In early February, DHL Freight deployed a hydrogen truck by special-purpose commercial vehicle maker Paul Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH. The Paul Hydrogen Power-Truck, a vehicle based on the Mercedes-Benz Atego, will be used during the one-year pilot for distribution and line hauls at the Cologne location. This is already the second hydrogen truck for DHL Group in Germany.
Another vehicle is operating for the Post
& Parcel Germany division at the Cologne West facility. The company and its
divisions are testing and implementing various sustainable drive solutions as
part of their sustainability strategy and the interim target of reducing
emissions to less than 29 million tons by 2030. The two 15.6-ton trucks, with a
range of approximately 400km with a trailer and 600km without a trailer, were
manufactured by Paul Nutzfahrzeuge on behalf of Shell in Vilshofen, Southern
Germany. The basis for the first series-produced medium-duty fuel cell truck in
Germany is provided by a Mercedes-Benz Atego.
The vehicles are operated by DHL Freight
and Post & Parcel Germany through the innovative Shell Hydrogen Pay-Per-Use
platform model. In addition to the vehicle and hydrogen refueling
infrastructure, Shell's offering also covers all necessary services and support
during the period of use. The trucks are exclusively serviced at the workshop
of the Commercial Vehicle Center of Daimler Truck AG in Frechen. With hydrogen
trucks, only water vapor comes out of the exhaust. If the hydrogen used is
produced with green electricity, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions can
be up to 100%.
For DHL Freight, there are already around
150 vehicles in Germany that are either carbon emission-free or have
significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions. These include battery-electric
vehicles for local transport and bio-CNG and bio-LNG vehicles for long-haul
transport. Additional pilot projects involving battery-electric vehicles for
long-haul transport or hydrogen-powered tractor-trailers will be added in 2024.
