A new delivery consolidation partnership announced today (14 January) aims to help reduce carbon emissions in the busy Regent Street area of London’s West End.
Electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Volta Trucks has partnered with The Crown Estate, one of the West End of London’s largest property owners, and Clipper Logistics, its distribution provider, to decarbonise and consolidate deliveries into the famous shopping street. The goal is to improve air quality and congestion in the city centre.
The delivery consolidation scheme involving the use of a fully electric Volta Zero truck is set to launch in trial format this summer. The Crown Estate’s Regent Street customers have access to a single consolidation centre thanks to long-term use of a Clipper facility just outside London’s congestion charge zone, where deliveries are combined and dispatched to and from stores, but the use of non-gas vehicles to run the service is expected to reduce emissions further.
Essa Al-Saleh, CEO of Volta Trucks, said: “The full-electric Volta Zero is specifically designed for zero-emission urban distribution with exactly The Crown Estate and Clipper Logistics’ use case in mind.
“And with 8.6-tonnes of payload, it was created to consolidate deliveries and reduce congestion of smaller vehicles on city centre streets. I look forward to seeing The Crown Estate and Clipper Logistics-liveried vehicles operating on the famous streets of London’s West End in only a few months’ time.”
Judith Everett, executive director for purpose, sustainability & stakeholder at The Crown Estate, added: “This partnership is another important step towards reducing congestion, improving air quality, and making our streets safer and more accessible across the West End.
“It will be a win-win for us and our customers, helping support their deliveries and our joint sustainability ambitions. It builds on our continued work to trial and test to see what works best for everyone using our streets, now and in the future.”
Mick Doe, transport operations director at Clipper, commented: “As a business, we recognise we are high milage road users, but we are committed to reducing unnecessary road miles, and ensuring that what we do accumulate is cleaner.”
The Crown Estate is working with the British Retail Consortium and property trade bodied to help find ways to improve the energy efficiency of retailer-occupied buildings, as part of the Retailer/Landlord Net Zero Building Protocol announced late last year.
[Image credit: The News Market for Volta]
