Milk & More, Britain’s largest milk delivery service is rolling out its quietest and most environmentally friendly delivery vehicles to date, following its purchase of 200 electric StreetScooters. The £6.5 million investment in the StreetScooters is part of Milk & More’s strategy to secure the future of the much-loved British milkman and makes the business one of the largest operators of electric vehicles in the country. The new fleet of electric floats is the first of its kind in the UK and represents the latest step as the brand continues to transform its operation in 2018. Milk & More is also the first UK company to operate the StreetScooter EV van, which is currently only used in Germany by Deutsche Post.
Powered by rechargeable batteries, the StreetScooters are replacing diesel vehicles on urban roads and with Milk & More’s existing 200 electric milk floats, this means that a third of the fleet will now be electric. Noise reduction is a key customer benefit of the new floats and a very important one, given that many of the milkmen and women deliver to customers’ homes mostly by 7am.
The StreetScooters have a 905kg payload and an eight-metre cube box, enabling Milk & More to carry 860 pints of milk at a time, as well as an extensive range of high quality locally sourced products – from bacon and bread to cereals and juice. The new floats have zero emissions and a range of up to 75 miles. Economical to run, in the first month of operation, Milk & More has seen a 90 percent reduction on operational fuel costs, versus the outgoing diesel vehicles.
The StreetScooters are excellent for driver safety too, as they are all left-hand drive, enabling milkmen and women to get in and out of the milk floats on the kerbside. Milk & More is likely to add to the 200 StreetScooters it has already purchased as it seeks to further increase its fleet of electric milk floats later in the year.
Patrick Müller, CEO of Milk & More, said: “Our customers are at the heart of every decision we take and that includes our investment in the StreetScooter milk floats. As a business, we are committed to making this great British tradition relevant to 21st century consumers and therefore the delivery vehicles we use must also meet those needs. The new StreetScooters are our most environmentally friendly milk floats yet and are a fundamental part of a wider business strategy to provide a trusted home delivery service that connects customers with a wide range of high quality, locally sourced products. We are already seeing the results of this strategy with a significant increase of 40,000 new online customers since January 2018, 90% of whom are ordering milk in our iconic one-pint glass bottles. We deliver 100 million of these glass bottles every year, and each is reused on average 25 times.”
Patrick Müller summarised the benefits of the roll out: “The StreetScooter is an ideal fit, from an environmental and noise reduction standpoint, for both us and our customers. We’re on a transformational journey, and the StreetScooter certainly helps us make this iconic tradition relevant to 21st century customers. It’s an exciting time for the business.”