Australia Post has unveiled its plans to trial several new electric delivery vehicles capable of carrying up to 100 small parcels and 1,200 letters at a time.
The e-vehicle is planned for introduction across major cities from early next year.
Australia Post has unveiled its plans to trial several new electric delivery vehicles capable of carrying up to 100 small parcels and 1,200 letters at a time.
The e-vehicle is planned for introduction across major cities from early next year.
Plans for the e-vehicle trial follow Australia Post’s A$41m (US$31m) before-tax profit this year, which was driven largely by strong growth in the parcels business and reduced losses in
letters.
Ahmed Fahour, managing director and group CEO, said, “Last year, parcels generated over half of our total revenue. Ten years ago parcels contributed less than 25% of our revenue."
Mr Fahour went on to say, "as our business transforms, so too are the jobs that our workforce is doing. A few years ago we equipped our posties so they can deliver small parcels and this latest
initiative will allow them to deliver even more – helping to ensure their roles remain meaningful well into the future."
Long overdue step towards greener skies
Electric delivery vehicles are already used in New Zealand, Germany and Switzerland, with international postal authorities seeing benefits including greater carrying capacity, improved rider
safety and lower vehicle emissions.
Australia Post plans to trial the new e-vehicle in capital cities next year, beginning in select locations, with a decision on a broader roll-out expected by mid-late 2017.
In a related development, European post and parcel delivery provider PostNL last week announced it will replace 400 diesel vehicles with more than 400 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles by the
end of 2017 – nearly a third of its entire delivery fleet.
Nol van Fenema
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