The company has upgraded its own EV plan to more than triple its fleet from 139 to 500 vehicles by the end of next year.
However, says Dwain McDonald, DPD’s CEO, there are still major barriers to more widespread and faster take-up of EVs.
The company has released a white paper, called ‘Delivering a zero-emission future’ (click the link below), in which it sets out an eight-point plan for change, including the availability of more right-hand drive 3.5-tonne EVs and consistent standards for clean air zones to reduce uncertainty for operators.
The operator also suggests new regulation is needed to ensure the safe and responsible operation of e-Cargo bikes.
In addition, the paper includes a call for the Office for Low Emission Vehicles to make the plug-in grant schemes available to a wider range of vehicles.
“The decarbonisation of transport fleets is challenging, both operationally and financially,” says McDonald.
“DPD has already made large financial commitments to purchase commercial electric vehicles and change operating models to help reduce emissions and congestion for the benefit of the society we live in. But it isn’t happening fast enough, so we need to remove the barriers that are slowing the pace of change.
“We want to invest but we can’t get the vehicles we need fast enough, while warehousing and distribution space is being pushed out of our city centres and there is limited financial support for new and innovation green vehicles.”
He adds: “We need stakeholders from across a range of industries to work together in a holistic way to create an infrastructure that makes large scale EV deployment feasible... we cannot kick this problem any further down the road.”