An electromobile from ČEZ to be used by Czech Post to deliver mail
Starting from today, a Peugeot iOn electromobile instead of a petrol car will be used by Czech Post for delivery of mail in Prague. Czech Post received the electric car with a charging station from the leading Czech energy company ČEZ for a pilot programme.
Peugeot iOn electromobile
A Czech Post team will be testing the electromobile in the dense traffic in Prague every day. Starting from today, the Peugeot iOn electromobile will be used for ordinary mail delivery within the area of its headquarters located in Jindřišská Street. Czech Post received the electromobile from ČEZ for testing together with a standard charging station.
“Czech Post is certainly not going against the global trend of a gradual replacement of classic fuels. We have the largest fleet in the country; it is therefore logical that we are looking for a cheaper and at the same time more efficient use of our cars. An electromobile can be the solution in the city where it is used for short distances. We have launched this pilot programme to find out how many kilometres it can realistically run, and what the total operating cost is like. Nevertheless, we would consider its wider use only after the development of a charging network to provide easy access to charging,” said Patrik Zeithaml, Director of Czech Post’s Transport Control.
The programme is the first such collaboration effort in the Czech Republic between an energy company and a postal operator. It has benefits for both of them - Czech Post will be among the first large companies in the country experienced in running an electromobile and ČEZ will have a space for data measurement.
“For example, we use our cars to measure how many kilometres they can run without recharging and what are the charging cycles like. For us, the key factor is the cooperation between the electromobile and our charging stations - each electromobile behaves differently in the streets, mainly because of the traffic congestion, and this has an impact on the total energy consumption. Czech Post therefore received the car together with a charging station and a chip which will enable them to charge the car. The car will be used by the company every day, and such an activity needs to be monitored. We are sure that the measurement will provide us with important data for the development of a network of charging stations,” explained Tomáš Chmelík, Manager of ČEZ’s Clean Technology Department.
Use of electromobiles to deliver mail by operators abroad
Although delivery companies in this country have only started to test the use of electric cars, this concept already begins to be a standard part of postal transportation abroad. For instance, Norwegian Post has been using electric vans to deliver mail for more than a year. Dozens of Ford Transit electric cars can be seen in the streets of Oslo, and experts believe that their number will soon be even higher.
Delivery of packets by electromobile is also popular in London. Owners of electromobiles are not required to pay its city centre tolls and several delivery companies therefore decided to test electric vans for their work there. E.g. the international company FedEx focused on the testing of Nissan’s NV200 EV in London.
Other companies also use electric vehicles for mail delivery in the United Kingdom. For instance, TNT, DHL or Royal Mail acquired SMITH Newton cars made by SMITH Electric Vehicles and Avia Ashok Leyland for these purposes. The same type of electric lorry has also been tested by ČEZ.
An electric van, Navistar eStar, is also used by employees of Canada Post. This car with a load capacity up to 2.3 tonnes can drive almost 180 kilometres on a single charge. Japanese Post also added electromobiles to its fleet, which has already included hybrid cars for delivery of parcel and letter mail.
| Mgr. Marta Selicharová | Jan Beneš |