DPD and ONO launch a micro-depot

DPD Germany is part of DPDgroup, the largest international parcel delivery network in Europe. Throughout Germany DPD has 79 depots and 7,000 Pickup parcelshops. A workforce of 9,500 and 11,000 delivery drivers are in daily operation on behalf of the company’s customers. Every year the No. 2 on the German parcels market ships around 375 million parcels – providing carbon-neutral transport operations at no additional cost to the customer. With a number of initiatives for sustainable parcel delivery DPD is demonstrating, particularly in city centres, how parcel shipping can be made environmentally friendly and emission-free at a local level.

Since the beginning of the year, DPD has been delivering shipments in Berlin using the company’s three-wheeled e-cargo bike.

The CEP service provider wants to advance the mobility revolution and sees great potential in the ONO to make the “last mile” more efficient, lower in emissions and more cost-effective.”Right now, our sustainability strategy ‘DrivingChange’ aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 89 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 80 percent by 2025 compared to 2020. Freight bike providers like ONOMOTION are therefore an important partner for us in achieving our goals,” says Gerd Seber, Group Manager Sustainability & Innovations at DPD.

In the capital, DPD operates a micro-depot in Prenzlauer Berg and delivers to households within a radius of five kilometers from there with two ONOs. The collaboration will initially run for one year.

DPD’s delivery staff can comfortably sort parcels in the morning at the weather-protected micro-depot located in a former car repair shop and load them into the detachable container-module of the e-cargo bike.

An additional advantage is the adjacent filling station with a 75KW high-performance charging station, which can also be used by the vehicle. There is also a modern battery exchange station from the Berlin-based battery-as-a-service provider Swobbee on the site. With the help of this, DPD delivery staff can replace empty batteries with full ones in a matter of seconds.

The e-cargo bikes from ONOMOTION are therefore always mobile, and DPD does not have to set up or operate its own charging infrastructure. With two batteries, the pedelecs have a range of around 60 kilometers and a top speed of up to 25 kilometers per hour.

For DPD, ONOMOTION GmbH’s Vehicle-as-a-Service model is proving to be a decisive advantage in daily delivery. In addition to a maintenance service, the all-round service includes comprehensive insurance and any wear-and-tear repairs. So far, all e-cargo bikes have proven to be reliable vehicles. “Minor repairs have been taken care of within a very short time. ONOMOTION has also provided a replacement vehicle within a few hours,” says Bernhard.

After the first three months, DPD’s interim conclusion is extremely positive: “We are particularly impressed by ONOMOTION’s stable vehicle components and after-sales service,” says Michal Bernhard, Specialist Process & Development at DPD. This service includes, among other things, maintenance, comprehensive insurance, any wear-and-tear repairs, and access to the battery exchange machines.