The Hamburg intralogistics specialist Jungheinrich is accelerating the electrification of its global service fleet significantly. By 2030, more than 3,500 service vehicles are to be electric on the road – that corresponds to every second service vehicle of the group-wide fleet. The company's goal is to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its own business operations by 2030. Electrification of the service fleet is a central building block on the way there.
“The systematic electrification of our service fleet is not only pragmatic, but an investment in a clean and better future,” says Mathias Lentfer, Vice President After Sales at Jungheinrich. “We thereby reduce our CO2 emissions as well as operating costs and at the same time make a measurable contribution
to the transport transition. Compared to conventional service vehicles with internal combustion engines, electric models do not cause greenhouse gas emissions, provided they are charged from renewable sources. Thus every vehicle we electrify is a symbol of our sustainability commitment.”
2,000 electric vehicles in the next three years
Jungheinrich laid the foundation in 2022 with first pilot projects in Norway, Hungary and Finland. Since then the group has accelerated the pace significantly: by the end of the year the global electrification rate will quintuple compared to the previous year. Four countries will reach a rate of over 30 percent this year: Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland. Switzerland is particularly ambitious: here, by 2026, three out of four service vehicles will
be fully electric. In 2026 Austria, Belgium, Finland and Slovakia will follow with an electric share of one third. In 2027, more countries will follow, including New Zealand, Sweden, Greece, Portugal, Latvia and Lithuania. Germany, Denmark and France will reach the 30 percent mark in 2028. By that time, there are already around 2,000 electric vehicles in service group-wide on the roads.
For typical challenges of e-mobility such as limited ranges and insufficient charging infrastructure, Jungheinrich has found practical and tailored solutions. For example, several electric vehicle models were comprehensively tested under real operating conditions, and subsequently a stock of certain models was defined. Additionally, the daily routes of the service technicians are planned dynamically, so that most of them have
to cover less than 100 kilometers per day. In time-critical exceptional cases with large distances, diesel-powered vehicles are still used.
“The technology and the charging infrastructure of electric vans is continually evolving,” explains Lentfer. “We are convinced that with continuous progress and our prior practical experience we will reach our goal of 50 percent electrification by 2030.”
Currently, Jungheinrich employs more than 6,300 service technicians worldwide in 42 countries, who daily take care of the service around Jungheinrich's vehicles, automation systems and storage equipment and systems. The dense service network ensures immediate on-site support for Jungheinrich customers and is thus the basis for maximum response speed in case of product faults, with the aim of always ensuring the operability of the
