Royal Mail begins electric truck trials
Thu 08 May 2025
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Royal Mail has announced that it is beginning trials on two new 19-tonne trucks and will assess their performance against existing diesel fleet vehicles.
Working in partnership with Magtec, a specialist in electric vehicle drive systems, the trial is supported by an £800,000 grant through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) UK in collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and Innovate UK.
Royal Mail's first ever electric truck will be based at the Greenford Mail Centre in northwest London. The truck can cover up to 125 miles on a single charge – enough for most urban delivery routes. The powerful electric motor delivers the strength needed for heavy loads while maintaining highway speeds of up to 56mph.
Anna Pearson, fleet innovation and environment manager at Royal Mail, said: “We’ve been rolling out electric vans in our ‘final mile’ fleet for a number of years, and now we want to learn more about how we can decarbonise our national distribution fleet of over 4,000 trucks.
“This trial will help strengthen our position as the UK's largest electric delivery fleet operator, while ensuring we have the reliability we need for the challenge of delivering to every single one of the UK’s 32 million addresses.”
Magtec, a specialist in EV components and driveline systems, has successfully delivered previous Government-backed innovation programmes through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Small Business Research Initiative (SBRi).
Marcus Jenkins, chief technology officer at Magtec, said: “This collaboration represents a significant milestone in advancing EV technology for medium-duty trucks.
“By addressing the challenges of power inefficiencies and range anxiety, we aim to provide fleet operators with a reliable, cost-effective solution that supports their decarbonisation goals while maintaining operational reliability.”
Martin Welch, Senior Project Delivery Lead at the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC), said: “Magtec’s high-performance electric drive train technology is now excellently positioned to seize a growth market opportunity. As demand for electric vehicles increases both for first-build and re-power applications, so does the need for versatile and effective powertrain systems like those offered by Magtec."
Image: Courtesy Magtec
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