How John Lewis is navigating the tough road to greener transport

Achieving a zero carbon fleet is easy, right? You simply replace diesel vehicles with equivalent electric vehicles (EVs), purchase sustainable electricity, and ask government to fill the gaps in charging infrastructure. The fuel saving helps pay for it, but if it costs a bit more, that’ll be justified by the environmental benefit. In the future, hydrogen will take over, as refuelling is quicker and it’ll be the only solution for heavy trucks, anyway.

This could work, but of course there are pitfalls. We’re deluding ourselves if we think that adding a big load on to the grid by charging EVs at peak times is OK if we’re on a green tariff. The reality is that with the current grid mix, creating additional peak energy demands without adding sustainable power generation will result in more fossil gas being burned in inefficient power stations. 

It’s also unlikely the business case for simply swapping diesels for EVs will stack up due to their higher capital cost. The reality is that, with most of us in low-margin industries, the long-term business case has to be there.

The long-term bit is important: currently about half the cost of diesel is tax, and EVs are very lightly taxed. In the future, the subsidies will be reduced at best, and a tax element will have to be introduced. Of course, vehicles and infrastructure will also become less expensive. HMRC and DfT have an important role here in ensuring companies can have confidence that sudden changes in taxes or subsidies will not wipe out the business case overnight. 

In some sectors, such as the long-distance heavy trucks that make bulk deliveries to shops and warehouses, no zero-carbon alternative to diesel is currently available – certainly not an electric one.

But standing still is not an option, so what can we do?

Renewable electricity is a valuable resource, and like any other resource, not to be wasted. So, a key first step on the road to zero carbon is to make energy use, and therefore the whole business operation, as efficient as possible.

For vehicles, that means getting as much freight as possible on the vehicle, upsizing if necessary. It then means using good aerodynamics, lightweighting, efficient driving and a host of other energy-reducing measures.

Optimised route scheduling is also really important. Using less energy means the EV can have a smaller battery. This saves cost and resources, and makes the charging task easier. The best way to charge vehicles is overnight because the carbon intensity of the electricity is lowest then, and the best charging systems dynamically prioritise charging times each night to make best use of the lowest carbon electricity. 

All this is good, but the business case might still not be there. The good news is that purpose-built electric vehicles can offer savings in other areas. Maintenance costs should be lower because they are mechanically very simple with almost no routine servicing needed. They can also be more productive, carrying more payload as they are allowed to operate at higher weights. Finally, the best ones, being built with plastic composite bodies and designed for a long life, might have an operational life of 15 to 20 years. That alone is the biggest factor in securing the business case (as well as using fewer resources).

We plan to transition all our 4,000 cars, vans and light trucks to EV by 2030. That means we must stop buying all diesels by 2024, which in turn means we are very, very busy with trials and analysis. We’ll soon have seven electric Waitrose refrigerated vans operating from our St Katherine Docks branch. This project, in partnership with Flexible Power Systems, has lots of innovation, including wireless charging (working in the same way as a wireless phone charger), electrically driven fridges, and a smart charging system that optimises the use of the lowest carbon intensity energy. Eighteen more electric vans will follow soon, with further trials next year.

Turning to the long-distance trucks, these are important because they generate the greatest amount of emissions – typically 120 tonnes per truck per year – so waiting for hydrogen or any other zero-emission alternative is not an option.

We’ve therefore been transitioning to gas trucks using 100% biomethane from waste. The fleet will reach 340 in the next few months, and all 600 will be converted by 2028. These reduce carbon emissions by 80%, emit half the noise and our drivers love them, saying they feel less tired at the end of the day because they are quieter and smoother running. Gas trucks also have a solid business case.

Do we see hydrogen playing a part in our fleet? We don’t think so at this stage. Hydrogen vehicles use about three times more energy than pure EV, so their relative inefficiency puts them at a disadvantage. Instead, we favour an electric system using overhead wires called Siemens eHighway. It’s several years away at least, but worth a Google if you’re interested.

In conclusion, is it easy to eliminate fossil fuels? No. Are we optimistic? Yes: we believe we can move completely away from fossil fuels by 2030 using the strategy above, and be a net zero carbon business by 2035. In doing so, the fleet will have saved 500,000 tonnes of CO2, mainly through the use of biomethane, over the 2020 to 2030 period. 

Keys to success? Focus on efficiency, exploit all the potential benefits of EVs, use biofuels where no EV alternative is available. Oh, and start trials as soon as you can.