The New Zealand Post has unveiled the first shipment of its new electric delivery vehicles.
50 of the Norwegian-built Paxter AS vehicles for parcel and mail delivery have recently landed in Auckland, the first batch of 500 vehicles to be rolled out.
Mark Stewart, NZ Post’s acting chief operating officer, said the plan is to have 500 Paxsters in operation within the next two years. He believes this will be the largest, fully electric fleet in New Zealand once the two-year rollout is complete.
“The vehicles, in combination with a range of new parcel services that we’ll be talking more about soon, will improve parcel delivery for customers,” Stewart said. “They’ll also reduce our impact on the environment, which is important to us and our customers. Customers will know they can reduce their environmental footprint too by choosing to send their parcels through the New Zealand Post network.”
The New Zealand Post Group already has 50 fully electric vehicles in its delivery operation and 118 hybrid cars in the Kiwibank fleet, and Stewart said the addition of the Paxsters will have a big impact.
“Early calculations suggest New Zealand Post will make very good reductions in fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions by using these electric vehicles,” Stewart said.
The Paxsters are produced in Norway and received the 2013 Award for Design Excellence from the Norwegian Design Council.
“We have spent four years developing a technology and a concept that is revolutionising the industry with regard to efficiency, the environment and not least the work environment,” said Lasse André Hansen, Paxster AS CEO. “We are very pleased to be suppliers for New Zealand Post and we know these vehicles will perform well.”
The Paxsters will be used for combined parcel and mail deliveries in residential areas of New Zealand’s larger towns and cities. A successful pilot has already been held in New Plymouth.
