DHL Express is purchasing its first 100 units of Fiat Professional’s new Fiat E-Ducato. The large vans are 100% electric, boast a large capacity, long life battery, and a range of more than 200km, making the vehicle very well suited for last-mile logistics.
In line with the recently launched Sustainability Roadmap of DPDHL Group, DHL Express plans to have more than 14,000 electric vans in operation in Europe by 2030 to reduce its carbon emissions. The electrification of last-mile logistics is one of the main pillars of DPDHL Group’s recently announced Sustainability roadmap.
In Europe, DHL Express connects consumers and businesses in more than 60 countries and territories relying on a pickup and delivery fleet that consists of around 500 electric vans, mainly operating in urban regions, and 14,000 non-electric vehicles today. Due to the high customer demand for international Express deliveries the company expects its European last-mile fleet growing to approximately 20,000 vans by 2030. To transform its sustainability strategy into reality the company is strongly committed that 60% of its fleet operate electric by end of the current decade (approximately 14,000 vehicles).
A majority are large vans used for urban and metropolitan deliveries. Together with Fiat Professional, the E-Ducato was trialed through tests under different real-world operating conditions such as very low temperatures, extreme slopes, and long distances, to check its response to the whole range of DHL usage patterns.
For DHL Express the strategic partnership with Fiat represents the next evolution of the so far already taken measures to deliver shipments without any CO2 emissions to its customers. So the company is using cargo bikes in metropolis and urban areas such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, Frankfurt am Main and many more and connecting its distribution facilities in the city centres of London and Amsterdam via boat to reduce inner city traffic volume and CO2 emissions.
In addition to the vehicles itself, a totally electric mobility chain needs comprehensive area-wide charging infrastructure. To enable a further expansion of its charging network DHL Express is currently working in collaboration with several specialised companies on a roadmap to significantly increase the number of charging points across Europe within the next years.
