DPD, one of the major couriers, has announced Newcastle is one of 10 UK cities aiming to be part of their all-electric fleet sites by the end of 2023.
Oxford became DPD’s first ‘green’ city in July 2021, supporting a fleet of 40 electric vehicles (EVs) and delivering over 15,000 parcels a week across the city.
The other UK locations aiming to achieve the same all-electric delivery status are Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Hull, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading, Southampton, and Stoke.
In addition, the firm plans to build five more towns, Birkenhead, Gateshead, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Rotherham, and Shipley, to become all-electric by the end of 2023.
DPD, which hasn’t bought a diesel van since summer 2020, has invested over £90m on EVs in the UK. This includes the latest order of 1,000 Ford E-Transit vans in May 2022, which will bring DPD’s EV fleet to more than 2,500. The company expects to deliver 26 million parcels this year using EVs, saving 7,200,000 kg of CO2.
One of the main objectives of DPD is to become the UK’s most sustainable delivery company by the end of 2023. The aim is to have over 5,000 EVs on the road and 30 urban centres delivering with all-electric vehicles, all helping reduce carbon emissions and improve the quality of the air in city and town centres.
Elaine Kerr, DPD UK CEO, said: “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.”
Since opening the UK’s first all-electric parcel depot in Westminster in 2018, DPD has grown their electric fleet year on year and has seen improved availability of larger electric vans. This has led to the company’s ability to extend their original pledge to more locations, two years earlier than planned.
DPD Newcastle is aligned with the objectives of the Department for Transport’s (DfT), decarbonisation plan, which sets out the government’s commitments and actions needed to decarbonise the entire transport system in the UK. The initiative also supports DPD Group’s strategic objective to become the most responsible city centre delivery company in Europe.
