Joint Statement On: Zero Emissions Vehicles In Delivery Offices Including Bristol ECDO – Route To Zero Emissions

Joint Statement On: Zero Emissions Vehicles In Delivery Offices Including Bristol ECDO – Route To Zero Emissions

Branches will recall LTB 509/19 issued on the 23^rd August 2019, under the title of Joint Statement on Optimise Prime – Road to Zero Emissions.

This document was circulated by ourselves advising that Royal Mail had purchased 130 Mercedes eVitos and 60 EV Peugeot Partners Electric Vehicles for introduction, on ‘like-for-like replacements’ of diesel engine, time expired vehicles. Both Peugeot and Mercedes provided their own telemetry connect box free of charge, for a 3-month period that was subsequently retro fitted into the 60 new EV Peugeot Partners. The 130 Mercedes eVitos had their own telemetry devices installed on the production line as part of their standard specification which operates in the same way as the Peugeot telemetry boxes, via a dashboard.

Branches may also be aware that the UK will host the delayed UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, commonly referred to as COP26 in Glasgow on 1^st to 12^th November this year. The new CEO in Royal Mail (Simon Thompson) has consistently promoted his desire to tackle harmful emissions and to indicate to the market an acceleration towards the goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change. The original intention was to make wholesale changes to the Fleet in Glasgow to align with the conference but given the vehicle mix, this desire proved to be problematic. Therefore, Royal Mail have now submitted an ambitious plan to create the first zero emission Delivery Office as part of their announcements to the financial Market on the 27^th May 2021.

The office where the EVs are to be deployed will be Bristol East Central BS1 1AD (who already have a fleet of 23 vehicles) which will be changed on a ‘key for key’ basis suppling them with 6 EV Partners, 12 L2 EV Experts and 5 L3 EV experts (volume capacity upgrade). Crossover training is in the planning stage and is due to commence upon arrival of the new vehicles but will nevertheless commence via the use of two EVs supplied from the current fleet in Bristol South, which will be deployed for training purposes only and not as an addition to the fleet size in Bristol East.

The new Peugeot’s will have Trimble fitted post arrival as a short-term measure until a review of their own telematics has been completed. All new EVs will also have the acoustic vehicle alerting system (AVAS) installed as part of the manufacturers specification. Members will recall that such a system provided an audible safety warning to pedestrians, cyclists and other road users.

The new vehicles will not form part of the Optimise Prime project but will be ‘smart’ charged and can be operated remotely over the air with two preferred options to examine:

Down dialling the amps charged instead of 32 amps as there is the potential to reduce to 16 amps which draws less power but takes slightly longer to charge.

There is also the ability to remotely programme the charging posts to commence charging at different times in order to spread the load and mitigate any impact on the grid i.e. not all between 3pm and 5pm.

There will be full CWU ASR involvement to determine and agree safe installation of charging posts including all relevant documentation, Risk Assessments and subsequent Safe System of Works. In addition, any operational issues that arise because of the introduction of these vehicles will be jointly resolved with the full involvement of the relevant CWU Representatives and in line with the IR Framework where necessary.

Part of the trials and introduction of Electric Vehicles will include a training package for RM Fleet Workshop Technicians on the vehicles including the HV (high voltage) components and safety precautions. Drivers will be trained via ‘change-over’ vehicle appreciation and awareness training sessions along with ongoing support. All other aspects of the original Joint Statement will continue to apply to these new vehicles as part of the growth in EVs. We have also committed Royal Mail within the National Joint Statement to full CWU National involvement for the future rollout of electric vehicle within the delivery function.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to njones@cwu.org quoting reference: 300

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch

CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB 221/21 – Zero Emissions Vehicles In Delivery Offices Including Bristol ECDO

JS – on Zero Emission Delivery Office Bristol ECDO_ (003) – Final

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