Green Supply Chains for Europe: DB Schenker Expands Electric Fleet with 36 New FUSO eCanters

Schenker Deutschland AG expands its electric fleet with 36 new FUSO eCanters, further enhancing its fleet of emission-free and quiet vehicles. For Daimler Truck AG, this is the largest eCanter fleet contract to date. The vehicles are produced in Tramagal, Portugal.

(Essen/Frankfurt) The globally operating logistics service provider DB Schenker and FUSO, a brand of Daimler Trucks, are further expanding their pioneering partnership in the field of electromobility. In the coming months, DB Schenker will take delivery of a total of 36 additional FUSO eCanters for use in eleven European countries. This strengthens Europe’s leading provider of land transport’s sustainability strategy and further expands the use of electric transporters in its mixed fleets. DB Schenker has been using the FUSO eCanter since 2018 in Berlin for the transport of general cargo in urban areas. Since 2019, additional vehicles have been operating in Paris, Frankfurt, and the Stuttgart area.

Pioneers of Innovation in Logistics

“DB Schenker is a pioneer of innovation in logistics, and now we will become the leading green logistics provider. We focus on sustainability from the first to the last mile,” says Cyrille Bonjean, Head of Land Transport Europe at DB Schenker. “Emissions-free logistics in urban areas is already possible today, as we demonstrate together with FUSO and the new eCanter across Europe. We are proud to procure a significant portion of Daimler’s eCanter production for this year. For our customers, this means: the same service, zero emissions.”

Largest Fleet Contract for FUSO to Date

“We are very pleased to elevate our partnership with DB Schenker to the next level with these 36 locally emission-free FUSO eCanter trucks. Together, we are taking another step towards the electrification of urban logistics. This will contribute to reducing noise and environmental pollution in major cities across eleven European countries. This announcement represents the largest eCanter fleet contract to date, and I would like to thank DB Schenker for their continued trust in FUSO in our joint mission towards CO2-neutral transport,” emphasizes Hartmut Schick, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) and Head of Daimler Trucks Asia (DTA).Emission-Free and Quiet in 20 European Cities FUSO is currently producing the 36 new vehicles for DB Schenker at its European plant in Tramagal, Portugal. In the coming weeks, they will receive a box body with a tail lift from various body manufacturers – ideal for the delivery of general cargo. For the German market, the body is being built due to good cooperation, for example, with the company Spier in Steinheim. The final handover of the FUSO eCanters to DB Schenker will begin gradually before the end of the year at various locations of the logistics company. DB Schenker will deploy the fully electric light truck with a power output of 129 kW and a payload of up to 3.2 tons in urban distribution traffic in European metropolises such as Oslo, Copenhagen, Madrid, Salzburg, Vienna, Hamburg, Rome, and Milan. Overall, DB Schenker’s electric light trucks will serve customers in urban areas in 20 European cities across Germany, Finland, Denmark, the UK, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Spain, and Italy in an emission-free and whisper-quiet manner.

Market Entry Planned in Additional Countries

With this, the FUSO eCanter also celebrates its market entry in Finland, Austria, Spain, and Italy. The range of the 7.49-ton truck of at least 100 km easily meets DB Schenker’s needs in urban distribution traffic. The vehicles can be easily charged overnight, depending on availability, with alternating current or direct current chargers. With a fast charger, the charging time can be reduced to about one and a half hours.

Consistently Positive Experiences

With the intensification of the partnership, DB Schenker will become FUSO’s largest electric fleet customer with a total of 41 eCanters in daily operation. The previous experiences with the FUSO eCanter have been consistently positive. Drivers praise the pulling power and agility of the electric drive as well as the quietness in the cockpit. For DB Schenker, the FUSO eCanter has proven its reliability in real operations over the past two years and offers an ecological mobility solution for their truck fleet as an important component of the sustainability strategy. In the pursuit of CO2-neutral transport, another truck from the Daimler Truck portfolio, the Mercedes-Benz eActros, is also in operation for DB Schenker as part of the so-called “innovation fleet” in Leipzig.More than 200 FUSO eCanters in Global Customer Use The FUSO eCanter is Daimler Trucks’ first fully electric light truck in small series. FUSO celebrated the market launch of this commercial vehicle for urban distribution traffic in 2017. Since then, the FUSO eCanter has been delivered to numerous customers in Europe, Japan, and the USA. With the 36 additional vehicles for DB Schenker, there will be more than 200 FUSO eCanters in daily customer use across a total of 14 countries after delivery. The global fleet of FUSO eCanters has now covered more than 2.5 million kilometers locally emission-free in customer operations. Currently, Daimler Truck engineers are collecting data and feedback from customers on the daily use of the vehicle, route profiles, and charging behavior. This information is continuously integrated into the ongoing development of the next generation of the FUSO eCanter. The start of series production of the next generation FUSO eCanter with improved range and technology is expected within the first half of this decade. Thus, FUSO is an essential part of the sustainability strategy of Daimler Truck AG, which aims to offer all trucks and buses in the triad markets (Europe, Japan, and NAFTA) CO2-neutral in operation (“tank-to-wheel”) by 2039.About DB Schenker DB Schenker supports industry and trade in global goods exchange: in land transport, worldwide air and sea freight, as well as in contract logistics and supply chain management. With over 140 years of experience, DB Schenker is one of the global leaders in the logistics industry. In 2019, 76,900 employees at over 2,100 locations in around 130 countries generated revenues of approximately 17 billion euros worldwide. DB Schenker in Germany employs around 17,400 employees at more than 100 locations as the largest national company. With a revenue of 4.1 billion euros in 2019, DB Schenker is also the leading provider of integrated logistics in the German market. DB Schenker is number one in European land transport. With 430 locations, DB Schenker offers land transport products and services in a comprehensive pan-European network. A total of over 45,000 vehicles are on the road for DB Schenker’s customers in Europe.www.dbschenker.com       www.daimler-truck.com