UK milk delivery company buys 200 electric vehicles from Deutsche Post

Online grocery shopping company Milk & More has ordered 200 electric vehicles from StreetScooter, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group.

Deutsche Post created StreetScooters, its own brand of electric delivery vans, in 2013. Towards the end of 2016, the company announced its intentions not only to use StreetScooters in its own fleet, but to sell them to other companies.

Milk & More, which is owned by Müller, is the UK’s biggest milk delivery business. It makes 1.5 million deliveries every week, including 100 million pints in traditional glass milk bottles, which are collected, cleaned and re-used.

Credit: Deutsche Post DHL Group

In the UK, milk floats—vehicles used specifically for the delivery of fresh milk—have been powered by electric batteries since the 1930s. The traditional British milkman has been in decline in recent years due to the rise of supermarket chains’ home delivery services, but according to DHL there has been a recent resurgence due social awareness of environmental issues.

“More and more customers in the United Kingdom are prepared to pay a premium for regionally sourced products that are packaged in an eco-friendly way,” the company said.

Milk & More will be using the Work L Box model of van which is also used for postal deliveries in Germany. Its load compartment is refrigerated to keep milk and groceries chilled.

StreetScooter GmbH will also be sharing its expertise in vehicle charging management with the milk delivery company.

(Source: Deutsche Post DHL Group)