The Hamburg-based intralogistics specialist Jungheinrich is significantly accelerating the electrification of its global after-sales service fleet. 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 operations by 2030. The 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 with conventional service vehicles with internal combustion engines, electric models generate no greenhouse gas emissions, provided they are charged with electricity from renewable sources. Thus every vehicle we convert is a symbol of our sustainability commitment.”
2,000 EVs in the next three years
Jungheinrich laid the groundwork in 2022 with initial 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 have quintupled compared with the previous year. Four countries will reach a rate of over 30 percent still 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-vehicle 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, around 2,000 EVs are already on the roads in service fleet group-wide.
For typical challenges of electromobility such as limited ranges and insufficient charging infrastructure, Jungheinrich has found practical and tailor-made solutions. For example, several electric-vehicle models were comprehensively tested under real operating conditions and subsequently a stock of certain models was defined. In addition, the daily routes of the service technicians are dynamically planned, so that most of them have to cover less than
100 kilometers per day. In time-critical exceptional cases with long distances, diesel-powered vehicles are still in use.
“The technology and the charging infrastructure of the electric vans are continually evolving,” explains Lentfer. “We are convinced that with the ongoing progress and our previous practical experience we will achieve our target of 50-percent electrification by 2030.”
Currently, Jungheinrich employs worldwide more than 6,300 service technicians in 42 countries, who on a daily basis take care of the service around Jungheinrich's vehicles, automation systems, and storage equipment. 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 ensuring the operational readiness of the vehicles and systems
