Postal firm, car maker join forces to create electric delivery vehicles
GREEN NEWS
Germany’s Deutsche Post subsidiary StreetScooter and Ford’s commercial vehicle division in the country are entering a partnership to manufacture batteryelectric delivery vehicles.
Deutsche Post has already made its mark in the smaller van segment by designing and producing the emission-free StreetScooter, but now the partners are working on a larger vehicle type. The chassis of the Ford Transit will provide the technical basis and the vehicle will be equipped with a batteryelectric drivetrain and fitted with a special body construction based on Deutsche Post and DHL specifications.
JOINT PROJECT
The company is not wasting any time either, with the start of production scheduled for July. It says at least 2,500 vehicles will support the urban delivery traffic of Deutsche Post DHL Group before the end of 2018.
With this volume, the partnership will become the largest manufacturer of battery-electric medium-duty delivery vehicles in Europe.
A statement declared that Deutsche Post DHL Group and Ford shared the same objective of building future mobility by reducing emissions and creating new traffic solutions. This partnership is an important and tangible step towards achieving these goals.
“I consider this partnership another important boost for electro-mobility in Germany,” says Jürgen Gerdes, member of the executive board of Deutsche Post. “This step emphasises that Deutsche Post is an innovation leader. It will relieve the inner cities and increase the people’s quality of life. We will continue working on completely carbonneutral logistics.”
“E-mobility and innovative traffic solutions for urban areas are key focuses for us as we transform our business to meet future challenges,” says Steven Armstrong, Ford group vicepresident and president of Europe, Middle East and Africa. “As the leader in commercial vehicles in Europe, this partnership plays perfectly to our strengths and in StreetScooter and the Deutsche Post DHL Group we have a partner with enormous competence and a worldwide network.”
EXPANSION
In addition to the new assembly line the existing manufacturing of the StreetScooter models will be significantly expanded. StreetScooter is planning to manufacture 20,000 units per year of its small electric delivery van at two sites in Germany.
Today there are already 2,500 StreetScooters in use by Deutsche Post throughout Germany. The company says more and more prospective buyers from outside the group are signalling their interest or have already received StreetScooters to convert their fleet to zeroemission operations.