DPD has opened the UK’s first all-electric parcel depot in Westminster in London and plans a further seven all-electric sites in the capital.
DPD Westminster is 5,000 sq ft in size and will deliver up to 2,000 parcels a day using the all-electric fleet. The company has spent £500,000 refurbishing the site and adding the charging system for the vehicles.
Through the initiative, the company hopes to reduce CO2 by 45 tonnes a year.
DPD will use two types of vehicles. These will include two all-electric Mitsubishi Fuso eCanter 7.5t vehicles which will feed parcels into the depot each day.
Final mile deliveries will be completed by seven Nissan eNV200 all-electric vans capable of making 120 stops a day. The company has also deployed eight micro-vehicles from Norwegian manufacturer Paxster at the Vandon Street site and has a further 23 on order. They deliver to the immediate area around the depot and are expected to operate 60 stops on one charge per day.
The site is also home to the first DPD UK owned Pickup shop, allowing customers a dedicated point to pick up parcels from. It adds to DPD’s 2,500 Pickup sites across the UK which are operated through retailers including Sainsbury’s, Matalan and Halfords.
DPD expects to invest in the region of £3m on the DPD Westminster depot over the next 10 years. It has already secured a second all-electric London depot in Shoreditch and is planning a further six for the capital.
DPD Westminster is aligned with the objectives of Transport for London (TfL) who will be introducing an Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London from April 2019.
Dwain McDonald, CEO of DPD, said it was a significant move for the company. “Reducing and neutralising our carbon footprint; providing smarter and more efficient urban delivery solutions and driving innovation are at the heart of DPD’s DrivingChange programme. We want to be the leader in alternative fuel vehicles in the UK, with the ultimate aim being to move to a zero emission fleet. Westminster is clearly the first step towards that goal and will be instrumental in developing our future EV proposition and strategy,” he said.
However he said there were still concerns about the infrastructure required across the capital. “There are still significant external issues to be overcome in terms of the infrastructure to support an all-electric fleet on the scale we need, across the whole of central London. But I’m delighted with our proposition here and we will continue to work with the key stakeholders to realise our aims and support the Mayor of London and TfL’s ambition for a cleaner and less congested capital,” he said.
Image credit: DPD
