TNT has teamed up with other Dutch companies to launch a joint tender for 3,000 electric vehiclesover the next three years. The joint order is designed to create sufficient demand for large-scale
production of the environmentally-friendly vehicles.The companies and organisations have created a special independent purchasing consortiumunder the supervision of the Urgenda Foundation in order to issue the tender, TNT said in astatement. The consortium’s objective is to challenge car manufacturers to manufacture electronictransport on a large scale by creating a large scale, continuous and substantial demand.
Other members of the pioneering consortium are ABN AMRO, Delta, Essent, Facilicom, theMunicipality of Rotterdam, the Municipality of Leeuwarden, ING, JCDecaux, the Dutch Ministry ofHousing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works andWater Management, NUON, Philips, Port of Rotterdam, the Province of Friesland and Triodos Bank.Other companies and organisations are invited to participate in the tender.
The consortium will invite leading manufacturers of electronic cars to submit bids inNovember and it expects delivery in 2010. Three types of vehicles will be purchased based on agreedspecifications; a small and a large commercial van and a passenger car.
Peter Bakker, CEO of TNT, commented: “TNT is participating in this tender in order to be ableto arrive at an accelerated general use of electronic transport, which at present is the mostpromising technology with which we can drastically reduce our CO2 footprint.”
Urgenda is an action-based organisation for innovation and sustainability and aims to createa broad sustainability movement. In addition to a long-term vision and strategy, Urgenda has alsodeveloped an agenda of reforms and an action plan for a more sustainable Netherlands. Urgenda’selectric transport project group is part of the Icon Project Electronic Transport, with theobjective to have one million electronic vehicles on the road in 2020.
