Royal Mail has deployed the 4,000th EV on its delivery and collection fleet, supporting plans for a 5,000-strong electric fleet by the end of spring 2023.

MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, Paul Maynard went to see the new EVs in use

The milestone electric vehicle has gone live at its Blackpool delivery office, which is pushing ahead with plans to have 90 EVs onsite in the coming months, with all delivery and collection functions operated by a fully electric fleet.

The postal service already has more than 100 delivery offices across the country that provide full or part electric deliveries and collections, while six delivery offices have an all-electric fleet. Norwich is expected to become the seventh later this month.

In August 2022, Royal Mail signed a deal to add a further 2,000 Peugeot electric vans to its fleet. It’s particularly targeting cities with Low Emission Zones, including London, Bristol, Glasgow, Cambridge and Oxford.

Neil Barritt, Blackpool 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.

“The new vans will become a familiar site on the streets of Blackpool and our posties are really excited about doing their bit to reduce air and noise pollution in the town.

“As a company, we pride ourselves with having the lowest reported CO2e emissions per parcel amongst major UK delivery companies and showcasing the way to achieving a more sustainable future for our fleet and our planet.”

Not only is the new electric fleet cutting emissions, but it’s also slashing downtime due to the vehicles’ lower maintenance requirements and higher levels of reliability, according to Royal Mail.

The new EVs can travel up to 130 miles inbetween charges, depending on vehicle type, weather and load-size. They also have up to 38% larger load space than the vehicles they have replaced, giving them additional capacity to deal with growing parcel volumes.