Royal Mail is introducing 87 new electric vehicles to Mount Pleasant, one of its largest mail centres in London, as it seeks to reduce its emissions of its fleet in the capital. Mount Pleasant Mail Centre now operates one of the largest commercial electric vehicle charging points in London.

Londoners will see more of Royal Mail’s iconic red vans turn green and red this month, as the Company announces a further deployment of zero-emission, electric vans. The vehicles will deliver letters and parcels across selected locations in the capital and surrounding areas.

With 30 electric vehicles already in operation, the rest of the vans will roll out over the next two months. Once operational, electric vans will make up a little under half of the mail centre’s total fleet of 216 small vehicles. The initiative supports and accelerates Royal Mail’s shift to zero emission technologies.

Charged via wall or floor mounted charging posts, the mix of Mercedes-Benz eVito and Peugeot Partner vans are specially designed to help postmen and women deliver letters and parcels in a secure and environmentally-friendly way. With load capacities ranging from 3.7m³ to 6.3m³, the vehicles will operate as part of the Mail Centre’s usual delivery routes.

The initiative forms part of Royal Mail’s involvement in the Optimise Prime project¹, which aims to bring together leading power, technology, fleet and transport companies. Led by Hitachi Vantara and UK Power Networks, Optimise Prime is the world’s biggest electric vehicle demonstrator project, and brings together leading power, technology, fleet and transport companies to test and implement the best approaches to the Electric Vehicle roll out for commercial enterprises.

A Responsible Company

Royal Mail has already reduced its overall carbon emissions by 29% since 2004, and with the UK's largest "Feet on the Street" network of 90,000 postmen and women, the Company already plays a key role in keeping its emissions low. The expansion of its fleet of electric vans and trial launch of e-Trikes2 earlier this year serve as recent examples of the Company’s efforts to continue to reduce emissions associated with its operations

Paul Gatti, Royal Mail Fleet Director said: “As a Company, we are committed to making changes to our operations that reduce our environmental impact, while ensuring we continue to meet customer expectations. We are delighted that we can expand our fleet in London with more electric vehicles. This will allow the business to continue to deliver letters and parcels safely, efficiently and in the most environmentally-friendly way possible as we continue to shift to low emission technologies.”

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