The UK's Royal Mail courier service, popularly known for efficient delivery of parcels around the world is set to test its new electric delivery trucks which have some astounding and mass-appealing aesthetic design. The fact that they are electric alone, makes the story an interesting one.
The company is set to test and commission nine fully-electric delivery trucks in conjunction with an automobile company, ARRIVAL which is based in Oxfordshire. The trucks are said to be built with ultra-lightweight materials that significantly reduce their weight.
It is the first by Royal Mail, the introduction of electric delivery trucks ushers in a new era for haulage and courier services. This is just another of the major milestone achievement of green technology, which aims to create a sustainable society where almost all sources of energy are generated from clean and environmental-friendly resources.
The Royal Mail operates daily with a fleet of over 45, 000 vehicles with a huge network of delivery trucks accounting for the highest of the fleet, and the company sees a future and value in sustainable development, hence its decision to embark on this feat.
According to NewFoxy, the lightweight nature of the vehicles, combined with Arrival’s custom built power electronics and motors, reduces the cost of operation by more than 50%. Inner city deliveries are optimized through the use of a battery that gives the maximum range to weight ratio, enabling the vans to produce zero emissions for up to 100 miles.
"Cities like London will benefit hugely from a switch to electric, in terms of both pollution and noise,’ Denis Sverdlovsk, CEO of Arrival said.
"Most importantly, we are priced the same as diesel trucks removing the main barrier to go electric."
However, the tests are scheduled to commence this August. The commercial vehicles will be used to transport packages between mail and distribution centers in the city and surrounding area.
"We will be putting them through their paces over the next several months to see how they cope with the mail collection demands from our larger sites," said Paul Patti, Royal Mail fleet’s managing director.
"we have trialed electric trucks before but not of this type of innovative design and look forward to see what additional benefits they can bring to our existing fleet of around 49,000 vehicles."