Royal Mail Opens All-Electric Delivery Office in Glasgow Coinciding With The COP26 Climate Summit

Royal Mail launched its first Delivery Office in Scotland to feature an all-electric fleet of collection and delivery vehicles as the UK.

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The office was opened ahead of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow which started on Sunday, October 31.

The Delivery Office is just a short walk across the River Clyde from the Scottish Event Campus, where the COP26 Climate Summit is being held.

Royal Mail’s G51 Delivery Office in the Govan area of the city has had its 13 diesel delivery and collection vans replaced by fully electric equivalents – comprising the Office’s entire collection and delivery fleet.

“It’s fantastic news that we are able to transform the Glasgow G51 Delivery Office into the first Royal Mail ‘all-electric’ Delivery Office in Scotland. We always want to do the right thing by the communities we serve in terms of keeping our emissions as low as we can, and this is another important step in that direction. This is all in addition to our amazing posties delivering the mail by walking the streets of course.”

Simon Thompson, Chief Executive Officer at Royal Mail

With the UK’s largest “Feet on the Street” network of over 85,000 postmen and women, Royal Mail already has the lowest reported CO2 emissions per parcel amongst major UK delivery companies.

This move forms part of Royal Mail’s rollout of low or zero-emission vehicles, designed to make the UK’s lowest reported CO2 emissions per parcel delivery even lower.

Royal Mail has worked with BP Pulse in Glasgow to complete infrastructure works and install eight 7kW electric charging points. The energy to power the vehicles is from 100% renewable hydroelectric, solar, and wind sources.

The Glasgow Delivery Office was selected because of the City’s plans for a Low Emissions Zone (LEZ), which will require vehicles to meet certain emissions standards to enter its center.

At present, other Delivery Offices across the UK are being considered for similar fleet makeovers in the coming months – particularly those in places with existing Clean Air or Low Emissions Zones, or with plans to introduce them.

The Royal Mail Electric Vans

The fully electric vans have up to 38% larger load space than the vehicles they have replaced, giving them the additional capacity to deal with growing parcel volumes.

With lower maintenance requirements, the electric fleet promises more on-road time and higher levels of reliability. The 13 new vans can travel up to 90 miles on a single charge, depending on weather conditions and load size.

As part of Royal Mail’s recent expansion of telemetry technology across its fleet, the vans will also have telemetry capabilities installed, aimed at encouraging more efficient driving techniques.

These benefits are in addition to helping the area’s 29 postmen and postwomen deliver letters and parcels safely and efficiently while producing fewer emissions.

Two Micro Vehicles Join Fleet at Glasgow

In addition to the electric vans, two micro electric vehicles will also be joining the fleet as the Company steps up its drive to further reduce emissions associated with its operations.

With a load size of between 1.2m³ and 2.0m³, these micro electric vehicles are roughly the size of a golf buggy or a quad bike and have the capacity to accommodate more than an average daily round’s worth of letters and small parcels.