DPD names Oxford as its first all electric city

Oxford has become delivery firm DPD's first electric vehicles only city, with nine further UK locations set to be confirmed this year.

Vision 25 is DPD's pledge to deliver ‘green' to 25 major UK towns and cities, covering 25% of the UK population by 2025, and is backed by a £111 million investment in electric vehicles.

We aim to become a key partner for cities and customers to jointly make our planet a better place, because we all share the #SameAddress 🌍 #Sustainability #LowEmissions #LowCarbon pic.twitter.com/9XAkMYtqZt
— DPDgroup (@DPDgroup_news) July 26, 2021

All Oxford parcel deliveries will be made from DPD's new Bicester depot.

The 60,000 sq ft hub at Symmetry Park is the company’s first ‘net zero carbon in construction' building, as regulated by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC).

It has a fleet of 40 electric vehicles, and they will deliver over 15,000 parcels a week across the city.

Vision 25 is part of a Europe wide drive by DPDgroup involving 225 urban areas in 20 countries.

In the UK, the other 24 towns and cities included in the initiative will be: Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton and Stoke-on-Trent.

DPD's Head of CSR, Olly Craughan, comments: "To be able to say we can now deliver to a city the size of Oxford, using only electric vehicles, is a huge leap forward not only us, but for the sector as a whole.”

He adds: “Bicester is the greenest and most sustainable facility in our UK network and it is right that we start the roll-out of our 25 green cities here, at a time when Oxford itself is taking a huge step with the Zero Emission Zone pilot due to be launched later this year.”

“Our whole approach to sustainability is about joining up the dots beyond just buying electric vehicles.”

“And that means working with others on initiatives like city centre emissions schemes and measuring air quality. With this approach, we will be helping reduce emissions one city centre at a time, starting with Oxford."