TNT pilots two zero emission trucks in Rotterdam – First electric delivery vehicles in mainland Europe
Ivo Opstelten (Mayor of Rotterdam and Chairman of the Rotterdam Climate Initiative) and Peter Bakker (CEO of TNT) presented the two Smith electrical trucks which will be piloted in the Rotterdam area as part of the Rotterdam Climate Initiative.
The vehicles, a 3.5-tonne Smith Edison EV and a 9-tonne Smith Newton EV, will operate emission free in congested areas. The pilot is a significant step to contribute to the objective to reduce CO2 emissions by half in Rotterdam by 2025 compared to 1990.
The Edison will be operational around the center of Rotterdam and will make an average of approximately 40 stops for pick up and delivery of documents and small parcels. The Newton will operate in and around the center of Rotterdam and make 15 to 20 stops when in operation. It is in these stop-start conditions where the electric trucks have a great advantage over conventional combustion engines which are at their most inefficient and most polluting.
The green electricity for running these vehicles is certified to be produced by hydropower. This means that operating the vehicles is entirely CO2 neutral.
Electric Vehicles work out the more cost effective option than diesel vans or trucks, when taken over the average commercial vehicle’s 5-year life span. This is due to low fuel costs as electricity costs a fraction of diesel. Further the maintenance costs are lower for an electric vehicle than for a conventional combustion vehicle. The electric vehicle only has four moving parts compared to over a thousand in a diesel drive train.
If the Rotterdam pilot proves successful, TNT will plan to expand the trial to other countries and will consider adding additional electric vehicles to the fleet to serve in other urban locations, where appropriate.
Driving clean
TNT runs a global program for two years now known as Driving Clean. The project is enabling a sustainable reduction in our vehicular emissions, specifically particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and CO2. Driving Clean includes four main projects: cleaning up our existing fleet, purchases related to our new fleet, investigating possibilities for our future fleet and efforts with our partner the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
As alternative fuel and technologies initiatives TNT is currently testing twenty bio fuel trucks in India and 53 in the Netherlands. Further a number of 161 vehicles run on compressed natural gas in Germany and 5 are piloted in the Netherlands. TNT is currently successfully testing a 7.5-tonne zero emission electric vehicle in London.
