DHL Express has announced a partnership with Fiat Professional, purchasing the first 100 units of the OEM’s new e-Ducato. The large vans are 100% electric and have a range of more than 200km, making them well suited for last-mile logistics. In line with the recently launched DPDHL Group Sustainability Roadmap, DHL Express plans to have more than 14,000 electric vans in operation in Europe by 2030 to reduce carbon emissions.
“We strongly believe that the future of last-mile logistics is electric,” said Alberto Nobis, CEO of DHL Express Europe. “To fulfill our purpose of connecting people and improving lives, we have committed to getting 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 that enable us to reach beyond 200km with one charge to deliver our customers their express shipments – fast and green.”
DHL’s European fleet currently uses around 500 electric vans, mainly operating in urban regions, and 14,000 non-electric vehicles. Due to the high customer demand for international express deliveries, the company expects its European last-mile fleet to grow to approximately 20,000 vans by 2030. To transform its sustainability strategy into reality, it has committed to 60% of its fleet operating on electricity by the end of the current decade (approximately 14,000 vehicles).
Together with Fiat Professional, the e-Ducato was trialed through tests in different real-world operating conditions such as very low temperatures, extreme slopes and long distances, to check the vehicle’s response to the whole range of DHL usage patterns.
The e-Ducato was manufactured by Stellantis, a light commercial vehicle maker formed at the start of 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA. For Eric Laforge, head of LCV Enlarged Europe at Stellantis, DHL Express’s adoption of the van is an important win: “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 an environmental perspective, but most of all to provide a complete mobility solution for our partners.”