Sendle rolls out solar-powered electric delivery vehicles in Australia

E-commerce delivery company Sendle, in partnership with Bonds Transport Group, has rolled out a fleet of all-electric delivery vehicles powered from energy harvested from the sun.

While the Coronavirus pandemic has seen an uptick on online shopping, it also has people thinking more about the improved air quality due to the reduction in fossil-fuelled travel.

Sendle, which was founded in 2014 by James Chin Moody, Sean Geoghegan and Craig Davis, says it has long been considering its impact on the environment, having achieved B-Corp carbon neutral certification when it first launched, and rejecting funding from a potential investor who did not want the company to seek carbon neutral certification.

Now, Sendle is going one step further, with the introduction of the all-electric fleet of Renault Kangoo ZE vans that will enable the small parcel delivery company to reduce its transport-related emissions and save the costs of 30 litres of fuel per vehicle per day, the company says.

The vehicles – and the figures – were unveiled by Sendle head of communications Hannah Belcher on the company’s website on Friday, saying the solar-powered fleet is the first of its kind in Australia.

The all-electric Kangoo ZE vans will, according to Sendle, be powered from a bank of 319 solar panels installed on the rooftop of at the Bonds warehouse in western Sydney.

“Over time, the vans will be used to power parcel delivery in metropolitan areas in the major cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide servicing the growing eCommerce industry,” writes Belcher.

Aimed at the local delivery and business sector, the Kangoo ZE vans from French car maker Renault is the only fully electric van currently on the Australian market.

With 200km real-world driving range and a 33kWh battery, Sendle say the Kangoo ZE will be able to drive a full 10 hour day covering inner metropolitan areas.

“We aim to set the benchmark for sustainable shipping in Australia and hope our transition to solar powered electric vehicle deliveries will inspire others to also make the switch because a cleaner delivery network is vital to our long term viability,” writes Belcher.

Bridie Schmidt

Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.