DHL Express launches electric vehicle in Australia

DHL Express has put its first fully electric vehicle on Australian roads following a successful trial. The electric vehicle is a Renault Kangoo ZE Van and will be used as the company mail car in Sydney, driving between DHL Express offices.
The Renault Kangoo ZE Van is part of the company’s already operational fleet of hybrid delivery vans. The electric vehicle, dependent upon the driving style and conditions, can be on the road for an average of four hours, an equivalent travelling distance of 100 kilometres on a single charge, eliminating the production of 4.75 tonnes of carbon emissions from the environment over the course of one year. The vehicle runs on a lithium-ion battery and takes six to nine hours to complete a full charge.
“As a global company, we acknowledge the environmental impact of our day-to-day operations and our responsibility to reduce this wherever possible,” said Gary Edstein, CEO/ Senior Vice President at DHL Express Oceania. “Globally, we have seen a 30 per cent improvement in our carbon efficiency since 2008 – and we are aiming to further improve this through new green initiatives like this electric vehicle.”
Overseas, DHL Express has introduced electric vehicles, including electric vans and scooters, on routes in Germany, Japan and Taiwan.
DHL’s parent company, Deutsche Post DHL Group will also proceed with increased production of its own StreetScooter electric vehicle in 2017.
The company announced on March 8 the ambitious target of reducing all logistics-related emissions to zero by 2050. On the road to achieving this, it has also outlined a number of interim goals, including increasing its carbon efficiency by 50 per cent and operating 70 per cent of its own first- and last-mile delivery with clean transport solutions by 2025.
“We looked to our DHL Express colleagues around the world to see the solutions they had developed and were inspired by the success of electric vehicles in these countries,” Edstein said.
“In 2016, we trialled an electric courier van delivering to Sydney’s CBD, and found that a wider rollout of electric vehicles within DHL Express Australia’s courier fleet would require more conveniently located electric charging stations in cities across the country, and vans that can travel longer distances without needing to recharge.”
“Compared to small, densely populated European and Asian cities where electric vehicles are currently operating, Australian cities have unique geographical challenges in terms of distance.”