Ford Starts StreetScooter eVan Production

Ford has begun production of the Deutsche Post DHL StreetScooter Work XL electric van at its European headquarters in Cologne, Germany. Deutsche Post DHL Group is using the Work XL to support its urban parcel delivery service in Germany. StreetScooter has been a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group since 2014.

With this new relationship with Ford, Deutsche Post DHL, is now able to offer a larger truck model, such as the Work XL, expanding the range beyond what it builds for itself at two plants in Germany.

Other models of the StreetScooters, such as the Work and Work L, were designed primarily for short distance operations within cities, with a general range of about 50 miles (80 km).

Based on a Transit chassis, which is produced at the Ford Otosan joint venture plant in Kocaeli, Turkey, the Work XL electric delivery van is powered by a battery-electric drivetrain and a body designed and built to StreetScooter specifications. Around 180 Ford employees are working in two shifts to build up to 16 Work XL models per day, providing an annual production capacity of 3500 units.

The Work XL is now the largest delivery van in the StreetScooter portfolio, with a load volume of 715 cu. ft. (20 m3), room for more than 200 packages, and a payload of up to 280 lbs. (1275 kg).

Ford will manufacture the van with a range of electric motors and lithium-ion batteries, delivering up to 90 kW (122 PS) and a maximum torque of 276 Nm. With a battery capacity of up to 76 kWh, the Work XL has a range of up to 200 km, Deutsche Post DHL Group said.

Various StreetScooters models have been being deployed in Deutsche Post DHL’s delivery fleet since 2013. At present, the company is using about 6000 of these electric vehicles, which have covered over 26 million km. With the vans and the 12,000 or so electric e-bikes and e-trikes, Deutsche Post DHL said it is operating the biggest electric fleet in Germany.

“With the new StreetScooter Work XL, we now have the perfect e-van for parcel delivery in metropolitan areas, which in the future will also benefit other transport companies,” said Achim Kampker, StreetScooter CEO and founder.

At the start, the Work XL models will be distributed exclusively to Deutsche Post DHL Group. In the future, however, the Work XL vans will also be sold to third-party customers, like the Work and Work L models. Ford Transit Center is handling both the sales and service for the smaller e-vans.

StreetScooter GmbH, which operates two production facilities of its own, opened a second plant earlier this year in Düren, Germany. With a capacity of up to 10,000 electric vans per year at the 840,000 sq. ft. (78,000 m2) in Düren, Germany factory, plus its main factory in Aachen, Germany, StreetScooter now has production capacities of up to 20,000 electric vehicles per year. The new Düren facility is building, the Pure (chassis only), Pickup (flatbed vehicle) and Box variants of the StreetScooter Work and Work L.