As we are getting closer to 2030 and the petrol/diesel car production ban, more UK companies have started to go electric in a commitment to sustainability and making the UK a greener country. Here are our top three companies that have gone electric and what this means for the economy and the environment.
DPD –
DPD is one of the UK’s leading parcels delivering service alongside the Royal Mail and Amazon. In light of the government’s new sustainability scheme, DPD have made a commitment to have the companies entire delivering fleet be run by zero emissions, electric vehicles. DPD have so far smashed their 2020 target of 10% of their delivery fleet be EV’s and have just added 700 more electric vehicles 5 months early.
Costs –
With this has brought DPD substantial drops in cost, especially with tax. From the 6th of April 2021 an employee driving an electric van will pay no company car tax at all, saving both the business and the employee an incredible amount of money. Usually, an employee driving a company van would have to deduce £58.33 from their salary to pay for the company vehicle tax. As well as this, DPD has saved tremendous amounts of money on fuel as they calculated their fuel miles per parcel has dropped by 49% and they have saved 45 tonnes of Co2 per year.
Benefits to the environment –
So far this year, DPD has delivered close to 5 million emission free parcels, saving over 2 million kilograms of Co2. The firm estimates that, on its current zero emissions trajectory, it will deliver well over 10 million parcels on its clean, green fleet by the end of 2020 and even more in 2021.
Royal Mail –
The Royal Mail was one of the biggest companies to commit to sustainability and they have recently announced that they are going to increase their electric vehicles by ten-fold with the inclusion of 3,000 new electric vehicles, making their new EV count 3,300. This incredible commitment has not only cut their carbon emissions by nearly half (31.9%) but also saved the company £3000 per vehicle a year on congestion charges for postal rounds around London.
Costs –
The new Peugeot Partner L2 Electric carries a payload of 552kg and boasts a range of 106 miles. The new EV’s 22.5kWh battery can be charged up to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes and save the royal mail, hundreds of thousands of pounds in fuelling costs. A recent study from EDF Energy found that electric vehicle owners could save over £51,000 on fuel over their lifetime, so the Royal Mail will save thousands of taxpayer’s money in the process. Due to electric vehicles having fewer moving parts compared to an internal combustion engine, there are drastically cheaper to maintain and service, as well. The royal mail’s Peugeot vans may be expensive to be in the short term, but their extremely low fuelling and running costs, will be better value for money in the long run compared to the more frequently used diesel vans.
Benefits to the environment –
The Royal Mail’s ambition is to be a net zero carbon emissions company, with a 100 per cent alternative fuel fleet. This basically means, that the royal mail will drastically reduce their carbon footprint and will be capable of delivering someone’s post with little to no carbon emissions. In 2017-18, using electric vehicles saved the Royal Mail 500,000 litres of diesel, equating to 1,300 tonnes of Co2e and saving £650,000. As well as this, the Royal Mail are committed to employing 85,000 postmen and women, to reduce their carbon footprint even further by using ‘foot soldiers’ instead of vehicles.
Tesco –
Tesco is one of the UK’s largest supermarkets that has made a commitment of providing 600+ stores with free to use charging pods. Their recent partnership with Volkswagen and Pod Point aim to give shoppers who own EV’s more than 10 million miles of complimentary carbon neutral motoring. This commitment will save shoppers thousands of pounds and reduce carbon emissions by approximately 2,120 tonnes – the same as more than 2,770 acres of forest will manage in a year.
Providing customers with free 7kW fast chargers, 50kW rapid chargers and 22kW chargers will not only provide customers with free fuel but also, give petrol/diesel drivers an incentive to switch to electric vehicles. Pod Point have provided EV drivers with a map of which stores have EV charging points – https://pod-point.com/rollout/tesco-ev-charging
Conclusion –
Whilst we still have a way to go, big UK companies that switch to electric are seeing massive benefits not only to the environment but to the economy. Big companies like Tesco, Royal Mail, and DPD should hopefully push more non-sustainable companies to switch to electric and help save the planet even quicker.
Links –
DPD- https://www.dpd.co.uk/pdf/DPD_-_Delivering%20a%20zero%20emission%20future.pdf
DPD- https://www.dpd.co.uk/content/about_dpd/press_centre/dpd-smashes-ev-target-five-months-early-with-over-700-electric-vehicles.jsp
Commercial Fleet – https://www.commercialfleet.org/news/van-news/2021/06/11/royal-mail-commits-to-3-000-more-electric-vans
Royal Mail – https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/insights-innovation/innovation/electric-vehicles-turning-an-iconic-red-fleet-green
Electrive – https://www.electrive.com/2021/07/19/royal-mail-wants-all-company-cars-electric-by-2030/
Tesco – https://www.tescoplc.com/updates/2021/the-uks-largest-free-retail-electric-car-charging-network-has-hit-500-000-charges/
Pod point – https://pod-point.com/rollout/tesco-ev-charging