Wednesday 5 January 2022

Tesco announces UK’s ‘first’ commercial use of fully electric HGVs

Tesco is powering into the new year with the launch of what is claimed to be the UK's first commercially used fully electric heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

Two new DAF electric vehicles (EVs) will transport food and other products from Cardiff to its distribution centre in Magor, Wales, in partnership with logistics and international freight forwarding company FSEW.

The two lorries will replace around 65,000 diesel-fuelled road miles with clean energy, removing 87.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.

Charging points have been installed at Tesco's site in South Wales that will power the vehicles for 100 miles before needing a recharge.

The project will contribute to Tesco's efforts to achieve net zero emissions in its own operations by 2035 and FSEW's work to replace more than 40 diesel vehicles with low carbon alternatives and switch to fleet-wide, zero emission transport operations by 2025.

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO said: “Tesco’s distribution network is one of the largest in the UK and plays an important role in our efforts to become net zero in our own operations by 2035. We’ve already made progress by starting our switch to electric home delivery vans and rolling out electric vehicles charging points for our customers.

“I’m excited that Tesco can also lead the way in electric haulage innovation, helping to tackle this last source of road transport emissions with the support of FSEW.”