Many supermarkets have plans to operate fully electric vehicle fleets and become net zero, and some are already making big progress in removing vehicle emissions from the road.
From electric delivery lorries to company cars, Grocery Gazette takes a look into the sustainable changes being made to the fleets of the UK’s largest supermarkets.
Sainsbury’s fully electric delivery fleet
In 2021, Sainsbury’s became the first UK retailer to introduce fully electric refrigerated trailers to its delivery fleet.
The Big 4 grocer unveiled the first store that will deliver groceries to customers using a fully electric delivery fleet earlier this month.
Launching at its Nine Elms London superstore, which makes more than 2,000 deliveries on average each week and covers 1,760 miles, the new vans will help to save 57 tonnes of carbon annually.
The fleet’s vehicle and fridge units will be powered by electricity and will not emit carbon emissions, dust, dirt, soot or smoke.
It will not be the last as Sainsbury’s plans to operate electric vehicles in all stores by 2035.
Waitrose’s electric van rollout
Waitrose parent company John Lewis Partnership is growing its electric vehicle fleet and is on track to have over 3,000 electric vans, light trucks and cars on the road by 2030.
Over 70% of its heavy duty trucks are now running on biomethane.
John Lewis Partnership fleet general manager Justin Laney said: “We’ve committed to ending the use of fossil fuels in our transport operations by 2030, and to be net zero by 2035.”
As of this month, an all-electric Maxus chassis cab vehicle will operate from the Waitrose fulfilment centre in Enfield, the supermarket’s first test of a larger home delivery van.
Tesco’s zero-emission electric lorry
In August 2022, Tesco became the first retailer in the UK to launch a zero-emission electric lorry, with each vehicle replacing 30,000 diesel-fuelled road miles with green energy and removing 23 tonnes of CO2e each year.
The electric lorries initially made deliveries from Tesco’s distribution centres to more than 400 stores across London, however the supermarket plans to introduce the lorries to further cities across the UK.
Made by Renault Trucks, the lorries have a range of up to 130 miles and can carry the same load as the diesel trucks they replaced.
Asda’s electric company car fleet
In 2021, Asda became the first British supermarket to move its entire company car fleet to electric vehicles.
By June 2025, over 600 vehicles will have switched to electric, saving over 2,411 tonnes of CO2.
At the time of the initial rollout, field and head office-based colleagues were able to choose from makes and models such as the Audi Q4 e-tron, Mercedes EQA and EQC, Tesla Model 3, Polestar 2, Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4 and the Volvo XC40 Pure Electric.
This forms part of the Big 4 grocer’s long-term strategy to reduce scope one and two emissions by 50% by 2025 and become a net zero carbon business by 2040.
Aldi’s electric refrigerated trailer
In 2022, Aldi began the trial of an all-electric refrigerated trailer, which converts kinetic energy into electricity to power the on-board batteries as the wheels turn.
As a result, products are kept cool while energy consumption is reduced.
The trailer can also be plugged into the electric point at the discount grocer’s regional distribution centre in Cheshire and emits zero carbon emissions.
All new trailers will also now be fitted with solar mats to help power them and track the solar energy and CO2 savings they create.
To reduce its transport emissions further, Aldi is transitioning all company cars in GB to electric and all GB retail distribtuion centres now have electric vehicle charging points installed for colleague use, with more points to be installed at all offices this year.
