Waitrose owner trials electric vehicles across its home services fleet

The parent company of Waitrose, The John Lewis Partnership, has unveiled plans to replace is entire home services fleet with electric vehicles, in a bid to reach a target of transitioning 4,000 cars, vans and light trucks to EV by 2030.

The trial will start next month with the launch of a charging solution incorporating depot, public network and home charging by EV technology specialist, Flexible Power Systems (FPS).

FPS will also integrate data collected into a wider electrification plan for the 350 home services vehicles, which provides home estimating and fitting services for the retailer.

The move follows a successful joint wireless van charging trial currently underway at Waitrose at London’s St Katharine Dock.

READ MORE: Waitrose pledges support for pig farmers

“This is another step along the path of the John Lewis Partnerships ambition to move completely away from fossils fuels in the fleet by 2030, saving an estimated 500,000 tonnes of CO2 between 2020 & 2030,” John Lewis Partnership product services field manager Kate Cosco said.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to test how electric vehicles work for us in home services. The team are extremely excited to get out on the road and to begin driving these new vehicles.”

The move is part of the company’s commitment to have a zero fossil free fleet by 2030, which will include all HGV’s running on biomethane by 2028, and its delivery and the home services fleet being electrified by 2030.

A fossil-free fleet will give John Lewis Partnership an 80% carbon reduction versus BAU diesel and an estimated 504,000 tonnes of CO2 saving.

FPS managing director Michael Ayres added: “Companies like The John Lewis Partnership have to electrify their fleets to combat climate change. Replacing commercial diesel fleets with electric vehicles is just one part of the picture. We need to bring together the ecosystem of chargers, power management and operational interfaces required to keep fleets serving customers efficiently.”

In addition, the partnership announced its plans to electrify all cars, vans and light trucks by 2030.

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