SC is an electric transport vehicle produced by Deutsche Post
Streetscooter, a German electric transporter company, is set to get off to a new start, and the company has announced that its founder, Prof. Günther Schuh, will once again take over the project. The German e-mobility icon, who is a professor at RWTH Aachen University, founded Streetscooter in 2010 to develop a series of mass-produced, full-fledged electric transporters, and sold the project four years later to Deutsche Post DHL Group, which has been making heavy use of electric transporters developed by Streetscooter and which Professor Shu retained Research has been serving the DHL and Streetscooter projects as a core technology research and development company.
Not satisfied with its automotive division due to the high cost of production, Deutsche Post DHL began looking for a buyer two years ago and only finalized it at the beginning of January 2022: an international consortium of Odin Automotive S.à.r.l. from Luxembourg took over the production of the Streetscooter electric transporter. Streetscooter then changed its name to B-On GmbH, but due to rising costs and other reasons, the company had to file for bankruptcy reorganization at the end of summer 2023, and Professor Shu finally took over its business and fixed assets on January 1, 2024.
SC's plant in Aachen
In 2022, B-On delivered 2,447 all-electric commercial vehicles to customers, achieving a turnover of $125 million. According to B-On, the supply chain crisis caused parts suppliers to fall into declines in vehicle production and further financial problems. Despite orders in the tens of thousands, Dylan's plant halted production of the Streetscooter. According to the news, 78 B-On employees in Aachen and 170 Neapco employees at the Dylan plant were affected by the bankruptcy at the time. According to the website of Le Monde, 68 employees have been accepted by Schuh.
Starting in 2026, Schuh plans to port the electric transporter to a new platform, based on which Streetscooter will implement its "uplift and reassembly process". The core concept is the regular, cost-effective and efficient upgrading of existing vehicles through the use of a particularly durable chassis and a digital vehicle profile design. This concept is particularly effective for small commercial vehicles with high usage rates. "Streetscooters are under more pressure in their day-to-day operations than any other light commercial vehicle," said Schuh. This is where our concept comes into full play and can significantly improve the ecological footprint over the entire life cycle while reducing operating costs.
At the same time, despite all the difficulties, the company presented the results of its conceptual research called Pelkan at the Japan Transportation Exhibition in Tokyo. The successor to the electric transporter, the company showcased a production version of the Pelkan eLCV electric van at CES in Las Vegas and is seeking a new collaboration.
创始人Günther Schuh教授
As a result of DHL's ongoing subscriptions, it "will continue to operate and secure jobs for suppliers and employees". In addition, DHL Group said that DHL Group has created conditions for Streetscooter to coordinate orders and operational resources in a very short period of time. DHL currently has 22,000 Streetscooters in operation.
"This year we have a capacity of 1,500 vehicles, and we hope to increase the number of vehicles operating in a single shift to 4,000. We can also operate two or three shifts at the plant in Dylan to bring the capacity to 6,000 vehicles, and we can't make a commitment to capacity because we still need suppliers. Schuh explains.
"Streetscooters are under more pressure than any other light commercial vehicle in their day-to-day operations. That's why our concept can have a demonstrative effect and significantly improve the environmental footprint over the life cycle while reducing operating costs," explains Schuh. "I am very grateful to the DHL Group, and in particular to its CEO Dr. Tobias Meyer, for their support of this transaction, which gives us the opportunity to take the joint innovation between Deutsche Post and RWTH Aachen University 10 years ago to the next level. ”