In addition to decarbonizing air freight transports, keyword SAF cargo flights, Schenker wants to gradually reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of its truck fleet. To this end, the logistics company intends to increasingly use e-vehicles. It plans to have 150 of them by the end of this year.
Talk is of the Volta Zero, which is produced by the Austrian manufacturer, Steyr, and is capable of transporting up to 16 tons over a distance of 200 km without needing to recharge its batteries.
“Unparalleled eFleet”
At the recent presentation of the first vehicle in Austria, Cyrille Bonjean, Head of Land Transport at DB Schenker Europe, said:
“As one of the market leaders, we aspire to be the world's number one in green logistics. We take responsibility for reducing the emissions generated by our vehicle operations. The European
deployment of Volta Zero Trucks is an important milestone for us and for Volta Trucks.”
Including the 150 trucks produced by Steyr, Schenker operates a fleet of 330 eTrucks with load capacities ranging from 7.5 tons to 19 tons. They are deployed in 124 cities and 22 countries.
“This eFleet is unparalleled in the transportation sector,” enthused Mr. Bonjean.
To which Essa Al-Saleh, Chief Executive of Volta Trucks, replied, “DB Schenker has joined us on the road to decarbonization, and has been able to see for itself the many safety and
environmental benefits that the Volta Zero brings to urban logistics, making our cities safer and more sustainable.”
Game changer?
“And it protects the climate,” should be added to his words, because around 29% of all CO2 emissions in the EU are caused by road traffic. In absolute terms, this amounted to around 682
million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2020. Trucks and buses accounted for just under a third (28%) of this figure. All technical progress, statistics show, has so far been eaten up by
constant traffic growth. As a result, instead of going down, CO2 emissions continue to rise steadily. The Volta Zero could now be a game changer, encouraging other forwarders and transport
companies to switch from combustion to e-vehicles. In any case, the social pressure to do so is likely to increase.
Meanwhile, Schenker has announced that it will start rigorous pilot tests with the Volta Zero, operating fully loaded vehicles in daytime traffic. The test will be conducted in 18 different
cities all across Europe, including the Scandinavian countries, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands.
Heiner Siegmund
We welcome and publish comments from all authenticated users.
Write a comment