ELECTRIFICATION - AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE FUTURE
At a high pace, part of the transport sector are now electrifying when shifting to battery technology from combustion engines in vans and light trucks. Currently fairly large volumes of goods are already transported by means of electricity via rail, but when we mention electrification of transport for goods, the first thing on people’s minds are often vehicles powered by battery technology.
Instead of waiting
When the electric vehicles available on the European market still were too small or too expensive in our logistics flows, we, as a group, simply began to develop our own electric vehicles. By acquiring an innovative company with a focus on emission-free transport vehicles in 2014, we entered the automotive industry. Since then, DPDHL has produced over 10,000 electric vehicles, which occasionally made us one of the largest suppliers of electric vehicles in the German market. Vehicle manufacturing has never been our core business but now there are several good external suppliers of electric transport vehicles. This is a telling example of how we are constantly trying to find new ways to move forward and drive the development towards climate-smart transport in the right direction.
DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks are jointly investing in fossil-free road transport for longer distances
DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have entered into a partnership to accelerate the introduction of heavy electric trucks for regional transport in Europe. The collaboration marks another important step towards climate-neutral transport solutions.
More research and demonstrations
At DHL, we predict that many different technologies will be available in the future. Electricity will be an important part of the puzzle to achieve Sweden's environmental goals and the government's announcement in 2020 to build 200 km of electric road by 2030. Significant investments in charging infrastructure for heavy vehicles are welcomed by us. At the same time, we acknowledge that the combustion engine will remain in the foreseeable future and therefore it is still important for us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels as well. To accelerate the shift and achieve increased electrification, we have been part of a large research project, Reel, since 2020, where we, together with Volvo, Scania and Dagab, will demonstrate electrified heavy vehicles. The purpose of the project is to pave the way for large-scale electrification in Sweden.
