Why Parcel Lockers are better than EVs?

News Warehousing

By Juan Sotolongo, CEO Lockars

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I think that most would agree that reducing the number of delivery vans constantly circulating on our busy streets would be a very desirable outcome. This would arguably be even more attractive than replacing petrol vans with EV vans, especially as it relieves traffic congestion. This reduction in delivery vans is precisely what parcel lockers can deliver. I live in London (where Lockars is launching its first parcel locker) and am quite familiar with the current situation here.

A recent Mckinsey Study on Urban Logistics found parcel lockers to be one of main contributors to reducing CO2 emissions and traffic congestion. The chart below summarizes their conclusion that the consolidation opportunity that parcel lockers provide would result in a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions due to the reduction of delivery vehicles required.

For those of you interested in the analysis, all the data and assumptions are included below, with the conclusion being that in London a large network of 5,500 parcel lockers would reduce circulating vans by 4,500 and CO2 emissions by 26 million kg’s per year.

No effective solution can be implemented as quickly. What is required is the support of the local and central governments to

give this initiative the same priority that EV charging locations have been given. In fact, combining these two complementary initiatives would be by far the greatest win for the local communities!

Current Status in London (2020 data)

  • Annual home delivery volume: 630 million packages
  • Daily average: 2 million packages

You can read the full article in The Logistics Point Magazine October 2021 on page 21. Read here for free!

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