StreetScooter GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post, and Ford-Werke GmbH are entering a partnership to facilitate the manufacturing of electric-battery delivery vehicles.
Deutsche Post has established itself in the smaller van market by designing and producing an emission free vehicle called the StreetScooter, but now both companies will be working together on a larger electric vehicle, an electric van. The project is using a chassis of a Ford Transit as a base, and it will be fitted with a special body based on Deutsche Post and DHL Paket specs then equipped with an electric-battery drive train.
Production of the new electric van is scheduled to start in July of this year, and it is hoped that before the end of 2018 around 2,500 vehicles will be part of Deutsche Post/DHL Group’s urban delivery traffic. At that size, the joint project will be the largest manufacturer of electric-battery medium-duty delivery vehicles in Europe. Both groups have the same objective of reducing emissions and engineering new traffic solutions for delivery vehicles.
“I consider this partnership another important boost for electro-mobility in Germany”, says executive board member at Deutsche Post AG, Jürgen Gerdes. “This step emphasizes 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!”
Steven Armstrong, president of the Europe, Middle East, and Africa Ford Motor company branches says that “E-Mobility and innovative traffic solutions for urban areas are key focuses for us as we transform our business to meet future challenges”.
Armstrong says that the partnerships is perfectly suited to the strengths of Ford Motor Company, and with Deutsche Post DHL Group they have a partner with “enormous competence and a worldwide network”.
Existing manufacturing lines for the StreetScooter models will receive significant expansions, in addition to the new assembly line. StreetScooter GmbH is planning on manufacturing 20,000 units per year of their successful small electrical delivery vans through different versions at both Aachen and at another site in North Rhine-Westphalia. There are currently around 2500 StreetScooters in use for Deutsche Post throughout all of Germany.
