Jürgen Gerdes, © Deutsche Post

StreetScooter’s battery vehicles have already proven to be a cost-effective solution for day-to-day operations in the mailing industry. Now, the business based in Aachen, Germany, is planning its next move. With the help of the city’s university of applied sciences, it has designed a fuel cell vehicle that can go up to 500 kilometers, or 311 miles, on one tank. Deutsche Post, which bought StreetScooter in 2014, will reportedly use 500 of those cars in a first trial. Markus Döhn, manager of the German mail company’s electric transportation business, said to H2-international, “We’ll be testing fuel cells and roadside refueling over the next 2 years. We haven’t yet decided on any dates or locations. Most likely, the route will include Aachen and roads that already have 700-bar filling stations.” Board member Jürgen Gerdes had previously told the Spiegel that the corporation was working with one of its partners on the relevant refueling setup. Late last November, the H2 Mobility coalition reported that its CEO Nikolas Iwan and Professor Achim Kampker from StreetScooter had signed a letter of intent that would have StreetScooter vehicles refuel at the coalition’s public filling stations starting in the middle of this year.