AusPost to trial electric vehicles in Hobart

Australia Post will conduct a 12-week pilot involving trialling three-wheel electric vehicles for mail delivery.

The new e-vehicles will be used to deliver letters and small parcels in five Hobart suburbs, starting from 20 March. The vehicles have three times the capacity of current Australia Post motorbikes and can hold up to 100 small parcels and 1200 letters at a time.

The e-vehicles have a battery range of up to nine hours and can reach speeds of up to 45 km/h. Transport Tasmania has granted the vehicles an exemption to ride on footpaths for mail delivery.

From April the trial will also be extended to smaller field pilots in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.

Australia Post Head of Network Optimisation Mitch Buxton said Hobart was selected as the inaugural city for the trial due to the high rate of online shopping in the city.

“We know that residents in Hobart love online shopping. In fact the yearly growth rate in this area is above the national average, sitting at 13.8% growth compared to 11.5%,” he said.

Buxton said the trial forms part of Australia Post’s efforts to modernise in response to the changing composition of Australian mail.

“Our parcels business generates over 70% of our total revenue. Ten years ago parcels contributed less than 25% of our revenue. [At the same time] letter volumes have nearly halved,” he said.

“As our business transforms so too are the jobs that our workforce are doing. A few years ago we equipped our posties so they can deliver small parcels and this latest initiative will allow them to deliver even more — helping to ensure their roles remain meaningful well into the future.”