By Precious John, Special Correspondent

DHL Express, the global leading Express service provider, takes another step in its Zero Emissions strategy. The company today announces its partnership with Fiat Professional, purchasing the first 100 units of Fiat’s new E-Ducato. Yesterday morning the automotive company introduced the new model to the public. These large vans are 100 cent electric and convince with their large capacity and long life battery. With a range of more than 200 km, the E-Ducato is 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 their carbon emissions.

“We strongly believe that the future of last mile logistics is electric”, says CEO DHL Express Europe, Alberto Nobis. “To fulfill our purpose of connecting people and improving lives, we have committed to get greener and cleaner in what we do every single day. By adding the E-Ducatos to our fleet, we take the next important step to reach our goal of electrifying the major part of our last-mile delivery fleet. With Fiat Professional, we found what we were looking for: state-of-the-art technology and powerful batteries which enables us to reach beyond 200 km with one charge to deliver our customers their Express shipments – fast and green.”

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 per cent 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 Head of LCV Enlarged Europe at Stellantis, Eric Laforge the E-Ducato project is a journey towards innovation and the future: “We’re proud that a player as important as DHL Express has chosen the E-Ducato as part of such an ambitious goal. With the E-Ducato, our task was not only to develop a sustainable product from both an economic and environmental perspective, but most of all to provide a complete mobility solution for our partners.”

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 centers 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 specialized companies on a roadmap to significantly increase the number of charging points across Europe within the next years.

The electrification of last mile logistics is one of the main pillars of DPDHL Group’s recently announced Sustainability roadmap. The Group is investing a total of 7 billion euros (Opex and Capex) by 2030 in measures to reduce its CO2 emissions. In addition to the electrification of the vehicles, the funds will go in particular towards sustainable aviation fuels and climate-neutral buildings. On the way to the zero emissions target by 2050, which has already been in place for 4 years, the company is committing to new, ambitious interim targets. For example, as part of the renowned Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi), Deutsche Post DHL Group is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.