Waitrose and John Lewis will significantly increase the use of electric vans as it phases out the use of fossil fuels across its entire transport fleet by 2030.

The John Lewis Partnership will use two new designs of vehicle for its Waitrose food deliveries and for smaller John Lewis deliveries and follows the retailer’s recent announcement 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.

In addition to producing fewer pollutants, the state-of-the-art electric vehicles have greater capacity than their diesel counterparts. In some cases, this means replacing three diesel vans with two electric ones. The vehicles can also be upgraded as technology advances, meaning the electric vans could have a very long life of up to two decades or more. This is a significant benefit that really adds to the sustainability of the vehicle.

Justin Laney, general manager of central transport at the John Lewis Partnership, says: “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.”

In March 2019, the employee-owned business pledged to be net-zero carbon across its entire operations by 2050 at the latest.

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