DPD trials new electric van with range extender

Parcel delivery firm DPD has started trials of a new electric van as it moves towards zero emission last mile deliveries.

The company, which is part of DPD Group owned by France’s La Poste, will test 25 LEVC VN5 electric vans that are based on the iconic shape of the London black cab.

LEVC is owned by China’s Geely automotive group, and has produced more than 4,000 electric taxis since 2018.

The 2.5 tonne VN5 van can  accommodate two Euro sized pallets with a gross payload of over 800kg. It has a pure EV range of 102 km (63 miles), but with its 1.5-litre petrol range extender can increase its range to 485 km (301 miles). The vehicle also has the highly nimble turning circle of a London taxi.

Range extender boost

About 10% of DPD’s UK fleet, representing over 600 vehicles, will be electric by the end of this year, many of them based at the company’s network of all-electric micro-depots in city centres. DPD will use the LEVC trial in the UK to assess how the VN5 operates in different driving conditions and with different loads. The range extender technology is of particular interest to the courier firm, said Dwain McDonald, DPD's CEO, given the range issues that DPD has encountered with pure EVs in less urban areas.

“While EVs remain our priority, we are keen to look at a wide range of technologies to help solve different challenges,” he said. “We've developed a great model for large urban centres and EVs are working well out of our regional depots on many routes. But, inevitably, we have a number of routes where we have to drive a significant number of stem miles from the depot just to get to the first delivery address. At the moment, the limited range on pure EVs, means we can't move away from diesel vans for these routes.”

He described the VN5 as ‘a very flexible solution’ that could help to solve a few challenges with EVs.

“For example, we could use geo-fencing so that it switches automatically to electric-only on entering urban areas, including low emissions zones,” said McDonald.

LEVC manufacturing expansion 

LEVC will launch the VN5 in the final quarter of this year and says it will be building 20,000 electric vehicles per year, including the TX Taxi and VN5, by 2022.

Joerg Hofmann, LEVC CEO, said: “VN5 is set to revolutionise green logistics. Feedback from major business operators will be crucial to the further development of the van as we rapidly move to its launch in Q4 this year.”