VDL Steelweld, TNO Automotive and e-groceries prvider Picnic will jointly develop a new electrical last-mile vehicle. The project is called DUELL: Development of an Urban E-truck for Last-mile Logistics. In 2020 the vehicle must go into production.
Picnic currently delivers its orders with relatively expensive vehicles, which are actually intended for community work or golf courses. That is costly and, moreover, the vehicles are not robust enough for the transport of goods. Picnic needs another vehicle. Also, the current vehicle technology can not be integrated into logistical planning systems, so that working with and charging electric vehicles can not be optimized.
For large automotive OEMs, the production volume of a new generation of modern urban logistics vehicles is apparently not interesting enough. A breakthrough of electric transport in the inner cities with light, electric vehicles therefore remains.
DUELL project
The goal of the Development of an Urban E-truck for Last-mile Logistics (DUELL) project is the development of a new emission-free truck in the N1 category (below 3.5 tons), first developed for heavy load-mile city logistics. The development will eventually lead to a new Dutch VDL factory for tens of thousands of fitfor-purpose trucks for zero emission urban distribution, half of which will be exported. This factory offers new employment to more than 100 fte.
Picnic will be launching customer of the DUELL company car. Picnic has extensive experience in city logistics and therefore sets a detailed program of requirements in the project from the point of view of the end user, both for the vehicle and for the required integrated telematics for logistic planning.
TNO Automotive delivers the input from the latest state of the art in electric charging and driving, and enriches its own roadmaps with knowledge about city logistics and specific battery technology for distribution cycles.
VDL Steelweld brings in its engineers who have experience in the development and production of logistic vehicles.
Expected results
The expects results of the DUELL project are:
- A specification of telematics data and APIs for logistic end users and fleet managers, leading to a new connected software architectures for the embedded system and smart energy solutions.
- A validated design for a robust, stable and compact chassis with a high payload for city logistics, including optimisations for power train and battery pack.
- Validations of cost price, market developments and KPIs of end-users, in order to be able to make a weighted decision to take the vehicle into production in 2020 and to provide the necessary financing for this introduction.
Source: DKTI
I am so pleased to see this light delivery vehicle being manufactured. My organization is talking with two cities in the United States, San Francisco and Berkeley, California planning to implement low pollution zones In these city centers which will require electric vehicles as gas or diesel vehicles will be charged a fee when entering the zone. This will be first in the nation decisive EV action that businesses will be required to comply.
Are these Picnic vehicles available for import into California?