GERMANY – We often publish articles on the rapid progress being made by smaller independent manufacturers fighting to supply cutting edge technology low emission vehicles for the delivery of short or medium range freight contracts. Now the big guns are taking the challenge seriously and you can be sure progress will be rapid when companies like Mercedes Benz have turned their attention to the growing market.
In the next few weeks Deutsche Post is expanding its fleet with alternatively powered vehicles and will be testing a total of 15 Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL vans. The Vito E-CELL meets the technical requirements with regard to range and payload in mail delivery operations and can be used flexibly in a large number of areas. The operational profile involving a great deal of stop-start traffic and a low daily mileage is the ideal scenario for taking advantage of the benefits of electric drives and for checking the vehicles’ capability in operational use.
Deutsche Post DHL is committed to reducing its emissions of CO2 by 30% in the next ten years set against 2007 totals, hence the trial of cleaner equipment. This aim applies to sub-contractors vehicles as well as the in house fleet.
The new vans utilise battery-electric drives and will be used in the mail delivery service. The day to day testing in Berlin and Stuttgart will also be supported by the “Electric Mobility for Economic Transport” Program funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety as well as the “Electric Mobility in Pilot Regions” Program funded by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development.
As our picture of an 1899 Electric Daimler Mail Van shows, this is merely a case of reinventing the (in this case German) wheel.