DPD France has extended its delivery fleet of “green” vehicles with six new vehicles running on natural gas that have now been deployed in the city centres of Bordeaux and Aix-en-Provence in the south of France and more cities to be added this year.
As part of its commitment to urban logistics, DPD France has established a new eco delivery programme 2016 that is being structured around 15 metropolitan areas in France, with 40 city centres to be served.
For this programme, DPD France is deploying the natural gas vehicle that generates significantly lower emissions of fine particles and oxide and also leads to CO2 reduction. It also seems more suitable for the company’s activities than the electric vehicle thanks to its greater luggage capacity, which allows the company to deploy fewer vehicles in big cities and reduce the problems related to congestion.
In addition, the vehicle is quieter with a “softer” natural gas combustion that reduces the engine noise. The noise level is only half as a high compared to a diesel engine.
Overall, DPD is operating a total of 20 natural gas vehicles in the cities of Lyon, Grenoble, Rouen, Toulouse, Strasbourg, and now in Aix-en-Provence and Bordeaux. Additional vehicles are already planned for Toulouse, Grenoble and Lyon. In the course of 2016, DPD France will deploy more natural gas vehicles in Lille, Valenciennes, Metz, Limoges, Clermont-Ferrand, Saint-Etienne, Nantes, Annecy, Annemasse, Chambery, Valence, Avignon and Nice.
“Today, the vehicles powered by natural gas are a complementary solution to electric vehicles. Easily deployable for our industry (parcel and express transport), they represent a quality solution that we have chosen for its luggage capacity, autonomy, reliability and robustness,” said Virginie Lequy, Head of Operational Process, responsible for managing the Priority Community Project Urban Logistics at DPD France.
“Our current fleet of natural gas vehicles will grow in the coming months. This growth has been made possible because the authorities are increasingly attentive to this new alternative. We find this openness very positive, in addition to the existing electric solutions,” she added.
DPD France has a network of 57 branches and six national sorting centres run by 1,800 employees who ensure handling and delivery of more than 240,000 parcels in France on a daily basis. In 2015, DPD France delivered more than 63 million parcels.
