DPD Austria complains about difficult search for electro-vehicles

Currently offered electronic vehicles for use in city centres fails DPD Austria’s expectation regarding cargo hold and coverage
 
The search for electronic vehicles is quite difficult for the private parcel service DPD Austria. In a test run the enterprise delivered parcels with electro vehicles in Salzburg city, to see whether the environmentally friendly driving technology is suitable for daily distribution business. The electro-car covered 384 kilometres.
 
“This test shows our continued efforts to find electronic vehicles for delivery in city centres“, says Rainer Schwarz, Managing Director DPD Austria GmbH. According to him cargo hold and coverage are the problems there. A coverage of about 80 kilometres is not ideal for distribution. Moreover the charging stations in Salzburg can not be used for the special vehicle; they can only be recharged at the depot, outside the city. “Unfortunately disadvantages are dominating in total“, says Schwarz.
 
Schwarz sees advantages of the electronic vehicle in the low energy costs and the quiet and environmentally friendly operation. These are also the reasons why DPD will adhere to the issue of electronic mobility. “In Austria there is the advantage that electronic vehicles can be supplied with really environmentally friendly power, as current is produced without nuclear power plants. The main part comes from hydro energy plants and renewable energy sources“, says Schwarz. “Thus it will be part of our sustainability activities to continue testing electronic vehicles in the future."
 
However, it proved to be difficult for the parcel service to find suitable vehicles in the class up to 3.5 tonnes, as these are either not offered at all, or have to small cargo hold, says Schwarz. DPD has contact to vehicle suppliers and is conducting negotiations about testing bigger electronic vehicles (up to 7.5 tonnes).The fleet currently operated in DPD’s liner service is mainly composed of Euro-5-vehicles with optimised diesel technology. Since some years ago delivery vehicles equipped with gas drive have been in use as well. This is also saving up to 25 per cent of CO2-emissions. DPD shows increasing commitment for sustainability and corporate response. The enterprise has been certified according to ISO 14001 and published its first sustainability report in June 2012.

Quelle: LogEastics

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