- LOI between Rhenus and JUNA establishes cooperation to introduce electric trucks into Rhenus Group’s asset-light Road Freight operations
- Flexible truck-as-a-service model reduces upfront investment and residual-value risks
- First implementation in Düsseldorf provides a practical starting point for testing the model in daily operations
Rhenus and JUNA have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to explore electric trucks as a service for Rhenus Group’s asset-light Road Freight operations in Germany. The cooperation combines the Group’s transport network with JUNA’s flexible e-truck rental model and route analysis to reduce financial and operational barriers that can make electrification challenging for logistics providers and their carrier networks.
The first implementation is already underway in Düsseldorf with JUNA providing the first Scania battery electric truck through its usage-based model, allowing Rhenus to test the vehicle in daily operations while gaining practical experience with performance, costs and operational requirements.
Making electric trucks work in an asset-light model
Introducing electric trucks into an asset-light road-freight network comes with specific hurdles: high upfront investment, uncertainty about residual values, and open questions about how e-trucks perform in day-to-day operations. The partnership with JUNA is designed to address these barriers through a pay-per-kilometer subscription model, which reduces upfront investment and residual value risk for Rhenus. Maintenance, repairs, insurance, telematics and charging support are included, allowing teams on site to focus on running the trucks in daily operations while working toward diesel cost parity and continuous operational reliability.
Placing electric trucks across different Rhenus branches would allow Rhenus to gain hands-on experience across a range of routes and regions. Data on truck performance, costs and emissions savings from real operations will show where e-trucks fit into Rhenus’ daily business. As part of the collaboration, Rhenus and JUNA will analyze Rhenus’ transport flows to identify where electric trucks can operate reliably and economically in daily operations, focusing on routes where an electric truck’s total cost of ownership matches or beats that of a comparable diesel truck. The cooperation has the potential to bring up to 12 battery-electric trucks into daily operation across Rhenus locations in Germany by the end of 2027.
“In asset-light road freight, the biggest hurdles to e-trucks are often financial and operational: the upfront investment, the residual value risk and the uncertainty about how the trucks will perform day to day,” says Cecilia Fritzen, Head of Sales at JUNA. “Our model lowers those barriers. We’re proud to be the partner that makes this journey simple.”
“For us, the important step is moving from assumptions to practical experience,” says Thomas Wippermann, Managing Director of Rhenus Overland Transport Holding. “Working with JUNA allows us to test electric trucks on actual routes while maintaining our asset-light model. We can learn what works operationally, where the business case makes sense and what conditions need to be in place to make adoption easier for our carrier network.”
The cooperation combines JUNA’s flexible truck-as-a-service model and route analysis with Rhenus’ operational network and transport expertise. By testing the approach under real operating conditions, the partners aim to identify suitable routes and build practical experience that can inform further electric-truck deployments.
