DHL has a good history of electric vehicle leadership. Its latest news involves an electric truck order in California.
Image courtesy BYD.
BYD × DHL in LA
BYD is well known as an electric vehicle leader globally, DHL is eager to electrify its fleets, and LA is one of the top metro areas globally for the EV revolution, so combining these three acronyms entities is bound to lead to something good.
It’s only a start, but the news is that DHL is getting 4 Class 8 electric trucks from BYD for use in the Los Angeles metro area. It is a pilot program that I presume will lead to the purchase of many more BYD electric trucks in coming years.
BYD is a Chinese automaker and energy company, but it has a truck and bus factory in California, so it tends to win a lot of commercial electric vehicle orders. Here’s the company talking up its battery-electric trucks a bit: “The electric trucks are … built with long-lasting and safe battery technology, capable of running all day on a single charge. Equipped with a comfortable air-ride cab and air suspension, the trucks have more than enough power and torque to operate at 82,000 lb combined weight.”
“By implementing these electric trucks, we will prevent more than 300 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere per year, as we continue to grow and enhance our clean pick-up and delivery solutions,” Greg Hewitt, CEO of DHL Express US, says.
DHL’s Electric History
Photo courtesy DHL.
DHL Express reportedly has orders in for 72 electric vans from a variety of manufacturers in California and New York. However, that’s just the latest of a long list of electric vehicle commitments and orders.
Let’s take a stroll through some of DHL’s previous electric vehicle efforts to put this latest news into context.
Photo courtesy DHL.
In 2016, DHL/Deutsche Post started producing its own delivery vans for use in Europe. In early 2017, due to these electric vehicles’ great usefulness, the company decided to double production. Later in 2017, DHL partnered with Ford to get more electric trucks produced in Germany.
DHL also ordered 10 Tesla Semi electric trucks back in late 2017, and the President of Transportation at DHL Supply Chain, Jim Monkmeyer, believes that these electric semi trucks will pay for themselves in just a year and a half.
Photo courtesy DHL.
In January 2020, DHL and several others launched the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance (CEVA). “The Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance helps address these challenges by providing a platform for members to collaborate to identify challenges and potential solutions, and to leverage aggregate corporate demand to:
- Expand production of new and increased volumes of electric vehicle models,
- Grow the electric vehicle market and improve economies of scale,
- Encourage the adoption of supportive policies and the removal of policy barriers, and
- Foster peer-to-peer learning by sharing industry best practices.”
Photo courtesy DHL.
Perhaps most fun of all, DHL is using electric boats to move packages along in London.
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