Royal Mail are about to embark on a six to nine month trial of innovative tyres on a number of electric vehicles. The tyres are specially designed to help reduce particulate matter emissions and improve the range, efficiency and longevity of vehicles.
The trial is a joint venture between Royal Mail, Transport for London (TfL) and ENSO, as part of the London FreightLab innovation challenge. This challenge aims to tackle pollution, congestion and road danger in London.
“As a Company, we are committed to making changes to our operations that reduce our environmental impact. The trial and potential wide scale introduction of more efficient and environmentally friendly tyres enables us to help achieve this, while allowing us to continue to deliver letters and parcels safely, efficiently and responsibly.”
– James Baker, Chief Engineer and Fleet Director, Royal Mail
The tyres, from manufacturer ENSO, claim to produce fewer microparticles in comparison to normal tyres, and increase vehicle range. Tests carried out by ENSO have also shown that its tyres can increase EV range by up to 11%, compared to standard tyres[2].
Fifteen electric vans at the West London Delivery Office, near Wembley, will be fitted with the new innovative tyres during the trial.
Throughout the six to nine-month period, the tyres will be monitored and weighed every six weeks to measure their wear rate and to estimate reduction in particulate matter emissions. The checks will also ensure that the tyres fitted are wearing properly and that there are no health, safety or vehicle wear and tear issues.
“ENSO’s mission is to disrupt the £200billion global tyre industry and deliver the most efficient, durable and sustainable tyres for EVs. By developing better EV tyres, we can reduce pollution and carbon emissions in line with the UK, and indeed global commitments, to reach Net-Zero.”
– Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, founder and CEO, ENSO
One Response
Interesting! I would never have realised tyres made so much difference, I guess it is a small saving but multiplied up over all the royal mail vans and all the miles they drive. A little thing that could add up to a big environmental saving.