StreetScooter

StreetScooter is a German electric-vehicle manufacturer whose origins lie in an applied research initiative at RWTH Aachen University. Achim Kampker and Günther Schuh founded the company in 2010 in Aachen with a focus on making electric mobility affordable and practical for everyday commercial use. Rather than beginning as a conventional passenger-car startup, StreetScooter concentrated on compact delivery vehicles and other utility-oriented designs, a market in which predictable routes, frequent stops, low operating speeds and centralized fleet charging can make battery-electric propulsion particularly useful. The company developed as an independent business while retaining close links to Aachen’s engineering and research ecosystem. Its early work included the C16, a very small two-seat electric city car whose exterior plastic components were produced through 3D printing. The prototype demonstrated StreetScooter’s interest in simplified vehicle architecture, lightweight construction and potentially lower-cost manufacturing. In 2014, the company announced vehicle orders from the city of Aachen, Aachen’s municipal administration and the local savings bank. That same year, it operated from the former Talbot railway plant in Aachen, where approximately 70 employees were producing around 200 vehicles annually. StreetScooter’s decisive commercial turning point came in December 2014, when Deutsche Post DHL Group acquired the company as a wholly owned subsidiary. The postal and logistics group needed practical zero-emission vehicles for urban delivery operations and provided a large captive customer base, engineering resources and a route to industrial scale. StreetScooter subsequently developed the Work family of electric vans and trucks, including variants for parcel delivery, pickup and chassis-cab applications. The vehicles were designed around the operating requirements of delivery fleets, with flat cargo floors, useful payloads and body configurations intended for repeated loading and unloading. From 2016 onward, DHL announced plans to expand production substantially. The company targeted annual output of approximately 10,000 Work vehicles from 2017 and considered StreetScooter vehicles as a means of progressively replacing conventional delivery vans in Germany. Larger products followed. The Work L offered a longer body and nearly twice the cargo volume of the original Work, while the Work XL, based on the Ford Transit platform, provided a much larger cargo compartment and was produced exclusively for Deutsche Post. StreetScooter also investigated specialized utility vehicles, including the Work Orange for refuse and construction-related applications, as well as electric bicycles and tricycles. StreetScooter’s growth was closely tied to DHL’s fleet strategy, but the company also faced the capital and competitive pressures of the automotive industry. In 2017, it announced plans for a second factory in Düren with capacity of up to 10,000 vehicles annually. In 2018, DHL received an order to supply 200 electric trucks to the British delivery operator Milk & More. In 2019, amid stronger competition from established automakers and continuing questions about profitability, DHL explored a sale or partnership. StreetScooter also announced a planned cooperation with Chinese automaker Chery, with a stated ambition to reach production of up to 100,000 vehicles annually by 2021. The company’s outlook changed during 2020. DHL initially announced that StreetScooter would be closed rather than sold, but later stated that production for internal fleet use would continue at least through the end of 2022 because demand for electric vehicles within the DHL group remained high. DHL expected its StreetScooter fleet to grow from more than 15,000 vehicles to approximately 21,500. Reports in 2021 described plans to sell the business to Luxembourg-based Odin Automotive. The company was subsequently associated with the B-ON name; B-ON GmbH is descr…

StreetScooter began in June 2010 as a privately organized research initiative associated with RWTH Aachen University. Achim Kampker and Günther Schuh established the venture in Aachen to pursue affordable and sustainable electric mobility. The project’s early emphasis was on practical engineering rather than luxury passenger vehicles, and its work included compact city-car concepts and utility-focused electric vehicles. One notable experimental design was the C16, a small two-seat electric car displayed at EuroMold in November 2014. The vehicle used 3D-printed exterior plastic parts, reflecting the company’s interest in simplified production methods and lightweight construction. StreetScooter also began attracting institutional customers. In May 2014, the city of Aachen, Aachen’s city council and Aachen’s savings bank were reported to have ordered electric vehicles. By December of that year, the company employed approximately 70 people and manufactured about 200 vehicles annually at the former Talbot/Bombardier railway plant in Aachen. The main corporate transition occurred in December 2014, when Deutsche Post DHL Group acquired StreetScooter and made it a wholly owned subsidiary. DHL’s logistics operations offered a large, predictable use case for electric vans: parcel vehicles operate on recurring urban routes, stop frequently and can return to depots for charging. The acquisition consequently shifted StreetScooter from a research-led startup toward a fleet-manufacturing program integrated with postal and express-delivery operations. In April 2016, StreetScooter announced plans to produce approximately 2,000 Work vehicles by the end of that year. DHL later announced an annual production target of about 10,000 Work vehicles from 2017. The Work was developed as an electric delivery van with a flat cargo floor, multiple body configurations and a battery-electric drivetrain. StreetScooter and DHL presented the vehicles as part of a medium-term effort to replace conventional delivery vans in Germany and a longer-term ambition to electrify a much larger delivery fleet. The product range expanded during 2016 and 2017. StreetScooter displayed the Work L prototype at the 2016 IAA Commercial Vehicles trade fair. The longer model offered substantially more cargo capacity than the standard Work while retaining the basic commercial-vehicle concept. The company also announced the Work Orange, a proposed vehicle with an electro-hydraulic three-way dumper aimed at refuse collection and construction-material applications. In August 2017, StreetScooter introduced the Work XL, based on the Ford Transit and designed with a cargo volume of approximately 20 cubic metres. The Work XL was produced exclusively for Deutsche Post. To support increased output, StreetScooter announced a second factory in Düren in October 2017. The planned facility was intended to reach production capacity of up to 10,000 vehicles per year, with operations expected to begin in the second quarter of 2018. StreetScooter’s commercial reach also extended beyond Germany. In 2018, DHL received a contract to supply 200 electric trucks to Milk & More, a United Kingdom delivery service. Despite the growth of its fleet, StreetScooter faced increasing competitive and financial pressure. Established automotive manufacturers were entering electric commercial vehicles, making it more difficult for a specialized producer to achieve profitability. In August 2019, DHL was reported to be considering a sale or partnership. In September of the same year, StreetScooter announced cooperation with Chinese automaker Chery, with plans discussed for production of as many as 100,000 vehicles annually by 2021. The company’s future became uncertain in 2020. DHL announced in March that StreetScooter would be closed rather than sold, but reversed or qualified that position the following month by stating that production for captive DHL use would continue at least through the end of 2022. The stated rationale was strong internal demand: the group had more than 15,000 StreetScooter vehicles and expected the number to rise to approximately 21,500. In 2021, plans were reported for a sale to Luxembourg-based Odin Automotive. The corporate successor was later known as B-ON GmbH, while StreetScooter remains the name associated with the electric commercial-vehicle program developed for DHL.

• 2021

  Planned sale to Odin Automotive reported

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  Reports described a planned transfer of the StreetScooter business to Odin Automotive, later associated with B-ON.

• 2020

  Captive DHL production extended

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  After an announced closure plan, DHL said production for internal use would continue at least through 2022 because of fleet demand.

• 2019

  Chery cooperation announced

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  StreetScooter announced cooperation with Chery as part of an international expansion and high-volume production plan.

• 2017

  Work XL introduced

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  The Work XL entered the range as a larger electric delivery vehicle based on the Ford Transit and built exclusively for Deutsche Post.

• 2017

  Düren factory announced

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  StreetScooter announced a second production site in Düren with planned capacity of up to 10,000 vehicles annually.

• 2016

  Work production scale-up announced

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  StreetScooter announced plans to expand Work production, with DHL targeting approximately 10,000 vehicles annually from 2017.

• 2014

  Institutional orders and industrial location

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  The city of Aachen and related public institutions ordered vehicles, while the company manufactured approximately 200 vehicles annually at the former Talbot plant.

• 2014

  Acquired by Deutsche Post DHL Group

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  DHL acquired StreetScooter as a wholly owned subsidiary, providing a major fleet customer and a platform for scaling electric delivery vehicles.

• 2010

  StreetScooter founded in Aachen

  [1]StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org

  Achim Kampker and Günther Schuh established StreetScooter as an electric-mobility research and development venture associated with RWTH Aachen University.

Practical, fleet-oriented electric commercial mobility for parcel delivery, urban logistics and other route-based business applications.

• Electric delivery van · 2016

  StreetScooter Work

  The Work is StreetScooter’s core compact electric commercial vehicle. It uses a lithium-ion battery and permanent-magnet synchronous motor, and was offered with different battery capacities over its development. The vehicle has a flat cargo floor, approximately four cubic metres of cargo volume and body configurations including box van, pickup and chassis cab. It was designed primarily for parcel and urban delivery operations, where predictable routes and depot charging support battery-electric use.

• Large electric delivery van · 2016

  StreetScooter Work L

  The Work L is a longer and slightly taller derivative of the Work. Presented as a prototype at the 2016 IAA Commercial Vehicles trade fair, it was designed to provide substantially greater cargo capacity while retaining the Work family’s electric drivetrain and commercial-delivery orientation. Reported versions offered about 7.7 cubic metres of cargo volume and payload capacity of roughly 1.2 tonnes.

• Large electric delivery truck · 2017

  StreetScooter Work XL

  Introduced in 2017, the Work XL is the largest model in the Work series. It is based on the Ford Transit platform and provides approximately 20 cubic metres of cargo volume. With a reported 76 kWh battery and a range of about 205 kilometres under the NEDC test cycle, the model was developed for high-volume parcel distribution and produced exclusively for Deutsche Post.

• Electric city-car prototype · 2014

  StreetScooter C16

  The C16 was an experimental two-seat electric city car displayed in 2014. Its exterior plastic components were produced using 3D printing, making it a demonstration of alternative manufacturing methods and lightweight vehicle construction rather than a core fleet product.

• Electric cargo cycles

  StreetScooter Work S and Work M

  StreetScooter also worked on pedelec bicycles and electric tricycles under the Work name. The Work S bicycle prototype was designed to carry loads of up to approximately 60 kilograms, while the Work M tricycle prototype was described with payload capacity of about 90 kilograms. These concepts addressed delivery applications where bicycles and compact three-wheelers can operate efficiently in dense urban areas.

• 2021

  Plan transfer to Odin AutomotiveM&A

  Background

  DHL had explored alternatives to continuing StreetScooter as a wholly owned manufacturing operation.

  Action taken

  Plans were reported for the business to be sold to Luxembourg-based Odin Automotive, later associated with the B-ON corporate identity.

  Aftermath

  The transaction marked a further shift away from StreetScooter’s original structure inside DHL, although the vehicle program remained associated with the successor business.

  Source

• 2020

  Retain production for DHL’s internal fleetStrategy

  Background

  DHL announced that StreetScooter would be closed rather than sold, but continued demand for electric delivery vehicles remained high within the group.

  Action taken

  DHL subsequently stated that captive production would continue at least through the end of 2022.

  Aftermath

  The decision preserved StreetScooter vehicle supply for DHL while leaving the company’s broader standalone commercial future unresolved.

  Source

• 2019

  Pursue international production cooperation with CheryStrategy

  Background

  StreetScooter faced increasing competition from established automotive manufacturers and was seeking a path to higher production volumes.

  Action taken

  The company announced cooperation with Chinese automaker Chery and discussed production of up to 100,000 vehicles annually by 2021.

  Aftermath

  The cooperation formed part of an attempted international expansion, but the company’s future soon became uncertain and DHL later reconsidered its ownership and production plans.

  Source

• 2016

  Scale Work production for fleet electrificationStrategy

  Background

  DHL sought to replace conventional delivery vehicles and expand the use of electric vehicles in its German fleet.

  Action taken

  StreetScooter announced increased Work production, with a target of approximately 10,000 vehicles annually from 2017.

  Aftermath

  The Work became the central vehicle platform for DHL’s German electrification program and supported expansion into larger commercial models.

  Source

• 2014

  DHL acquires StreetScooterM&A

  Background

  StreetScooter was a small Aachen-based electric-vehicle developer, while Deutsche Post DHL needed suitable zero-emission vehicles for its delivery fleets.

  Action taken

  DHL purchased the company and integrated it as a wholly owned subsidiary.

  Aftermath

  The acquisition enabled the Work range to be developed and deployed at significantly greater scale within Deutsche Post’s operations.

  Source

1. 1StreetScooteren.wikipedia.org