Deutsche Post Builds Its Own Electric Delivery Van, Volkswagen Execs Are Angry

Lengthy excerpt: Advances in manufacturing software are allowing the likes of Deutsche Post, Google, and start-ups to tap suppliers to design, engineer, and test new vehicle concepts without hiring thousands of engineering staff or investing billions in tooling and factories...Streetscooter used a software program made by PTC to talk to a network of 80 suppliers including Bosch, which provides the electric drivetrain, and Hella which makes the headlights. PTC’s Windchill software, which costs 300 to 1,000 euros ($330–$1,120) per user per year, is used by 90% of the top 50 automotive companies including Continental, ZF, Volkswagen, Audi, MAN, Hyundai, and Ferrari.

This Windchill software enabled a firm with 15 engineers to develop an electric vehicle from scratch and deploy a fleet of 20 vans within 2 years [1, 2]. This milestone led Deutsche Post to partner with the company in question (Streetscooter). The latter has plans to roll out 10k EVs over the next few years.

The level of efficiency is remarkable. If an open source or cheaper software toolkit were available, small-scale production by individuals (building a car company from your own garage) and regular businesses (I want an electric car for my business) may become infinitely affordable.

1- StreetScooter Builds Electric Vehicle from Ground Up (http://www.ptc.com/product-lifecycle-report/streetscooter-bu...)

2- StreetScooter Customer Stories: www.ptc.com/case-studies/street-scooter

It's surprising that they could be price-competitive with such a short production run. One thousand vehicles is nothing.