Deutsche Post StreetScooter Ford Transit electric van

Deutsche Post plans Ford Transit-based electric van

Deutsche Post StreetScooter Ford Transit electric van

Deutsche Post will produce a new electric van using a Ford Transit chassis and bespoke electric drivetrain and body.

Electric vans may still be a rarity, but German logistics giant Deutsche Post is making a big commitment to e-power. The group has announced plans to build a new e-van based on a Ford Transit chassis. Production is due to start next month (July 2017) and expectations are for “at least 2,500” of these vans to be in use by Deutsche Post DHL Group by the end of 2018.

Deutsche Post isn’t without experience in this area. The vans will be made by the group’s subsidiary, StreetScooter. As I reported in January, this former startup has already designed and produced a smaller electric van model. The postal group is already using 2,500 of these smaller vans throughout Germany. Plans are now in place to scale up production to 20,000 units per year.

StreetScooter’s new Ford Transit-based electric van 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 company expects that this new model will help the project become the largest manufacturer of all-electric medium-duty delivery vehicles in Europe.

It may seem unlikely for a logistics group to be designing and manufacturing its own vehicles. But in my view it’s a sign of the times. Large vehicle manufacturers have been slow to take advantage of this new technology and are perhaps constricted by their need to make models with commercial appeal for a wide range of customers.

Corporate giants such as Deutsche Post have the scale and financial firepower to leapfrog the automotive industry’s development processes. They can — and are — simply producing the vehicles they want using readily available technology. It’s a similar situation to the increasing number of large US companies who are switching away from conventional electricity companies and generating their own green electricity from solar farms.

The automative world is changing, folks. And this is only the start.

1 thought on “Deutsche Post plans Ford Transit-based electric van

  1. Pingback: StreetScooter unveils Work XL electric Transit van | Van News: The VanRental.co.uk Blog

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