John Lewis plans switch to electric deliveries as online accelerates

John Lewis and Waitrose have announced plans to significantly increase the use of electric vans to help fulfil its ambition of ending the use of fossil fuels across its entire transport fleet by 2030.

The move it states comes as its online business continues to accelerate and will see the firm using two new designs of vehicle for its Waitrose.com food deliveries and for smaller John Lewis deliveries, saving over 20,000 tonnes of CO2 every year, equivalent to the carbon footprint produced by 2,500 UK households.

The electric vans follow the retailer’s recent news that it is building a dedicated biomethane gas filling station to enable its largest heavy goods vehicles to use a low-carbon alternative to diesel, which will reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent, with each truck saving over 100 tonnes of CO2 every year.

The retailer said in a statement that it has worked with manufacturers and data scientists to source vehicles that are the “most efficient and environmentally-responsible” and will trial the electric vans early next year.

Justin Laney, partner and general manager of central transport at the John Lewis Partnership, said: “As our online services rapidly expand, we’re working hard to meet our goal of operating a zero fossil fuel in the next ten years. Our new electric vans are an ideal solution for home deliveries; the innovative design means they’re more efficient, but also respectful to the environment and the growing number of neighbourhoods in which we deliver.”

Image: courtesy of John Lewis Partnership