Electric van trial for Australia Post

Australia Post is adding 100% electric-powered delivery vans to its fleet in Melbourne and Sydney.

The Renault Kangoo Maxi ZE (Zero Emission) electric van is currently not sold in Australia but is widely used across Europe and the United Kingdom. The van will be used exclusively by Australia Post for a 12-month proof of concept.

Australia Post’s Port Melbourne Business Hub will receive two of the vans mid-year, with the remaining two vans that are part of the assessment delivered to StarTrack House in Sydney by year-end. Charging stations at each location will be powered by accredited GreenPower renewable energy sources.

Australia Post’s Head of Environmental Sustainability, Andrew Sellick, said the vans will be used for day-to-day parcel and letter deliveries as “part of a broader strategy to explore alternative fuels at Australia Post, including using biofuel and hybrid vehicles in our current fleet”.

“The Kangoo proof of concept will give us a clearer picture of the benefits of using electric-powered delivery vans,” Sellick continued. “Through this assessment we expect to see at least a 50% reduction in energy costs and a 100% reduction in carbon emissions to comparable combustible-engine vehicles in our fleet.

“While at this stage we are working with Renault to prove this concept, if the vans perform well across the range of metrics we’ll be measuring them on, the future potential is very exciting. We hope this initiative will ultimately help drive the commercialisation and acceptance of electric vehicles in this country.”

Some of the alternative fuel initiatives implemented across Australia Post’s network have included:

• 740 electric bikes that have replaced motorbikes at various locations
• More than 100 hybrid vehicles introduced to replace existing six-cylinder vehicles, reducing emissions by over 30%
• 25 hybrid trucks introduced into StarTrack’s fleet of vehicles, improving fuel efficiency by 20% improvement on average
• The implementation of 5% of biodiesel to StarTrack’s fuel supply in 2012 - an initiative which has saved approximately 820 tonnes of carbon.

Source