PostNL replaces car rides with electric carrier bikes in Utrecht

PostNL is replacing 20 daily car rides with diesel-powered delivery vans in Utrecht with a more sustainable way of delivering using electric carrier bikes and small electric vehicles. These will be deployed to deliver business mail to companies and empty more than 150 letterboxes in the city. In the evening, part of the parcels will be delivered using electric carrier bikes. This way, PostNL aims to contribute to a cleaner city centre and to improve accessibility.

560 green delivery kilometres in Utrecht every day

PostNL has opted for the electric carrier bike, as the company intends to green its transport movements. The electric carrier bike is emission-free and often faster than cars in busy city centres. By deploying electric carrier bikes, PostNL is replacing 20 car rides every day. This means 560 emission-free delivery kilometres a day, and a CO² emission reduction of approximately 35,000 kg per year. A special transfer location has been created in the Utrecht city centre, from which deliveries are made.

Clean deliveries in city centres

For years, postmen have delivered their post on foot or by bicycle. PostNL deploys delivery vans for emptying letterboxes and collecting and delivering large numbers of business mail. A test to replace these delivery vans with electric carrier bikes and small electric vehicles (Stints) was carried out in the Amsterdam city centre in 2016. In 2017, PostNL started making deliveries with 60 electric carrier bikes, replacing 100 car rides in our capital every day. In the Leeuwarden city centre, PostNL delivers both mail and parcels entirely emission-free using electric cars and small electric vehicles. After Utrecht and Leeuwarden and Amsterdam, PostNL is planning to deploy electric carrier bikes in about ten cities in 2018. In addition, parcels are increasingly delivered using green gas and electric cars. As a major logistics e-commerce service provider, PostNL aims for fully emission-free deliveries in 25 city centres by 2025. For this purpose, PostNL signed the Zero Emission City Logistics Green Deal together with various government bodies and other businesses.

Source: PostNL