Royal Mail fleet in the UK to use HVO

Royal Mail is to fuel some of its heavy good vehicles (HGVs) with hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).

Royal Mail’s Sheffield mail centre, Midlands Super Hub and Manchester vehicle operating centres will be the first sites to transition to HVO with four more locations to follow later on.

The locations have been chosen based on where HGVs move significant volumes for major customers.

The transition to HVO is part of Royal Mail’s Steps to Zero plan – a drive to reduce the business’ carbon emissions to net-zero by 2040.

Through deploying HVO, Royal Mail is also meeting growing demand from its customers to reduce emissions. The service plans to continue to increase its HVO deployment across its local and national distribution fleet network over the coming years and it plans to reduce its direct emissions by up to 200,000 tonnes of CO2e.

HVO is a drop-in, fossil-free biofuel that can cut up to 90% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to figures from Certas Energy and does not require any engine or fuelling infrastructure modifications.

For the first year of deployment, Certas Energy will be supporting Royal Mail with its roll-out of HVO.

Rob Fowler, fleet director at Royal Mail, said: “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.”