“Driving is much easier now.”

In Zurich, Bern and Geneva, Swiss Post delivers consignments entirely with its own electric vehicles. This means that mail carriers deliver around 132 million letters and approximately 15 million parcels a year to around 530,000 households in these cities using electric vehicles. As a result, Swiss Post is able to reduce its CO2 emissions by 2,000 tonnes per year, which is equivalent to travelling 252 times around the Earth by car.

Quieter and easier on the roads

In total, Swiss Post has more than 7,000 electric vehicles on Switzerland’s roads. This means that we operate the largest electric fleet in Switzerland. We power our e-scooters and four-wheeled e-vehicles entirely with “naturemade star”-certified eco-electricity, produced in Switzerland. As a plus, the electric vehicles are quieter when making deliveries within neighbourhoods, which reduces noise pollution for residents and mail carriers alike.

Rrezarta Beqiri, a mail carrier in Urdorf (ZH), and Visar Qerimi, a team leader and mail carrier in Ostermundigen (BE), are already using the new vehicles. “Driving is much easier for me now, because it’s an automatic vehicle,” says Rrezarta Beqiri. Visar Qerimi is also pleased about this. The downside for both is that the first generation of electric vehicles is limited to 80 km/h, which is particularly noticeable on the motorway.

Charge properly and attract attention

Team leader and mail carrier Visar Qerimi has a few tips for his colleagues in the cities where the changeover is yet to take place: “It’s important that people are well trained in how to handle the charging process,” he says. “Just don’t lose the charging card and always make sure the vehicle is plugged in correctly.” Rrezarta Beqiri adds: “We’re much quieter on the roads than we used to be, so we have to make an effort to draw more attention to ourselves. People don’t automatically move out of the way, because they don’t hear us coming.” She also notes that customers in Zurich are pleased that Swiss Post is now using electric vehicles: “In the city, many people notice the green marking on the vehicle, and we often get positive feedback.”

But we’re not content to stop at Zurich, Bern and Geneva. In summer 2024, deliveries in the city of Basel will be converted to electricity. From 2025, delivery by Swiss Post’s own vehicles in the cities of Biel/Bienne, Winterthur and Lucerne will be fully electric. Swiss Post has set itself the goal of delivering all letters and parcels throughout Switzerland with electric vehicles from 2030. And it wants to achieve its net zero target from 2040.