Waitrose is to become the first supermarket in the UK to trial a new generation of electric vehicles.
Groceries from Waitrose’s St Katharine’s Dock store will be delivered entirely by electric vans equipped with cutting edge wireless charging technology. The move is part of the retailer’s ambition to end the use of traditional fossil fuels across its entire transport fleet by 2030.
The new wireless vans are fitted with a slim charging pad on the underside and top up by parking above an electric plate, similar to flat charging pads for mobile phones. They can also be plugged in to charge overnight.
The technology is installed by EV technology specialists Flexible Power Systems, which also equips the store with a cloud-based smart charging system designed for home delivery.
The vehicles will be delivering groceries over the coming months from the St Katherine’s Dock Waitrose store in London and are expected to be expanded in the near future.
Marija Rompani, director of ethics & sustainability at the John Lewis Partnership, commented: “Before the pandemic, we were taking 60,000 orders a week – we’re now doing well over 200,000 orders. That uplift in demand for grocery deliveries means that prioritising an electric fleet is more important than ever, particularly as world leaders meet at COP26 to discuss how we lower global emissions.
“We’ve already committed to electric vans and have created a new biomethane gas filling station too, which is helping to reduce CO2 emissions by 80%. We continue to look for new innovative ways to cut our emissions even further, as well as bring in the latest technology. Being the first to trial this new wireless charging technology is both exciting and another example of our ambition to show leadership in this space.”
