Royal Mail has announced it is starting a trial of two new 19-tonne trucks supported by an £800,000 grant from Innovate UK.
The organisation’s first electric truck will be based at the Greenford Mail Centre in North West London, delivering and collecting post to and from nearby delivery offices.
Flexible battery options mean the truck will be able to cover up to 125 miles on a single charge – enough range for most urban delivery routes – while maintaining speeds of up to 56mph.
EV components and driveline systems firm Magtec will supply the vehicle.
It has successfully delivered previous government-backed innovation programmes through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Small Business Research Initiative (SBRi) and its EVs have already covered more than 2.5 million miles on UK roads.
In addition, by July 2025, Royal Mail will have more than 7,000 electric vans in use across the UK.
The majority of these vans will be charged on-site at Royal Mail’s delivery offices via a 100% renewable electricity supply.
Anna Pearson, Fleet Innovation and Environment Manager at Royal Mail, said: “We’ve been rolling out electric vans in our ‘final mile’ fleet for a number of years, and now we want to learn more about how we can decarbonise our national distribution fleet of over 4,000 trucks.
“This trial will help strengthen our position as the UK’s largest electric delivery fleet operator, while ensuring we have the reliability we need for the challenge of delivering to every single one of the UK’s 32 million addresses.”
