DHL Express and electric vehicle maker StreetScooter have announced their collaboration on a new electric delivery vehicle, the ‘H2 Panel Van’.
Unveiled at the Green Tech Festival in Berlin, it is the first 4.25-tonne electric vehicle with an added fuel cell, which will provide additional power and enable a range of up to 300 miles before refuelling.
The van has a cargo capacity of more than 10 cubic metres, which DHL says amounts to approximately 100 parcels.
With a maximum payload of more than 800kg, the H2 Panel Van achieves a maximum permissible weight of 4.25 tonnes. The van has a maximum speed of around 75mph and the built-in battery has a capacity of 40 kWh.
The van also has a fuel cell with 26 kW and a hydrogen tank with a tank volume of six kilograms, which enables the 300-mile range.
The H2 Panel Van is based on the StreetScooter WORK XL delivery vehicle used by DHL Parcel. The H2 Panel Van has been produced in collaboration with Ford. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of its National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP II).
Markus Reckling, CEO DHL Express Germany, said, “With the H2 Panel Van, DHL Express becomes the first express provider to use a larger number of electric vehicles with fuel cells for last-mile logistics. This underscores our aspiration to be not only the fastest and most reliable provider on the market, but also the most climate friendly.”
Fabian Schmitt, Chief Technical Officer at StreetScooter GmbH, added, “We firmly believe that fuel cells will play an increasing role in electric-powered transport, since they can give battery electric vehicles the kind of range that is so important for so many customers.”
