollout is particularly targeted at cities where Low Emission Zones are in force, including London, Bristol, Glasgow, Cambridge and Oxford.

So far, over 160 delivery or collection units across the country have made the transition to move to either full or part electric deliveries and collections. The first site that went live with an all-electric fleet was Bristol in June 2021 with 22 all-electric units now operating. In August 2022, Royal Mail signed a deal to add a further 2,000 Peugeot electric vans to its fleet, including Peugeot e-Partner and e-Expert vans. The latest site to make the switch to an all-electric fleet is Urmston Delivery Office with 19 electric vehicles on site.

Not only are the electric vans cutting emissions but they also offer more on-road time and higher levels of reliability thanks to their lower maintenance requirements. The Peugeot eLCVs can travel up to 160 miles in-between charges, depending on vehicle type, weather and load size.

Richard Sewell, Sheffield City customer office manager, said: “It’s been great to have the opportunity to be leading the way in the rollout of Royal Mail’s new electric fleet and to have had the 5,000th vehicle delivered to Sheffield City DO. The new vans are becoming a familiar site on the streets of Sheffield and our posties are really excited about doing their bit to reduce air and noise pollution in the town.”

The continued rollout of zero-emission vehicles aligns with the company’s commitment to reducing emissions associated with its operations, and to delivering a cleaner future.

Royal Mail says it already has the lowest reported CO2e emissions per parcel amongst major UK delivery companies, and boasts a “Feet on the Street” network of over 90,000 postmen and women, with over half of parcel deliveries made purely by foot or through a ‘park-and-loop’ method, combining low-mileage van movements and on-foot delivery.