The Duvenbeck Group has successfully transitioned its entire fleet serving ZF Saarbrücken in Germany to alternative, emission-free drive systems. This milestone ensures that none of the vehicles used for the automotive supplier, whether on local or long-distance routes, rely on conventional diesel fuel.
This transition marks the culmination of a phased program that began in 2020 with the adoption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel. In the second phase, LNG was replaced by renewable and climate-friendly biomethane (biogas).
By late 2023, the first five battery-electric trucks were deployed for shuttle services between Factory 1 and an external warehouse located 15 kilometres away, supported by two on-site charging stations. Today, all 16 local service vehicles are battery-electric, while long-distance routes are powered exclusively by biogas.
Currently, Duvenbeck operates 54 vehicles for ZF Saarbrücken, with plans to add 10 more fully electric trucks and additional charging stations in the coming year.
Furthermore, ZF’s Saarbrücken plant, one of the company’s largest production facilities, produces automatic gearboxes and electric drive systems for passenger cars. Duvenbeck has been a logistics partner for ZF since 2015, providing full-load haulage services.
In 2019, the partnership expanded to include internal factory traffic, supporting just-in-time production with gearboxes and components. To meet these demands, Duvenbeck established a local branch dedicated to this operation.
“Our fleet strategy has consistently followed ZF’s sustainability goals. It confirms to us that joint growth with industry and emission-free transport logistics are closely related to each other,” mentioned Helmut Gruber, who is the Managing Director of Duvenbeck Logistics GmbH, Duvenbeck Kraftverkehr GmbH & Co. Spedition, explaining the situation.
“Both sides are pursuing the game goals, that is to say, to create a transport chain that creates as few emissions as possible,” Gruber added.
“Along our journey to reach our goal of doing business in a climate-neutral manner by 2040, the transport services upstream and downstream play a crucial role. Thanks to Duvenbeck, we have a partner at our side that can keep pace with us technologically and can measurably enable us to make progress in implementing our climate goals,” stated Peter Bedow, the Director of Global Freight Network and Purchasing at the ZF Group, explaining the latest development.
