THE future of delivery is electric, we are led to believe, and many businesses are already moving in that direction – but not quite in the off-the-wall way we recently discovered.

Paulo Benfeito owns and runs Amore Bakery in Leighton Buzzard and has driven a huge 220K miles in just over two years with his Tesla Model S.

He covers an average of 200 miles a day delivering his branded cupcakes. He said: “I used to have conventional van and now customers are usually astonished when I open the frunk – (front boot) and take the cupcakes out .

“In case you were wondering, I can fit 3000 cupcakes in my Model S – boot and frunk. They are normally shocked when I turn up with a Tesla and are even more confused when I tell them that this car is cheaper to run than my old Mercedes Van.”

Benfeito added: “From a financial perspective, Model S makes the most sense when compared to other vehicles I was looking into. I purchased my car through my business and have saved a fortune.

“I don’t pay road tax, there are no fuel costs involved, I don’t have to pay congestion charge and there are significant tax savings when used as a company car. I calculated that I saved approximately £3,500 a year in contrast to the van I used to drive.”

Cheesemaker and Dairy Farmer, Robin Betts uses his Tesla Model X for his carbon neutral artisan cheese business. He’s racked up 7,000 miles already, since taking delivery in May, mainly making cheese deliveries and getting to and from farmers markets in London.

He is also looking to use Model X to tow the milk tank trailer from farm to cheese dairy, getting rid of tail pipe emissions at that phase of the process too. Betts charges the Model X from solar panels resulting in carbon neutral cheese deliveries and zero cost.

He said: “We have installed three Tesla Powerwalls to further capture and utilise our cleanly produced energy and will shortly be installing a medium sized wind turbine to give a broad spread of carbon neutrally produced energy.”

Betts and his family also made an epic journey to Corsica for his furthest cheese delivery yet. He added: “The journey was totally amazing for us all. 100% electric all the way 1,200 miles, with no pollution. Travelling some days as much as four hours before needing to re-charge the Tesla, Model X 100D.

“Also you are interested, you can fit even more cheese in the front trunk, keeping it cool and out of the cabin – although for the 1200 mile journey to Corsica we did also utilise a small travel fridge!”

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