Emissions & Efficiency

DHL, Ford show off 'early build' larger electric van based on Transit

Aug. 18, 2017

After announcing a collaboration with Ford some months ago to develop a heavier-duty electric delivery vehicle, Deutsche Post DHL Group and the automaker this week took the wraps off the Streetscooter Work XL in Cologne, Germany.

Aaron Marsh

This follows on DHL's acquisition of Streetscooter, which offered a light van-type electric delivery vehicle with a small box in the rear, and arrangement to produce that smaller unit as a part of DHL's clean fleet efforts. DHL is also looking to sell those Streetscooters to outside parties — and in that regard, DHL Express CEO Ken Allen said last month that some of those could be headed "down under" to an Australian customer.

The new Work XL variant will be available for outside purchase as well. For now, DHL and Ford said that "around 150" of the larger electric delivery vans will be manufactured this year at the Streetscooter plant in Aachen, Germany and will be put to use in DHL's parcel delivery fleet. By the end of 2018, DHL, Ford and Streetscooter are looking to have rolled 2,500 of the upsized electric vans off the assembly line.

About the Author

Aaron Marsh

Before computerization had fully taken hold and automotive work took someone who speaks engine, Aaron grew up in Upstate New York taking cars apart and fixing and rewiring them, keeping more than a few great jalopies (classics) on the road that probably didn't deserve to be. He spent a decade inside the Beltway covering Congress and the intricacies of the health care system before a stint in local New England news, picking up awards for both pen and camera.

He wrote about you-name-it, from transportation and law and the courts to events of all kinds and telecommunications, and landed in trucking when he joined FleetOwner in July 2015. Long an editorial leader, he was a keeper of knowledge at FleetOwner ready to dive in on the technical and the topical inside and all-around trucking—and still turned a wrench or two. Or three.

Aaron previously wrote for FleetOwner.