DPD have agreed a deal with Ford for 1,000 E-Transit vans this year, which will take DPD’s electric vehicle fleet to over 2,500 in total.
DPD announced the deal at Fully Charged Live, the clean energy and electric vehicle show at Farnborough, where a DPD liveried Ford E-Transit was centre-stage on the firm’s eco-exhibition stand.
DPD has purchased the 3.5t, 135kwh, long wheelbase version with 12.4 cubic metres of load space. The vans will operate from depots right across the UK network and DPD will take delivery of the first E-Transit vans in May.
The Ford E-Transit order is part of DPD’s pledge to be ‘the greenest delivery company on the planet’. In addition to running over 2,500 electric vehicles in the UK, DPD has also invested in a series of innovative recycling and circular economy initiatives that resulted in the company being named ‘Sustainable Business of the Year’ at the Business Champion Awards in London recently.
Getting our hands on the electric Ford Transit feels like a really big moment. 3.5t vans are the workhorse of any delivery fleet, and we are no different. We’ve said all along that we need the main commercial van manufacturers to step-up with affordable models and largescale production of right-hand drive vans to really get the EV revolution going in the UK. And Ford have done just that. The E-Transit is well priced, has a good range and comes with all the support you would expect from Ford.
We had a fantastic response from everyone at Fully Charged Live – from the conference debates to discussions on the exhibition stand. People really appreciate what we are doing with electric vehicles and all our other green initiatives. It is the same with our big retail customers too. They want to see their parcels delivered on green DPD vans, because they know their customers really appreciate it too. This order is a big step forward in terms of electrifying our whole fleet and becoming ‘the greenest delivery company on the planet’.
– Olly Craughan, Head of Sustainability, DPDgroup UK
