Hermes Germany yesterday officially signed a strategic partnership with Mercedes-Benz Vans initially announced in March under which it will gradually deploy 1,500 Mercedes-Benz Vito and Sprinter electric vehicles in urban areas across Germany from 2018 onwards.
After a pilot phase, which starts in Stuttgart and Hamburg in early 2018, the two companies will expand their cooperation to conurbations throughout the country. The cooperation goes beyond the pure operation of battery-electric vans, and also includes the development of a concept for an efficient charging structure in the logistics centres of Hermes and IT services to optimise fleet management.
Mercedes-Benz offers Hermes a “connectivity package” with services designed specifically for electric utility vehicles. These include a special fleet management solution that incorporates charging infrastructure, range and temperature conditions into route planning. In addition, digital services are designed to reduce the administrative costs for the fleet management and the driver's daily tasks as well as to increase the vehicle availability at the respective locations.
In addition, the partners intend to develop entire system solutions to increase efficiency in the overall delivery process. These include, for example, automatic loading space systems which can speed up the loading and unloading of parcels and make the process more efficient. In this respect, “one-shot-loading concepts” play an important role for the processes in the logistics centre and automatic shelf systems for the vehicle loading space.
In addition, further solutions are conceivable to further improve the service quality when it comes to delivery. These solutions support delivery options such as delivery on the same day or within a specific time slot through higher speed and greater efficiency.
Moreover, Mercedes-Benz Vans supports Hermes with special leasing offerings – also for Hermes's authorised service partners – to modernise its delivery fleet.
"Today's transporters need a lot more than loading space on four wheels. They need vehicles that are optimally adapted to their needs. This includes low-emission engines but also intelligent solutions beyond the pure vehicle. The collaboration with Hermes, as part of which we deploy 1,500 electric vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, is a further step in the electrification of our entire range. In the coming years, Mercedes-Benz Vans will invest €150 million. And we certainly benefit from the high Daimler investment in electric mobility in the next few years,” Volker Mornhinweg, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said.
"With Mercedes-Benz Vans, we have won the ideal partner for our current and future challenges in the trade and logistics sectors. The goal is to make our processes even more efficient, productive and more sustainable. Low-emission and emission-free vehicles are an important pillar in our strategy, as well as the continuing development of viable solutions for deliveries in inner cities and the further improvement of our service quality,” Hanjo Schneider, head of Germany’s Hermes and Executive Board Member for Services at parent company Otto Group, said. "Together, we are striving to deliver 100% emission-free in the city centres of all major German cities by 2025 – a milestone for the future of parcel delivery in Germany."
This concept includes, among other things, the expansion of the parcel shop infrastructure, new micro depots, cargo bikes and pilot projects in the field of autonomous driving. The climate protection strategy of Hermes parent company Otto Group aims to reduce the CO2 emissions at least by half by 2020.
For over 40 years now, Hermes and Daimler have had a growing partnership mainly based on conventional vehicles but also with a long tradition in the research and development of alternative drive systems. That goes back to the nineties and tests of the very first van on the market powered by hydrogen. In 2001, Hermes tested a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter with fuel-cell technology in normal operating conditions. In 2011, the company deployed the first series-produced electric vehicle from Mercedes-Benz Vans, the Vito E-CELL. The two companies also cooperate on vehicles above 3.5 tons. Together with Hermes and the city of Stuttgart, Daimler is currently conducting a fleet test with five battery-powered Fuso Canter E-CELL vehicles in urban distribution transport. The trial started in April 2016.
