The 10,000th StreetScooter joins the DHL fleet
The 10,000th StreetScooter to join the DHL parcel delivery fleet has just been presented in Cologne, Germany. Since its launch, the Post subsidiary’s electric vehicles have covered more than 100 million kilometres and saved around 36,000 tons of CO2 annually.
Along with 10,000 StreetScooter vans, DHL also has 12,000 e-bikes and e-trikes to complete the array, along with 13,500 charging points at its depots and delivery bases.
The StreetScooter Work and Work L are produced at plants in Aachen and Dueren, Germany, while Ford Motor produces the Work XL model electric van at its factory in Cologne, Germany.
“The StreetScooters also enable us to create more occupational health and safety among our employees,” Tobias Meyer said. “The vehicle has a number of features that promote the acceptance of the vehicle by colleagues, including a design that enables employees to more easily climb into and out of the truck during the many delivery stops it makes and the high loading sill that helps protect employees’ backs. This is an obvious benefit of our decision to incorporate delivery employees into the design process.”
This electrification effort is part of the DHL’s GoGreen environmental protection program. As part of this program, Deutsche Post DHL Group plans to reduce all logistics-related emissions to zero by 2050.
Tobias Meyer, the Board of Management member who oversees Post & Parcel Germany, said: “Our strong commitment to e-mobility shows that environmental protection is hardly a passing fancy or a way to score public relations points at our company. We take this issue very seriously. You simply have to look at our ambitious goal to achieve zero emissions by 2050 to see just how serious we are about it. The 10,000th StreetScooter is an important milestone on the way to the ‘green zero’ and shows one thing: Deutsche Post DHL Group is taking forceful action and is fueling transport change in Germany.”
In May this year, at the GreenTech Festival in Berlin, StreetScooter announced their cooperation in developing the ‘H2 Panel Van’. The van will be the first standard 4.25-ton electric utility van powered by hydrogen fuel cell – enabling a range of up to 500 kilometres.
DHL operates roughly 99,000 delivery vehicles globally – so even with the 10,000th StreetScooter, they are still a way to go towards their electrification goals. In the meantime, StreetScooter is also supplying electric delivery vehicles to companies in Japan, Britain, Germany. Despite this, the German postal services group is reticent about making large investments in StreetScooter with the kinds of risks associated with large-scale vehicle production.
According to Automotive News Europe, Deutsche Post is making progress in its search for a partner for Streetscooter. “We see a broad interest along the entire value chain,” said Tobias Meyer, Member of the Management Board responsible for letters and parcels in Germany, on Friday in Cologne. It seems that this also applies to suppliers from the broader field of electric vehicles through to vehicle users, apart from the classic automobile manufacturers. “We are still open. In some areas there are already “more concrete discussions”.
Last year Deutsche Post /DHL Group hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate options for StreetScooter as it seeks to expand and tap the evidently rising demand. Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel has said options include cooperating with manufacturers, floating the firm on the stock exchange or bringing in a financial investor.
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