UPS is planning to deploy a fleet of 35 modular, all-electric delivery vehicles for a trial program in London and Paris, the company said Wednesday, and being as boxy as they are, I love them.
UPS said it’s teaming up with a United Kingdom-based tech firm called Arrival to develop the fleet. The vehicles will carry a battery range of more than 150 miles, UPS said, as well as advanced driver assistance systems to aid the operators.
Something I didn’t know is that UPS has a rather rich history with electric vehicles. The company says it first introduced them into its fleet in the 1930s, and then reintroduced a more modern electric vehicle in 2001. Currently, there’s more than 300 on the road in Europe and the U.S., but none look like the box-shaped adorable prototype seen here.
It’s not immediately clear what sort of advanced driver aid systems are going to be included, but I bet mail carriers would appreciate having a side-collision warning feature or automatic emergency braking.
UPS says the first vehicles from the fleet are supposed to be deployed by the end of 2018.