Nov 26, 2019 - Energy & Climate

DHL to introduce zero-emission electric delivery vans in U.S. in 2020

Rebecca Falconer

15 May 2019, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bonn: Two street scooters will be available for viewing during the Deutsche Post DHL Group Annual General Meeting. — The DHL StreetScooter in Bonn, Germany in May. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images

Global shipper DHL will begin rolling out its zero-emission StreetScooter electric vehicle fleet in the U.S. next spring, as the firm works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Reuters reported Monday.

Why it matters: Per the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the transportation industry contributed to 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 — and many delivery companies are working to get cleaner and greener by using electric vehicles.

The big picture: UPS has 1,000 electric and hybrid electric vehicles and FedEx committed last year to adding 1,000 electric delivery vans to its fleet in California —which launched with automakers in 2018 a multi-million-dollar campaign aimed at speeding up adoption of EVs in the state.

Amazon announced in September it would deploy 10,000 electric delivery vans made by the startup Rivian as soon as 2022, and 100,000 by 2030 or sooner.
"Amazon said its delivery partners are using around 200 electric vehicles," Reuters notes.
In Europe, DHL has spent the past three years introducing its "CO2-free last mile delivery" initiative, with about 10,000 of the 12,000 StreetScooters delivering for DHL and "saving roughly 36,000 metric tons of CO2 per truck each year," per Reuters.

What's next: The EV deployment in the U.S. should be completed by 2022 or 2023, Ulrich Stuhec, StreetScooter's chief technology officer, told Reuters.

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DHL to introduce zero-emission electric delivery vans in U.S. in 2020

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