Dachser to electrify more city fleets in Europe by 2025
The German logistics provider Dachser plans to expand their emission-free delivery areas to at least ten more major European cities by 2025.
++ This article has been updated; please continue reading below. ++
The company already has delivery hubs with electric vehicles going to several major European cities, including Berlin, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Dortmund, Copenhagen, Oslo, Prague, Strasbourg, Paris, Madrid and Porto. Next, Dachser wants to expand that list by at least ten more major European cities by 2025.
In May 2021, Dachser announced it would deliver zero-emission goods in eleven EU cities by the end of 2022.
According to the current announcement, there will be 22 cities by 2024 – which, after twelve cities in less than 20 months, would be a slower pace of expansion than before. But: this was a pilot project. “With Dachser Emission-Free Delivery, we have proven that we can deliver the last mile with emission-free groupage,” says Chief Development Officer (CDO) Stefan Hohm. “The research project has made the step into practice and points towards more sustainable urban logistics.”
As it continues to expand beyond the research project, Dachser faces a challenge currently preoccupying many players in the market – the availability of suitable zero-emission vehicles and charging infrastructure. “Since vehicle manufacturers have ramped up their production capacity, we expect electric trucks to be more readily available in the future,” says Alexander Tonn, Chief Operations Officer of Road Logistics at Dachser. “That’s why we’re planning rollouts in at least ten more cities by 2025, in line with the wishes of many of our customers.”
Dachser did not specify which vehicles to use but refers to being well-prepared for any bans on combustion engines that major cities already have or are planning.
In Germany, the company ordered 50 eActros LongHaul electric trucks in December, which had previously been affected by limited availability. The first batch of electric trucks had been ordered only months earlier, in February.
The announcement also leaves open which cities will be next. Dachser says the main focus was on major European cities with populations of at least one million where the company’s European Logistics business line already has a branch.
The company first rolled out the ‘Dachser Emission-Free Delivery’ concept for the city of Stuttgart, Germany. In 2018, it won an award for sustainable urban logistics from the German Ministry for the Environment and the German Environment Agency.
Dachser says the concept is “fundamentally suited to all European cities” thanks to its modularity. The company uses a mix of battery-electric vans and trucks as well as electric cargo bikes per local requirements.
Update 19 July 2023
Dachser has delivered details on the scheduled expansion of the ‘Dachser Emission-Free Delivery’ scheme. The company now designated twelve, and not ten, major cities in Europe to roll out deliveries with electric vehicles throughout 2025.
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Hamburg, Cologne, London, Malaga, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Toulouse, Warsaw and Vienna all made it to the list, specifically in low-emission areas being defined across Europe.
In addition, Dachser will expand the existing zero-emission delivery area in Paris. Apart from the French capital, Berlin, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Dortmund, Copenhagen, Oslo, Prague, Strasbourg, Madrid, and Porto already benefit from electric vehicles fleets revolving around Dachser’s “microhubs”. These depots serve, for example, as starting points for cargo bikes to carry goods into busy pedestrian zones. E-trucks, in turn supply the microhubs with goods or, for parcels and pallets that are too large or heavy for bike transport, deliver the goods directly to recipients.
“Geography, social structure, administration: each city has its own unique profile, which we take into account when planning and implementing a zero-emission delivery area,” explains Tara Li, Project Manager Dachser Emission-Free Delivery. “At the same time, we can draw on our experience gained in twelve European cities to identify synergies and potential for optimization.”
Once completed, the ‘Dachser Emission-Free Delivery’ project will cover 24 urban centres in Europe.
“We deliberately set ourselves the ambitious goal of doubling the number of cities served by Dachser Emission-Free Delivery by the end of 2025,” says Alexander Tonn, COO of Road Logistics at Dachser. “Our network locations are highly motivated to meet our customers’ desire for more sustainable city deliveries. Achieving our goal is based on our expectations that light electric trucks will become much more readily available and expansion of the charging infrastructure will pick up pace across Europe.”
0 Comments