All electric home delivery fleet by 2030 for Woolworths NZ

Woolworths New Zealand aims to deliver greener groceries to online customers, planning to transition 100% of its home delivery trucks to electric by 2030.

Its announcement comes as the retailer releases its 2023 Sustainability Wrap, saying it is the first commitment of its kind for a New Zealand supermarket.

The move is expected to add about 300 trucks to the country’s electric EV fleet over the next seven years, with Woolworths New Zealand delivering thousands of online orders to customers daily from Kerikeri to Invercargill.

It’s critical for businesses like Woolworths to take a leadership role in switching to lower emissions vehicles and backing electric options, says Woolworths New Zealand managing director Spencer Sonn.

“The need for a low carbon future has never been more clear, and we know we need to take action today to ensure we’re leaving a better tomorrow for those coming after us.

“We have one of the biggest home delivery truck fleets in the country, and we hope this will encourage more businesses to look at making the change over to electric vehicles too.”

Sonn says some of Woodworths’ trucks do as much as 300km in one day, so the transition won’t be easy.

“But we’re determined to get to 2030 with a fully electric fleet.

“We took a lot of learnings from our first five EV trucks and will be working closely with our drivers to ensure our transition is carefully phased over the next seven years and balances practicality with ambition.”

The supermarket retailer first introduced EVs to its home delivery fleet in 2019 with support from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

“One of the aims of EECA’s funding support is to reduce the risk for businesses investing in the first steps of transitioning to more efficient options and help them then feel more confident to make larger investments down the line,” says EECA group manager Richard Briggs.

“This is exactly what’s happened here with us supporting Woolworths’ first five electric vehicles and them now setting a much more extensive ambition.”

The business’ electric target is part of a wider Woolworths Group commitment to have reduced its overall operational transport emissions by around 60% by 2030 compared to now, and to have decommissioned more than 3000 internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles from its company-wide fleet by that time.