Duvenbeck launches series operations with MAN electric trucks for Volkswagen Logistics

The Duvenbeck Group has started series operations with the new MAN eTGX Ultra Low Liner electric truck. Duvenbeck is one of the first logistics specialists to have recently started using this electrically-powered truck for the main leg of the route between its logistics warehouse in Herne and the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg.

“This means that the first BEV Lowliners with a loading height of three metres are running over a medium distance in our regional forwarding network for materials logistics and are proving their cost-effectiveness and suitability for everyday use,” explains Simon Motter, Head of Volkswagen Group Logistics.

The route between Herne and Wolfsburg, which covers a distance of 317 kilometres, is now being served by one eTGX electric truck operating the round trip (there and back). The electricity is supplied by the public charging infrastructure and a charging point at Duvenbeck’s handling centre in Herne. The parts from individual suppliers are consolidated into full truck loads there and are then transported to the factory in Wolfsburg.

“The increasing use of electric trucks, such as the MAN eTGX, forms a major part of Duvenbeck’s corporate strategy of implementing both sustainable and efficient logistics solutions. We will have 15 MAN eTGX Ultra Low Liner trucks in our fleet by the end of this month. The experience that we are gaining on the route day by day is playing an active part in helping us to further develop and promote sustainable logistics,” says Hakan Bicil, the CEO of Duvenbeck.

Long-term plans exist to include up to 120 of these trucks in the company’s fleet – at least that is what Duvenbeck and MAN have agreed in a letter of intent (LOI).

An expanded deployment concept as early as this year

The electric truck is currently charging its batteries using the public infrastructure along the route and at the Duvenbeck handling centre in Herne. The charging infrastructure at the Duvenbeck business site in Peine will be completed during the course of this year. Deploying the MAN electric trucks forms part of the ‘goTOzero impact logistics’ programme that Volkswagen has adopted along its journey towards climate-friendly logistics operations. As part of this, using electric trucks is the most important lever to reduce CO₂ emissions in road transport in the long term.