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    DHL Supply Chain Deploys 50 Orange EV Yard Trucks and Plans to Acquire 50 More for Fleet

    Jan. 11, 2024
    DHL has experienced an uptime of more than 98%, an increase from the standard 70% to 80% typical of a diesel truck, as well as increased operational efficiency, reduced fuel, maintenance, and repair costs, and increased driver safety and satisfaction
    DHL Supply Chain
    659feab35645e6001e1cddc5 Dhl Supply Chain

    DHL Supply Chain announced it now owns and operates 50 Orange electric vehicle (EV) yard trucks just eight years after deploying its first Orange EV truck. The company also plans to purchase 50 additional trucks and a range of implementable, measurable, and green logistics solutions.

    Since their first purchase, DHL has deployed the EV yard trucks at more than 30 locations across the United States. In total, this initiative will support DHL’s goal of phasing out diesel yard trucks by 2025 and reducing its logistics-related greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

    Since deploying the EV trucks, DHL has experienced an uptime of more than 98%, an increase from the standard 70% to 80% typical of a diesel truck, as well as increased operational efficiency, reduced fuel, maintenance, and repair costs, and increased driver safety and satisfaction.

    To meet site specifications, Orange also provided a turnkey yard truck solution with a matched-pair truck and charging system. The fleets are now capable of achieving the optimal electric yard truck solution suitable for the existing electrical infrastructure with three battery pack sizes, multiple charging speed options, and other configurable elements.

    “DHL Supply Chain first purchased an Extended Duty truck and charger, then later added Standard Duty trucks that utilized the existing charger,” said Kurt Neutgens, Orange EV Co-Founder and President. “The site had plenty of capacity for Orange EV’s low-voltage trucks, and DHL’s well-trained, committed team maximized opportunity charging to keep both trucks running at peak efficiency.”

    Diageo, an alcohol and beverage manufacturer, was the first DHL Supply Chain customer to have EV yard trucks operational at their warehouse. The trucks, nicknamed Sparky I and Sparky II, have individually generated more than 24,000 hours and 17,000 hours of usage while utilizing their originally installed battery packs.

    DHL’s first Orange EV trucks are still in operation – lasting longer than other diesel yard trucks, which typically last 15,000 hours before maintenance and repair costs become too expensive. Overall, in the deployed fleet, Orange EV currently has 35 trucks exceeding 15,000 hours of operation – 14 of which have surpassed 20,000 hours.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.