DPD UK, the parcel delivery company, have confirmed that it is now providing an all-electric delivery service to 10 UK towns and cities. The company is aiming for 30 all-electric locations by the end of 2023. This is five more than originally planned and two years earlier than expected.
In October 2020, DPD UK announced plans to create 25 all-electric towns and cities in the UK by 2025. In July 2021, Oxford became DPD’s first ‘green’ city, with a fleet of 40 electric vehicles based at the new DPD Bicester eco-depot. It now delivers over 15,000 parcels a week across the city using zero-emissions electric vehicles (EVs).
DPD has now confirmed that nine additional UK locations have achieved the same all-electric delivery status. The 10 ‘green’ towns and cities are, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Hull, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading, Southampton and Stoke.
Progress is well underway at the remaining 15 original green delivery locations – Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Cambridge, Coventry, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Sheffield.
DPD UK now expects these locations to achieve all-electric status two years earlier than planned, by the end of next year. In addition, the firm is now planning for five more towns, Birkenhead, Gateshead, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Rotherham and Shipley to become all-electric by the end of 2023. Impressive stuff and hopefully more delivery companies will follow suit.
To date, DPD has invested over £90 million in all-electric vehicles in the UK. This includes the most recent order of 1,000 Ford E-Transit vans in May 2022. This will take DPD’s electric vehicle fleet to over 2,500 in total.
Elaine Kerr, DPD UK CEO, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to confirm that we now have 10 UK towns and cities being delivered by an all-electric DPD fleet. One of our big aims is to be the UK’s most sustainable delivery company and by the end of 2023, we will have over 5,000 electric vehicles on the road and 30 urban centres delivered on all-electric vehicles.
The company, which hasn’t bought a diesel van since summer 2020, expects to deliver 26 million parcels this year on electric vehicles. As a result, it is saving a staggering 7,200,000kg of CO2.
Kerr added: “Since opening the UK’s first all-electric parcel depot in Westminster in 2018, we have grown our electric fleet year on year, despite some of the issues that have held us back, such as the lack of righthand drive EVs for the UK market.
“We are now seeing improved availability of larger electric vans, which is what we need. As a result, it is fantastic to be able to extend our original pledge to 30 locations and two years earlier than planned.
“By targeting major town and city centres with our electric vehicles, we can make a significant difference to emissions in those locations and help improve air quality where it is most needed.
“In addition to buying the vehicles, and investing in charging infrastructure, we continue to optimise our routing and operation, to create the smartest possible delivery system and reduce our overall miles per parcel.”
