E-fuels will be driving force towards zero-emission logistics – Deutsche Post DHL

Renewable electricity-based fuels are necessary to make heavy-duty long-haul freight transport climate neutral, says the German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL Group in a white paper on sustainable fuels in the sector. “Until we reach the point where commercial vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes as well as ships and airplanes can be electrified, we will need both sustainable biofuels and e-fuels, and these will be the driving force when it comes to achieving real progress in zero-emission logistics over the short and medium term,” says the paper. It adds that in order to make such fuels available on an industrial scale as quickly as possible, “we need strong incentives to spur demand and production.”

While Deutsche Post DHL uses more than 10,000 StreetScooters– its very own electric delivery vehicle – in Germany, the company says that about 80 percent of its deliveries involve long-haul shipments using heavy-duty trucks. Transporting goods by road, rail, waterways and air produces a third of Germany’s total transport emissions, and freight volumes are expected to grow rapidly in the years to come. The government now faces crucial decisions on how to cut freight emissions, because multi-billion-euro infrastructure investments will be needed to significantly lower transport’s climate impact. E-fuels are seen as one solution, but a lot of energy is needed to produce them. The Global Alliance Powerfuels, an alliance of companies and associations started by the German Energy Agency (dena), has recently highlighted the importance of renewable electricity-based fuels for civil air transport