• First electric Vivaro-e HYDROGEN in use in Frankfurt area

• Key component in achieving fleet management sustainability goals

Following initial successful tests with battery-powered service vans, Miele, the world leading premium supplier of domestic appliances and commercial machines, is now also turning its attention to hydrogen-powered vehicles. The Vivaro-e HYDROGEN, equipped with a fuel cell and produced by Opel in Rüsselsheim, has a load volume of up to 6.1 m3 and a payload of 960 kg. After the test phase, the vans will now be adapted to the needs of Miele service technicians in the Frankfurt metropolitan area.

'In achieving our sustainability goals, we take all the technologies currently available on the market into consideration. Consequently, hydrogen plays a key role in our considerations, for instance in our service fleet', explains Hans Krug, Senior Vice President Procurement with the Miele Group. With the Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN, Miele will be able to offer service technicians who have to park their vehicles on the road overnight and do not have access to their own charging station an environmentally friendly alternative, providing them with a fully charged vehicle with which to visit customers in the morning.

'Opel is one of the companies spearheading the development of hydrogen vehicles, and we are very pleased to have taken delivery of our first Vivaro-e HYDROGEN. This bridges the gap between vehicles with a combustion engine and plug-in electric vehicles and is an interesting proposition in particular when larger distances are involved', Krug maintains. For Opel, too, this delivery and the vehicle's use by Miele represents an important milestone: 'With the new Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN, we are embarking on the next phase in our offensive for sustainable mobility. Its intelligent concept combines the benefits of a hydrogen fuel cell with the flexibility and range of uses of our best-selling commercial vehicle', says Opel CEO Uwe Hochgeschurtz.

First results of exhaustive tests prove positive

The first vehicle is currently being modified to suit the individual needs of Miele Service. This includes installing a rack storage system for the spare parts and tools a Miele service technician has to have on board for all eventualities in order to perform repairs on site without delay. 'Thanks to three hydrogen tanks installed on the vehicle underbody, there is no loss of space in the cargo area', says Milan Dajic, Director Vehicle Fleet Management at Miele.

With a full tank, the Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN has a range of more than 400 km (according to WLTP). Refilling takes roughly the same time as filling up a conventional vehicle with a combustion engine. Furthermore, the van is virtually soundless in motion, despite reaching a top speed of 110 km/h. 'We have test-driven the Vivaro now with more than 2000 km on the clock and are very satisfied with the results. After a test phase in Gütersloh and the installation of a shelf and storage system, we will hand it over to a service technician and put it through its paces in everyday use', Dajic continues.

Conversion of Miele fleet to alternative drive systems

The conversion of the Miele fleet to alternative means of propulsion is an important step towards cutting CO2 emissions across the board by at least 30% by 2030. Alongside the Opel Vivaro-e HYDROGEN, the procurement of 80 fully electric service vans is planned for Germany this year. Here, too, the battery-powered Opel Vivaro-e presents an interesting alternative.

In addition to this, Miele has ordered 31 electric cars in Germany for use mainly as pool vehicles or company cars – and at least a further 50 are due to be ordered this year. 'Last year we revised our car policy and can now offer our employees at least one model in electric in each vehicle category as a company car', Dajic explains. With a concept resting on three pillars, Miele is ensuring that the new electric vehicles can also be recharged. This ranges from working with external billing companies providing access to over 130,000 public recharging stations to recharging at employees' places of work with certified green electricity from a local utility or installing wallbox chargers at employees' homes.

Electro-mobility in international focus

On an international scale, several Miele sales subsidiaries have also begun to convert their vehicle fleet to alternative drive systems. Recently, Miele's representation in Great Britain placed an order for 14 electric vehicles. Milan Dajic: 'Our goal is to gradually convert the Miele Group's vehicle fleet worldwide to renewable sources of energy and, in doing so, contribute to achieving our sustainability goals'.

Company profile: Miele is the world's leading manufacturer of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floor care products. Their product portfolio also includes dishwashers, air purifiers, washing machines and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications. Founded in 1899, the company has eight production plants in Germany, one each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Romania and Poland as well as two production plants belonging to its Italian medical technology subsidiary Steelco. Sales in the 2021 business year amounted to around € 4.84 bn. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries/regions. Throughout the world, the family-run enterprise, now in its fourth generation, employs a workforce of around 21,900, of which approx. 11,400 employees work in Germany. The company has its headquarters in Gütersloh in Westphalia.