EV fleet transition: How delivery fleets are decarbonising operations

Businesses are specifying logistics partners that are actively reducing their carbon emissions. Natasha Fry, head of sales, fleet and workplace at Mer UK, looks at the benefits that two-man delivery specialists, Unitmovements, has realised during its EV fleet transition.

As part of their annual Directors’ Report, all UK quoted companies have to report on their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Other companies often choose to do so for the benefit of customers and stakeholders. This includes Scope 3 emissions generated by partners in the supply chain, such as their delivery and logistics partners. We are seeing that manufacturers, retailers and other industries are increasingly choosing to work with transport and logistics companies that share their environmental ethos.

Transport is responsible for nearly a quarter of the UK’s emissions and freight transport makes up one-third of this. Due to the rise of home delivery and free returns, the carbon impact of last-mile delivery vehicles could be as much as 20 to 30% of a city’s emissions.

Logistics and transport businesses have their own ambitious goals to meet net-zero commitments. They have developed strategies to achieve them, and delivering against these strategies calls for action.

Balancing customer service with environmental concerns can be a challenge. Business must come first, and delivery schedules must be adhered to. Any disruption to delivery operations has an impact on customers and can be catastrophic for business. That’s why it is so important that switching to an EV delivery fleet is as smooth as possible, as Unitmovements discovered.

Strong environmental commitment

Unitmovements is a two-man home delivery service provider that is serious about its environmental commitment. The business operates seven days a week for 362 days a year and offers warehousing, storage and timed delivery services for companies including Ikea Wales.

The delivery service provider is committed to taking steps to reducing its carbon footprint. Its last-mile delivery operations are performed by its fleet of 29 fully electric delivery vehicles. Of these, 24 are the Maxus N2 eDeliver 9, a game-changer in the large electric commercial van market. It has been designed to give drivers a substantial range and large payload, all emission-free.

Uptime is critical

Unitmovements’ EV fleet needs to be operational, charged up and ready to go at any time. The availability of charge points is critical as any downtime could have a major impact on business. For that reason, Unitmovements turned to with Mer, a European EV charging company backed by Statkraft, Europe’s largest renewable energy generator, to install its in-house charging facilities.

For Unitmovements, the charging infrastructure is every bit as important as the vehicles themselves. The company looked to Mer for guidance on ensuring a smooth implementation of the right EV charging infrastructure for its current fleet of EVs and its plans for future expansion. Mer has now installed several 22kW dual electric vehicle charge points and a 54kW rapid charge point for Unitmovements at its locations in Exeter, Cardiff, Avonmouth and Launceston.

Because charger uptime is crucial for customer service, Unitmovements and its customers need assurance that the charge points are constantly available. Under its aftercare plan, Mer is responsible for maintaining and managing the charge points on the Unitmovements network. The charge points themselves have self-healing functionality, and Mer’s dedicated and experienced operations team take care of any issues that cannot be dealt with remotely.

Data-driven analysis

Data is a kingmaker when it comes to running an effective last-mile logistics business. Being armed with the right information about EV charging ensures that decisions are based on evidence. Mer’s back-office portal takes data from the charge points and provides Unitmovements with details of its whole charge point network, with live data on charge point and energy usage, CO2 saved and other valuable information to help meet both service levels and environmental targets.

The Mer charging infrastructure has enabled Unitmovements to increase its zero-emissions deliveries to almost 70% within a short space of time. As the company moves towards 100%, it has peace of mind knowing that the charging infrastructure and aftercare is being handled by Mer.

Find out more about electrifying your last-mile delivery fleet.