Royal Mail trials electric-powered postal vans

The postal service company is experimenting with electrically charged vans capable of moving mail from larger depots

Royal Mail's clean-energy postal van (Royal Mail)

Royal Mail is taking a step into the future as it trials its very own electric-powered postal vans.

The UK’s 500-year-old postal service company says it will test nine clean-energy vehicles for a year, starting on Wednesday.

Three 3.5-tonne vehicles and six larger electric postal vans will distribute mail across the South East and will be based at the Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant depot in central London.

Royal Mail says all its electric vehicles can travel 100 miles on a single charge.

UK manufacturer Arrival designed and assembled the vans in the Midlands, branding the electric postal vans with the Royal Mail’s famous crown emblem.

Paul Gatti, Royal Mail Fleet’s managing director, said the vans will be tested to see whether the electric powered vehicles can cope with mail from its larger distribution centres.

“We have trialled electric trucks before but not of this type of design and look forward to see what additional benefits they can bring to our existing fleet of around 49,000 vehicles,” he said.

Denis Sverdlov, chief executive of Arrival, said: “Cities like London will benefit hugely from a switch to electric, in terms of both pollution and noise.”

He added that Arrival’s electric vehicles were priced the same as diesel trucks, “removing the main barrier to go electric."

The Government announced in July its intention to ban all new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, accelerating competition in the electric vehicles market.

Carmakers BMW, Hyundai and Volvo have already announced plans to make viable cleaner energy commercial vehicles.