Ford announced Monday that its Ford Pro unit will deliver 2,000 electric delivery vans to Deutsche Post DHL Group worldwide by the end of 2023.
Behind this is a tidbit that signals a much bigger impact in the long run: The deal includes a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for future vehicles, plus DHL’s rollout of a suite of software products. full Ford Pro software—a particularly notable twist is that DHL and other shipping giants either have preferred fleet software solutions or have developed their own.
As we outlined earlier this year, Ford sees building Ford Pro software-based software and fleet management services as big business, as its 50-vehicle fleet makes up half of the commercial market. commercial of Ford Pro. But this shows that it is also testing the waters with a number of global players with a fleet of thousands of vehicles.
DHL currently has about 27,000 trucks globally, so Ford’s software can help the company organize different types of delivery vehicles as it develops more electric vehicles.
DHL Express – Ford E-Transit
Ford designed E-Transit . electric van for all kinds last mile delivery which DHL makes as an important part of its business. That means it has minimized the size of the battery pack in the E-Transit to help maximize its payload. Ford says that based on 30 million miles of commercial vehicle telematics data, the average daily mileage of such vehicles is just 74 miles. E-Transit’s 68 kwh liquid-cooled battery pack, closely related to the battery pack of Mustang Mach-Esuitable for an EPA cycle range of approximately 126 miles partially charged—depending on use and equipment.
Keeping the E-Transit layout as close to the gasoline-powered Transit as possible was important during the development of this model as many companies have equipped the Transit for their special purposes, from their trucks to Plumber comes to deliver furniture. It has the same mounting points as the petrol version, so being able to retrofit and simply applying it to the electric version is a strong point.
Ford E Transit 2022
Ford also intends to turn its software-equipped cars into “data generators,” as Ford CEO Jim Farley put it. Over time, it can help fleet managers not only save money, but also assist companies in achieving their renewable energy goals.
Separately, DHL has developed a series of StreetScooter commercial electric vehicle mainly aimed at even shorter last mile deliveries in Europe and Asia, so it is likely that E-Transits will complement that mission.
“Order volume is focused on E-Transit dashboard vans designed to handle express shipments in the Americas and Europe,” Ford said in a press release, noting that The first of these vehicles under the agreement have been delivered to DHL and it’s time for the holiday delivery boost. DHL has been using E-Transit for delivery in many countries including Germany, UK and Mexico.
