What is the IPC Drivers' Challenge?
The Drivers' Challenge is organised every year and a half and is done in collaboration with a hosting post. Over the past years, IPC has organised four editions of the Drivers' Challenge in different countries:
- Montpellier, France in 2012
- Naas, Ireland in 2013, in partnership with An Post
- Ivalo, Finland in 2015, in partnership with Posti
- Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium in 2016, in partnership with bpost
- Estoril, Portugal in 2018, in partnership with CTT Portugal Post
- Zandvoort, the Netherlands in 2023, in partnership with PostNL
Sixth edition of IPC Drivers' Challenge took take place in the Netherlands in February 2023
In February 2023, IPC organised the sixth IPC Drivers’ Challenge in the Netherlands, co-hosted by PostNL. The event will take place in Zandvoort, near Amsterdam. The 2020 event had to be postponed several times due to the Covid-19 crisis. Twelve teams from eight European postal operators (bpost, Correos, CTT Portugal Post, Le Groupe La Poste, Posti, PostNL, PostNord, Swiss Post) competed in all aspects of the postal delivery chain: eco-driving, efficient electric car driving, car handling, safety and customer service.
After 2018's successful trial with electric vehicles in Estoril (Portugal), the 2023 edition was executed solely with electric vehicles.The SMMS group has grown its collective AFV fleet from 65,000 (12% of total vehicles) in 2012 to 149,000 (24%) in 2021, a particularly impressive feat given the challenging market conditions. Electric vehicles (EVs) have increased in that time by 629%, from 17,000 to 107,000, and comprise 17% of total vehicles as of 2021. As a proportion of alternative fuel vehicles, EVs made up 72% in 2021.
Tomi Virrankoski and Marko Enberg from Posti (Finland) won the 2023 IPC Drivers’ Challenge.
IPC produced a video report about the event. The video is available below.
Pedro Madeira and Ricardo Monteiro (CTT Portugal Post) win the 2018 IPC Drivers’ Challenge in Estoril, Portugal
Teams from An Post (Ireland), bpost MSO Distribution and bpost MSO Transport (Belgium), Correos (Spain), CTT Portugal Post (Portugal); Le Groupe La Poste (France), Posti (Finland), Posten Norge (Norway), PostNL TGN, PostNL Parcels (the Netherlands) and PostNord (Sweden-Denmark) geared up on 17 and 18 April 2018 on the Estoril Racing track, in Portugal for the fifth edition of the IPC Drivers’ Challenge. All posts have sent their best team, mostly selected through national competition or continuous measurement of driving behaviour.
The teams competed in all aspects of the postal delivery chain. While the atmosphere was friendly, all teams displayed an excellent level of focus and showed true dedication in each of the competition subcategories. The Portuguese team excelled in all aspects of the competition, and rightfully took this year’s IPC Drivers’ Challenge trophy home. Teams from Belgium and Finland ranked second and third respectively.
As in previous editions, participating teams consisted of a professional driver and a postal manager. Tests in this edition of the IPC Drivers’ Challenge included:
- a theory test,
- a series of car checks,
- a challenging combination of car handling exercises,
- a 40km-long eco-driving route combining the Estoril race track experience and the surrounding areas, including a swap of drivers at the beautiful Blue lagoon, and
- a 21km-long delivery route combining electric driving and the delivery exercise on the public road.
This year, a new component was added to the competition, where teams performed a number of deliveries on the public road, using an electric vehicle. As efficient driving in an electric vehicle requires a total different driving behaviour, this test presented a new challenge to our participants. Along a 21km route, the teams need to execute a number of deliveries, while using a fully electric delivery vehicle. As this was the first time the element was included, and not all postal drivers had the experience of driving an electric vehicle before, ample time was given during the training day to familiarise with the vehicle.
A selection pictures of the event is available below.
IPC produced a video report about the event. The video is available below.
We asked vlogger Syroop to visit the IPC Drivers' Challenge and make a report. The video is available below.