Tesco UK (United Kingdom) has cemented its position as the leading sustainable home delivery supermarket by unveiling its 500th electric van.
The van will go into service at the supermarket's Sheffield Extra store, making it the first in Yorkshire to have a fully electric fleet. The store runs 14 home delivery vans, making 2,500 deliveries each week.
Since Tesco introduced its first EV home delivery van in 2020 in Greater London, electric vehicles powered by clean green energy have replaced 15 million diesel delivery miles.
More than 30 Tesco stores and centres are now operating fully electric home delivery vans across the UK, helping improve air quality in urban areas and reducing emissions.
Tesco's 5,500 home delivery vans deliver daily to 150,000 customers across the UK.
As part of its ambition to become carbon neutral in the UK by 2035, Tesco has committed to operating a fully electric home delivery fleet in the UK by the end of 2030.
Moving the UK delivery fleet to clean, green electric power would be equivalent to taking 22,000 cars off the road yearly.
Jason Tarry, Tesco CEO UK and ROI, said the delivery of Tesco's 500th EV home delivery van to its Sheffield Extra store was an important landmark as it moves towards a fully electric fleet across the UK by 2030.
Making this change will reduce Tesco's carbon emissions as a business, improve the air quality for the communities it serves in Sheffield, and help Tesco reach its commitment to be carbon-neutral in its operations by 2035.
Gill Furniss MP, Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough said seeing Sheffield have a fully electric dotcom fleet was great.
"This is brilliant for the local community. We know moving to electric vehicles can improve air quality, and it's great to see retailers like Tesco making investments like this in Sheffield," said Furniss.
Decarbonisation Minister Jesse Norman said electric vehicles were vital to the UK's move to a Green growth economy.
"It is great to see businesses like Tesco embrace this technology to help make supermarket deliveries more sustainable," said Norman.
Norman added that the Government had supported over 40,000 electric vans and HGVs across the UK through the Plug-in Van Grant, supporting businesses and individuals to decarbonise
