London vehicle fleets being upgraded to electric

1. Royal Mail and 2. UPS (United Postal Service) electric vehicles (Source: BBC News & Electrek)

With the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to come into effect in London on 8 April, 2019, delivery vehicles and taxis are making the change to electric vehicles. The ULEZ is for central London and is the same area as the Congestion Charging Zone. Vehicles without the required low exhaust emission standards will be charged for entering the zone. Cameras record all vehicles’ number plates on all roads entering the zone. Britain is to ban the sale of all diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040.

1. Royal Mail’s all electric postal vans have started delivering mail from the central London depot. They were first trialled early in 2017 and started delivering in the following December.

2. UPS (United Postal Service) has one of the largest fleet of vehicles in the world and is looking at the prospect of going all electric. It has deployed a new smart-grid technology to support its growing EV fleet in London. The delivery company currently operates 170 trucks out of its central London site and 65 of them are electric.

3. Electric London taxi and 4. Harrods' old and new electric delivery vans (Source: The Verge & IPWEA)

3. From December 2017, the first fully-certified electric taxis (black cabs) could be flagged down on the streets of London. The rollout of the so-called TX eCity London Taxi from the London Electric Vehicle Company will be gradual, with only a handful of the new taxis on the road initially. But the LEVC hopes the number of electric taxis operating across London will grow to the hundreds in 2018.

4. The iconic retailer Harrods of London has gone full circle to re-introduce electric power to its fleet 100 years after they first used electric delivery vans. The electric van is based on the existing Nissan NV200 series, with a modified drivetrain derived from the Nissan LEAF - it is the e-NV200.

Read more:
Royal Mail’s new electric vans unveiled. BBC News, August 23, 2017.
‘It’s the beginning of the end’ for internal combustion engines, says UPS as it updates its fleet to electric. Electrek, March 30, 2018.
Taking London’s new electric taxi for a ride. The Verge, December 5, 2017.
Harrods electric van proves everything old is new again. IPWEA, April 20, 2017.