Royal Mail expands electric delivery fleet to 9,000 vans

Royal Mail has placed its 9,000th electric delivery van into service, less than eight months after reaching the 8,000-vehicle milestone. The postal operator says almost one-third of its delivery routes are now served by zero-emission vehicles.

The 9,000th battery-electric van has entered service at Royal Mail’s Colchester Delivery Office, where it joins more than 120 electric vans already in operation. According to the company, 44 delivery offices across the UK are now fully electric, while almost one-third of all delivery routes are served by zero-emission vehicles.

“Reaching 9,000 electric vehicles is a major milestone as we work to transform our fleet,” said Stuart Murphy, Royal Mail’s Head of Fleet Transformation. “This shift is helping us cut emissions while delivering a better service for our customers, with quieter, cleaner deliveries in communities across the UK.”

The latest milestone comes less than eight months after the company celebrated the deployment of its 8,000th electric van. That means Royal Mail has added a further 1,000 battery-electric delivery vehicles to its fleet in less than a year.

And fleet electrification is not limited to last-mile delivery vehicles. Royal Mail introduced its first electric heavy goods vehicles in December to support the decarbonisation of its national distribution network. The company is also expanding the use of smaller electric vehicles for urban logistics.

More than 100 micro electric vehicles are currently being deployed in locations including London, Bristol, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Solihull, Brighton and the Isles of Scilly. Royal Mail says the compact vehicles help improve delivery efficiency while further reducing emissions. In addition, the company has recently introduced a fleet of 20 electric cargo bikes for urban deliveries.

Royal Mail began electrifying its fleet in 2017 with an initial order of 100 electric vans. Since then, the rollout has accelerated as part of the company’s wider strategy to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. The postal operator says battery-electric vans reduce running, servicing and maintenance costs over their lifetime compared with diesel vehicles, while also contributing to lower emissions and noise levels in the communities they serve.