Following a successful initial pilot program using nine Lightning Electric Ford Transit 350HD electric vans in the US late last year, DHL Express plans to deploy the remaining 89 electric vehicles this year in New York and California.

Produced by Lightning eMotors, a designer and manufacturer of elelctric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, the new electric vehicles are highly durable and capable of achieving 61 MPGe, compared to 13 MPG for similar gasoline-powered vans. The new vans also include proprietary telematics and analytics software, which will aid with route optimization, driver training and vehicle efficiencies.

On 22 March Deutsche Post DHL Group announced an accelerated roadmap to decarbonization, which includes investing a total of €7 billion (opex and capex) over the next ten years in measures—including on-road fleet electrification—to reduce its CO₂ emissions. (Earlier post.)

The new vans enhance an already robust alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) fleet for DHL Express in the US, which includes fully electric, hybrid-electric and clean diesel varieties in addition to low-power electric-assist e-Cargo Cycles. DHL also began piloting four electric tractor-trailer vehicles in the Los Angeles market, to haul goods to and from the DHL LAX Gateway and local service centers.

Lightning eMotors, based in Loveland, Colorado, designs and manufactures zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, including delivery trucks, shuttle buses, passenger vans, chassis-cab models, city transit buses, and motor coaches. In addition to Transit passenger and cargo vans, Lightning’s products include all-electric vehicles based on the Ford E-450 shuttle bus and cutaway models, Ford F-53/59, Ford F-550 cargo trucks and buses, GM, Isuzu, and Hino Class 6 trucks. A new all-electric repower for motor coaches also is available, along with repower powertrains for 30-foot, 35-foot, and 40-foot transit buses.