La Poste is investing to accelerate the “greening” of mail and parcel transport

The public operator will invest 600 million euros to further decarbonize the transport of mail and parcels. La Poste has set itself two objectives: to double the number of electric utility vehicles by 2025, and to gradually phase out diesel-powered trucks from its fleet. The service-mail-parcels director of La Poste, Philippe Dorge, is committed to this: in three years, there will be more electric vehicles than thermal ones in the colors of the group. 200 million euros will be spent initially to purchase some 8,000 cleanly powered light commercial vehicles by 2025. The system will be supplemented by the purchase of 1,000 electric cargo bikes.

The challenge lies in what is called the last kilometer, that which separates the place of storage of the parcels towards the final recipient. One out of two Colissimo deliveries will thus be completely carbon-free by 2025. The commitment brings the effort to 100% in large cities compared to only 16% today. The public service intends to lead by example.

La Poste also uses subcontractors for the delivery of its customers. The challenge is to subject these partner companies to the same objectives. The other part of La Poste’s plan concerns the decarbonization of the 5,000 trucks that transport letters and parcels and which are overwhelmingly owned by private transport companies. This time, the deadline is a little further to allow better adaptation. La Poste will require its private partners to ensure that 50% of the kilometers traveled in France are done with low-carbon heavy goods vehicles by 2030 at the latest.

Putting pressure on is one of the ways to move forward. La Poste has no other choice but this will require an additional investment margin with 400 million euros in addition to the 200 planned in the short term to transform its own fleet. Vehicles used by some 65,000 letter carriers for daily rounds.