The European Food Network is moving more electric

Sustainability and climate protection concerns everyone - including logistics

The partners of the European Food Network are pursuing a long-term climate protection strategy and together with their customers they are driving the change towards more sustainable and innovative logistics. Current developments throughout the network are moving towards e-mobility and the switch to zero-emission vehicles is being accelerated.

 

With climate in mind, the partners of the European Food Network are constantly investing in new and innovative technologies for emission-free logistics. In truck transport, battery electric vehicles (BEV) and hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) are among the relevant zero-emission fleet. The logistics experts are also testing various technologies and processes as well as intelligent electricity and load management for their practical suitability at different locations.

Going electric together

As one of the pioneers in the field of e-mobility, European Food Network partner Galliker set the foundation for emission-free delivery back in 2020 with "Green Logistics by Galliker". The company has over 1,200 vehicles in total. Of these, 10 percent of the national vehicle fleet has already been converted to emission-free. Galliker currently has six hydrogen trucks, 77 electric trucks and 16 fully electric car transporters in daily use, and the trend is rising. Galliker is pursuing a holistic concept from climate-neutral power generation to storage and optimized charging of the drive batteries. Specifically, this means that 77,000 square meters of PV systems have been installed on the roofs of the company buildings, which feed the generated electricity into a battery storage system. A megawatt charging system is available for charging the vehicles. While there are already further plans for the future: For example, a project to produce green hydrogen is currently being considered - in collaboration with neighboring companies. In October 2024, the siblings Peter and Rolf Galliker and Esther Studer-Galliker also received the "Entrepreneur of the Year" award from EY for their pioneering spirit and exemplary performance.

The German-Austrian Brummer Group, which was acquired by Dachser this year, has been working on expanding its e-mobility for years. The company is currently setting the foundation for sustainable refrigerated logistics with the purchase of twelve fully electric eActros 600 from Mercedes-Benz and the start of construction of an e-truck depot, making it a pioneer in electric heavy goods transport. A comprehensive truck charging infrastructure was set up at the main site in Neuburg am Inn, which is fed by locally generated electricity from the photovoltaic systems – producing over 2,800 kWp in total. In order to cushion consumption peaks at medium-voltage level, a battery storage system including a medium-voltage connection is also being installed.

Longtime Dachser partner Heidelmann recently put its first electric truck, the Mercedes-Benz eActros 400, into operation. The North Hessian refrigerated logistics company, which specializes in food and pharma logistics, is using the vehicle for temperature-controlled regional short-distance food transport on routes between Göttingen and Marburg and between Fulda and Willingen. The range of the electric truck is 400 kilometers. Heidelmann wants to actively shape the transformation process in heavy goods transport at an early stage and gain insights into its practical suitability. The 50 kW truck charging station on the Heidelmann company site, which is designed for the use of up to two e-trucks in the local transport area, is powered exclusively by green electricity. The e-trucks can also be charged proportionally using the electricity generated by the company's own PV systems. Specific plans are also currently in progress to purchase an eActros 600 in order to test and evaluate its suitability for use in long-distance transport. As part of this, a medium to long-term concept is being developed together with the municipality and the energy supplier with regard to the scalability of the required charging infrastructure capacities.

At the anniversary celebration "100 years of trucks and partnership with Mercedes-Benz Trucks", logistics service provider karldischinger announced the planned purchase of 100 more zero-emission trucks over the next five years. The medium-sized company is not only a co-founder of the Trinational Hydrogen Initiative, it had already invested in the first hybrid e-trucks in the 1990s. Under the slogan “karldischinger - now even greener”, the company currently has its own 300 kw/h hypercharger e-charging infrastructure at the main site, including large-scale solar panels on its own halls. In this way, the family business wants to make an important contribution to emission-free delivery and also continuously expand its current Renault and eActros 300 fleet.

Dachser is also constantly expanding its fleet of vehicles with alternative drive systems for short and long distance transportation. This is because the logistics provider is convinced that only those companies that position themselves sustainably will have a long-term future. Dachser now has over 90 zero-emission vehicles on the road in Europe, transporting goods of all kinds, including food. In addition, in 16 city centers in defined areas, all non-refrigerated shipments are delivered locally emission-free by e-trucks and cargo bikes as standard. By the end of 2025, such emission-free delivery zones are to be created in a further eight major European cities as part of DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery.