The possibilities around using electric commercial vehicles will be a hot topic at next year's Microlise Transport Conference, the companies behind the electric, autonomous-ready post delivery trucks in London scheduled to speak.

Royal Mail and technology firm Arrival began trialling the nine vehicles in London in August out of Royal Mail's Mount Pleasant depot.

At the Microlise Transport Conference in May, Arrival's chief of business development will talk about the possibilities of electric vehicles, and how Arrival is overcoming the obstacles to wide-scale adoption.

He said: “We aim to give every fleet the opportunity to change the way it transports goods and make our towns and cities better places to live in.”

“The Royal Mail trial is an important step in making affordable, elegant, quiet, clean and safe vehicles and to remove the main barriers by pricing them in line with conventional trucks.”

Royal Mail's head of fleet engineering Grahame Bennett will give an insight into the UK postal service's work.

He said Royal Mail was "looking forward" to sharing what it had learned from its electric truck trial with conference delegates.

"We are currently putting them through their paces and finding out how they cope with the heavy demands we require, with the view to further adoption of electric in the future," he said.

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