A ‘three-quarter thumbs-up’ from Hockley for electric delivery ‘taxi’

Postal, Royal Mail Group (EMP) July 14 2020

Tuesday 14th July 2020

Birmingham & District Amal area delivery rep Neil Lambert reports from the first office trialling the taxi-derived vehicle on loan from the London Electric Vehicle Company…

CWU News spoke with Neil this morning, just after his visit to Hockley – a central Birmingham unit, in an area known as the ‘Jewellery Quarter’, which has a larger than average proportion of tracked and special delivery items and is within the city’s congestion charge area.

The vehicle has been there since the start of last week, and from next week it’s going to several other offices around the country – Derby next week, then Leeds and onto Edinburgh, Bristol and two units in London: Whitechapel and Mount Pleasant.

Neil says that “the first thing our Hockley member who’s been driving it this week and last week told me was that it handles well – ‘it’s a very good drive – better than the other electric ones we’ve got in the yard’, he told me, meaning the LE2 Peugeot Partners.

“Only problem we’ve got at the moment is, it doesn’t open at the back. At the back, there’s a small boot, with a spare tyre,” the ADR continues, explaining that “this means loading and unloading can only take place at the side – which our member says can make it more difficult, although I understand that this can be quite easily converted.

“The range that this vehicle can travel without the need for a recharge is specified as 50 to 70 miles – and our triallist said that a full charge, on the delivery he has, lasts for four days. As it’s a ‘hybrid’, there is a back-up petrol tank – but he tells me this hasn’t been used once.”

Neil’s view is that this model would not be the right vehicle for collections, adding that larger vehicles are needed for collections because “our collections have got so much heavier.”

But, in terms of a specific postal delivery vehicle, his initial assessment is that “based on what I’ve seen and the feedback I’ve had, I’d say it’s three-quarters of a thumbs-up – and a full thumbs-up if the back door adjustment could be made.”

CWU postal executive member Alan Tate, who is the union’s national project lead on this vehicle trial, told CWU News: “It sounds like a broadly positive start to this trial and it’s good to hear the feedback from our first ‘test-location’.

“I think we anticipated the rear-loading point – but Neil’s right that it would be a fairly straightforward adjustment to make.

“Another important point that I think should be made about this particular vehicle is that it’s manufactured here in the UK – at a factory in Coventry – and at a time when we’re talking about the need to save jobs, a company like Royal Mail should be looking to use a British-made vehicle ideally,” Alan continues.

“With a fleet like ours – some 49,000 vehicles – moving over to an electric fleet could make a significant difference in terms of pollution and doing our bit to improve our environment, so projects like these are important.”

CWU outdoor secretary Mark Baulch says that, although the vehicle being trialled is “somewhat unusual for Royal Mail use,” the union “absolutely supports the increasing introduction of electric vehicles and initiatives that improve our environment and develop the green agenda.”

·         Further information, please see LTB 351/20