DHL Germany sets e-cargo bike ambition to satisfy last mile delivery

DHL Germany is turning to e-mobility, in particular e-cargo bikes, to satisfy a large portion of its last mile delivery needs.

Now operating across the country, the logistics giant operates some 10,500 pedelecs and 2,500 StreetScooters – the largest fleet of its kind in Germany.

Proven in the majority of cases to save businesses money, last mile delivery starting at a consolidation distribution centre on the edge of a city is increasingly popular and not just with postal businesses.

It’s for this reason that DHL Germany has now set a target to convert 70% of its deliveries to “clean solutions” by 2025.

DHL has actively become involved in the design of such vehicles in recent times, recently achieving an e-bike capable of carrying four mail containers over the prior three. Currently being tested is an e-trike, capable of delivering some 90kg of mail.

“We are very serious about our climate protection initiative and are passionate about it,” says Jürgen Gerdes, Group CEO, Deutsche Post DHL Group. “And for the benefit of the environment, the additional benefit for our employees, which we equip with the most modern work equipment.”

By 2050 DHL Germany hopes to have reduced its emissions to zero. By contrast, Britain’s Royal Mail will entirely shun cargo bikes within its £2 billion “modernisation plan”.

Having sent a chunk of the iconic Pashley Pronto (otherwise known as the Mailstar) fleet to Africa for recycling over the past 6 years, the logistics giant told CI.N in April 2016 that the modernisation would remain a wholly motorised affair – with the UK’s biggest fleet of over 49,000 vehicles making deliveries.