If you mail something to Germany, there’s a good chance your package will travel on electric power alone to its destination thanks to Ford.

Whether we like it or not, a lot of the best innovations and products we use in America originated from Germany. Our interstate by and large was credited because of how Dwight Eisenhower saw how efficient it was in mobilizing large amounts of vehicles and troops during WWII, and Christmas trees, hot dogs, the Easter Bunny and inspiration for Disney Land? All German. As per Ford in an official press release they put out earlier this week (Oct. 8,2018) they’re partnering with StreetScooter, an electric vehicle company owned by DHL, to help produce DHL’s largest delivery truck sans gas. Yup, this “larger than a UPS van but smaller than a UPS brown truck” is all-electric. And I’m guessing, later on down the road this all-electric German delivery service will trickle down to us in the United States.

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Dubbed the StreetScooter Work XL, cab forward, it’s mostly a regular Ford Transit. But, like the Transit, it’s versatile cab rearward. Based on the photos they provide, it looks like the Ford Transit retains its ladder frame.

It’s not common knowledge but Ford offers a Transit bare chassis cutaway which comes stock with a V6 and six-speed automatic. I’m going to assume Ford doesn’t stuff their gas engine and transmission into this Transit cutaway and defers to StreetScooter to provide the battery pack, electric motor, and rear cargo box.

The most powerful configuration of this StreetScooter XL puts out a decent 120 HP and 203 lb-ft and most importantly, is rated at 124 miles of range.

If you’ve ever observed delivery vehicles, they constantly start and stop which can be a burden on regular gas trucks. Electric motors suffer none of this wear and tear. Presumably, if better batteries or motors come out, a swapping in more range or more powerful motors is a lot easier than ripping out an engine.

While regular consumers probably aren’t keen on electric vehicles given their price at the moment, delivery companies can swallow the initial cost of a large EV fleet as they’ll pay for themselves later down the road in reduced maintenance and uptime.

You’d better believe delivery companies like UPS, FedEx and the US Postal Service are paying attention. If it works out that electric delivery vehicles make economic sense, these StreetScooter XL’s might be on American roads sooner rather than later.

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