Finnish grocery chain Kesko electrifies fleet
First up, there’s the vehicles. 70 EVs will be joining Kesko’s fleet by 2026, with a total of 300 planned by 2030. That means up to 30 per cent of Kesko’s grocery vehicle fleet will be electric, and will play a role in dispatching goods to around 1,100 K Group grocery stores. Finnish national statistics suggest that EVs are set to account for only 11 per cent of all first-registrations of HGVs and 17 per cent of medium-duty trucks by 2030, putting Kesko at least ahead nationally if not internationally.
To begin with, the electric trucks will serve distribution areas around Vantaa and Tampere from central facilities, but will be expanded to Oulu, Seinäjoki, Jyväskylä, Mikkeli and Turku areas later this year. Kesko states it also currently uses electric vans for home grocery delivery in Helsinki, Turku, and Tampere.
According to the company, there are a number of charging points already available for heavy EVs at its central Hakkila warehouse, and regional terminals in Seinäjoki and Tampere. But the firm plans to grow a charging network with infrastructure set to be installed at terminals in Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä and Mikkeli this year. That means there will be HGV charging points at all its grocery trade logistics centres, with construction and management of this infrastructure being managed by the firm’s K-Lataus division. Kesko states that the chargers will utilise renewable energy, and that installation has been funded with an investment of nearly €10 million euros.
Jyrki Tomminem, SVP for Supply Chain Management and Logistics at Kesko, commented: ”We want to be a forerunner in the electrification of heavy vehicles. We intend to increase the number of electric trucks and vans to nearly 40 this year, to 70 in 2026, and to 200 by 2030.”
He added: ”We intend to increase the number of natural gas vehicles closer to 40 by the year 2030. We are also monitoring the progress made in hydrogen vehicles and their charging infrastructure.”
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