Deutsche Post's e-van StreetScooter attracts buyers, defying predicted demise

The electric delivery vehicle StreetScooter, a subsidiary of German postal service Deutsche Post, has attracted potential buyers, Manager Magazin Online reported. The low-carbon vehicle had caused the company considerable losses of an estimated 70 million euro a year and production was predicted to cease at the end of 2020, the media outlet writes. But several parties suddenly are interested: the German entrepreneur Nazif Destani, who already has a stake in the e-car maker e.GO, an American investor group that has been involved in other electric vehicle businesses, and two Chinese investors: the supplier Neapco, which has been building the StreetScooter since 2018, and the carmaker Chery. In 2019, Chery and the Deutsche Post signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of a joint e-mobile, but no concrete project has come out of the cooperation yet. Currently, 14,000 StreetScooters are used in everyday postal service and the production of the vehicle that has also been sold to other companies will continue in limited quantities until the end of the year, increasing the fleet to 20,000 units, Manager Magazine writes.

Delivery traffic in Germany is on the rise due to the boom in online retailing, also pushed by the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month, the German environment ministry announced it will start a funding programme for electric cargo bicycles and micro depots to encourage the adoption of sustainable transport options in inner cities. At the end of last year, German transport minister Andreas Scheuer called for “innovative and creative traffic concepts” to reduce the traffic jams caused by the increase in online retailing. Scheuer proposed using public transport for urban parcel deliveries, in combination with the pick-up of parcels in micro-hubs or delivery by cargo bikes.