Whistl Continues to Invest in Electric Vans from Rygor MAXUS: An interview with National Fleet Manager, Paul Macpherson

With more and more businesses taking considered steps to lower their carbon footprint, companies now more than ever are considering electric vehicle options, just like Whistl.

Just as four more electric vans are due to be delivered into the organisation, we caught up with Rygor MAXUS customer, Paul Macpherson, national fleet manager at Whistl, to find out why the logistics company has invested more than £450,000 in electric MAXUS vans from Rygor to date.

Rygor: Paul, can you give us an insight into why Whistl has chosen to make investing in electric vans a priority for the organisation this year?

PM: So, as part of our ESG strategy we took the time to research the potential economic and environmental impact of bringing electric vehicles into our fleet and identified it as being a significant and necessary step, to help us take strides towards achieving our green-impact goals. Approximately 11.3% of our van fleet is now electric.

Rygor: How did you know that electric vans would be right for you?

PM: Before investing in the MAXUS eDeliver 9 vans from Rygor, we analysed in detail the routes our vehicles were regularly taking to understand the mileage and locations. Many of our routes are in urban environments and we effectively saw an opportunity to bring electric vehicles into the fleet in light of this. Not only are many of our routes regular, but they also go into low emission zones, not just in London, but in cities like Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham, and Nottingham, so this was another great reason to invest in electric vans.

Rygor: Why did you choose the MAXUS eDeliver 9 product?

PM: We obviously did a lot of research into the electric vans on the market and trialled several products to see what would work best for our organization.We found the MAXUS eDeliver 9 to be the most competitive option for us, from both a financial and milage capability point of view. Also, having worked with Chris Carter at Rygor for many years and built a strong working relationship with him, I knew I could trust him and the company to help us implement these vehicles into our organization, seamlessly. Rygor is always so accommodating and supportive, even with our most bizarre ideas!

Rygor: A consideration for many businesses will be around charging infrastructure. What decisions has Whistl taken regarding this?

PM: Alongside the introduction of electric vans, we also carried out a tender to implement our own charging stations across our estate. EO won that tender and has worked with us and Rygor to carry out installation at our sites, which is the option that best worked for us. The UK infrastructure for electric charging points is also ever-growing, which provides more charging options throughout the country.

Rygor: It’s obviously really important that any vehicles on your fleet work for the business and are cost effective, but it’s your drivers who are experiencing the realities of driving these vehicles, day in, day out. How have your driving team found the MAXUS eDeliver 9?

PM: I think there was an initial bit of scepticism when we announced that we would be investing in electric vans, but I know that the drivers have been exceptionally positive about the vans since the first day they drove them. They were impressed by how modern the vehicles were, innovative and crucially, comfortable. In fact, we’ve had no negative feedback about them at all.