Deutsche Post subsidiary StreetScooter GmbH and Ford-Werke GmbH are entering a partnership for the manufacturing of battery-electric delivery vehicles.
Deutsche Post has already left its mark in the smaller van segment by designing and producing the emission-free StreetScooter, now both partners are working on a larger vehicle type. The chassis of the Ford Transit provides the technical basis. It will be equipped with a battery-electric drive train and fitted with a special body construction based on Deutsche Post and DHL Paket specifications.
The start of production is scheduled for July 2017. Before the end of 2018 at least 2,500 vehicles will support the urban delivery traffic of Deutsche Post DHL Group. With this volume, the joint project will become the largest manufacturer of battery-electric medium-duty delivery vehicles in Europe
Both Deutsche Post DHL Group and Ford share 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 the Deutsche Post AG. “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 carbon neutral CO2-neutral 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, group vice president and president Europe, Middle East and Africa, Ford Motor Company. “As the leader in commercial vehicles in Europa, 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.”
In addition to the new assembly line the existing manufacturing of the StreetScooter models will be significantly expanded as previously announced. StreetScooter GmbH is planning to manufacture 20,000 units per year of their successful small electrical delivery van in different versions in Aachen and another site in North Rhine-Westphalia. Today, there are already 2,500 StreetScooter in use for Deutsche Post throughout Germany. More and more prospective buyers from the outside are signalling their interest or have already received StreetScooters in order to convert their fleet to zero-emission operation.
