First electric Mobile Post Office trialled in Pembrokeshire

Pembroke Postmaster Mark Wilson swapped his previous diesel vehicle for an electric one and has carried on serving 11 communities in the county over the last few weeks.

This includes places such as Cosheston, Milton, Carew, St Florence, Broadmoor, Lawrenny, Angle, Herbrandston, St Ishmaels, Marloes and Dale.

Post office workers are happy with the electric vehicle's road handling and automatic transmission. (Image: Sheila Tapster)The environmentally vehicle showed it is a better alternative as it can do 100 miles before it needs recharging, which is 40 miles over the longest mileage day of 60 miles for the Pembroke Mobile Post Office.

Mark said: “Our electric Mobile Post Office is turning heads with its distinctive signage. People are used to the typical Post Office red vehicles, but the design on the vehicle is highlighting that this vehicle is better for the environment.

“It’s exciting to have the first of these in the UK. Customers have been praising our new vehicle as it is less polluting and looks good.

“It’s the same height as the previous vehicle, but slightly wider, but still fine for country lanes.

The electric Mobile Post Office has delivered to locations such as Cosheston, Milton, Carew, St Florence, Broadmoor, Lawrenny, Angle, Herbrandston, St Ishmaels, Marloes and Dale. (Image: Sheila Tapster)“There’s a better layout inside, which provides more space to offer more retail to the communities that we visit and more storage space for parcels, as these days there are lots of home shopping returns and people selling items on eBay and other re-sale sites.

"Colleagues working on the Mobile are pleased with its road handling and how smoother it is to drive with automatic transmission.”

Apart from being more energy-efficient, the electric mobile post office vehicles are considered cleaner for the environment.

The electric vehicles are cleaner for the environment. (Image: Sheila Tapster)National Outreach Model owner Nigel Parry added: “We know the green credentials of these vehicles; they are better for the environment as there are no emissions polluting communities. These vehicles are cheaper to run and to maintain.

“Crucially we are testing these vehicles whilst serving communities to ensure that they are fit for purpose. We want to see how they perform in real life conditions.

“We don’t want our postmasters to have range anxiety, especially as they may be visiting several rural communities in one, where there is no charging capacity or time during their busy schedules to get a re-charge until the evening.

“Hilly terrain, cold weather, traffic jams and the age and condition of the battery would all affect the range of a vehicle, so we need to ensure there is spare capacity to serve outlying communities at any time of the year.”

Furthermore, electric vehicles are quicker to maintain due to the current yearly service of diesel vehicles, which may require them to be out of use for whole days.