Royal Mail delivers post to around 32 million UK addresses six days a week and are one of the largest employers in the UK, with around 130,000 employees.
We worked with Royal Mail on Optimise Prime, a 4-year Ofgem study into the effects of commercial EVs on the electricity network. The aim was to develop solutions and business models to enable fleets to accelerate the transition to EVs more cheaply than they would otherwise do so.
It was the world’s largest commercial EV trial, with over 6,000 EVs from British Gas, Royal Mail and Uber fleets in the southeast, taking part to trial new connection profiles, smart charging and demand side response for depot, home, and public road-based fleets. Hitachi built on its experience to develop smart charging algorithms that could be deployed to charge points to control EV charging according to available network capacity, building load, EV schedules and battery types, and electricity tariffs.
As part of Optimise Prime, Hitachi worked with Royal Mail on the installation and operation of charge points at their depots, while monitoring the business impact of the move to electric vans. This required us to understand Royal Mail’s specific needs and agree on realistic timelines for activities. Royal Mail were very happy with the work that Hitachi carried out during Optimise Prime, especially as many suppliers have struggled in the past to deliver solutions in depot locations.
Our solution
Royal Mail needed to efficiently manage and optimise charging for their electric fleet, across 10 depots, while minimising costs. Electrification across depots can be highly expensive, ranging from grid connection costs to ongoing electricity expenses.
We deployed our charging optimisation solution, ZeroCarbon Charge, across the 10 Royal Mail depots, which leveraged advanced capabilities in load balancing.
We worked collaboratively with Royal Mail, including on-the-ground at depots, to ensure that the solution was integrated with existing technologies. Our solution harnessed vehicle data, so extensive testing was completed to ensure that data on Royal Mail’s vehicles was accurate.
Benefits delivered to Royal Mail
- Charging optimisation enabled the effective management and optimisation of all EV charging across Royal Mail’s depots. This ensured that all fleets were charged to fulfil their operational requirements, thus preventing any business disruption due to the transition to electric vehicles.
- The load balancing functionality successfully managed charging within existing connection constraints, avoiding the need for costly grid upgrades. These savings were forecasted to be £80,000 – £190,000 per depot depending on size, providing Royal Mail with substantial value saving potential.
- Reduced energy costs were accomplished primarily through efficient peak reduction strategies, which enhanced the cost efficiency of Royal Mail’s EV operations. Our solution demonstrated the ability to theoretically reduce fleet energy costs by up to 60%.