Competitor Watch
Like Royal Mail, parcel delivery firm, DPD have announced that they too are partnering with London EV Company (LEVC) to conduct a series of road trials ahead of the launch of their own new VN5 electric van (EV) later this year.
LEVC, formally known as The London Taxi Company, is the brand behind the iconic London black taxicabs. The company created the world’s first EV taxi in 2017, which was designed and manufactured at the firm’s Coventry base – the first dedicated EV car plant in the UK.
The 2.9 tonne low emissions VN5 van that DPD are hoping to add to their fleet of EVs towards the end of the year has a similar load capacity to a typical Royal Mail van and is designed to operate at lengthy distances on a stop and start basis, comparable to a typical postal round.
Just like the tests we’re conducting, LEVC and DPD will test the van’s ability to perform in different driving conditions, and with different loads and on different types of routes.
DPD is already on track to have over 600 electric vehicles by the end of this year, equating to 10 per cent of its fleet. The company has also created a new model for sustainable urban parcel deliveries, based on a network of all-electric micro-depots, the first of which opened in Westminster in 2018.
While DPD has successfully rolled out EVs and charging technology to all its UK depots, the company has been vocal about the challenges on the road to zero emissions, including the supply of enough electric vehicles. Range is another issue, especially in less urban areas, where DPD vehicles often have to travel a significant distance to get to the start of the delivery route.
DPD CEO, Dwain McDonald, said: ‘We are committed to having the greenest fleet in the UK, as soon as possible. While EVs remain our priority, we are keen to look at a wide range of technologies to help solve different challenges.
‘We’ve developed a great model for large urban centres and EVs are working well out of our regional depots on many routes. But, inevitably, we have a number of routes where we have to drive a significant number of stem miles from the depot just to get to the first delivery address. At the moment, the limited range on pure EVs, means we can’t move away from diesel vans for these routes.’
Going green
As part of our five-year environment strategy, we are committed to adopting existing and new technologies to help us reduce emissions associated with our operations. With our fleet of circa 48,500 vehicles being one of the largest in the UK, a key focus of our strategy is to test the suitability of alternative vehicles and fuels that achieve low or even zero emissions.
If introduced more widely, the VN5 cabs will complement our pre-existing fleet of 295 electric vans. The cab’s range extender – which offers a total flexible range of 301 miles (485km) – would enable emission-free deliveries to more remote locations, and on longer routes than a typical electric van.
