Ikea Canada in big rollout of electric delivery trucks
The Canadian subsidiary of Swedish furniture giant Ikea is taking a step toward its goal of 100% zero-emission deliveries by 2025.
Ikea Canada will deploy 30 electric vehicles (EVs) across the country in 2022, in partnership with Canadian e-commerce fulfillment and last-mile delivery provider Bolt Logistics. With this rollout, Ikea Canada, which is striving to reach 100% zero-emission deliveries by 2025, is undertaking one of Canada’s largest zero-emissions, medium-duty vehicle distributions for commercial deliveries to date.
The retailer has already put the first Bolt zero-emission delivery trucks on the road, with more to follow across British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario early this year.
U.S. retailers explore EVs
Retailers in the U.S. have also been piloting, and even investing in, electric delivery vehicles as a means to improve delivery sustainability and reach corporate emissions targets. In support of its Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040, Amazon is designing and building custom electric delivery vehicles in partnership with manufacturer Rivian.
Amazon has invested in and completely customized three EV models with Rivian to enhance the driver experience and optimize safety. Amazon also recently invested in emissions-free transportation power startup Amogy, and will be the first commercial customer for Stellantis’ new Ram ProMaster Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) launching in 2023. Stellantis, with input from Amazon, designed the vehicle with unique last-mile delivery features, and Amazon will deploy the vehicles to routes across the United States.
And by 2040, Walmart plans to zero out emissions from all of its vehicles, including long-haul trucks. Meanwhile, grocery giant The Kroger Co. is expanding a pilot of all-electric, next-generation autonomous delivery vehicles from Nuro in Houston. Convenience chain 7-Eleven is engaging Nuro in an autonomous delivery pilot in Mountain View, Calif., using hybrid electric Toyota Priuses equipped with Nuro’s self-navigation technology.
“With transportation being one of the largest contributors of the global climate crisis, Ikea Canada is committed to eradicating carbon emissions and electrifying its last-mile delivery service, utilizing the benefits of electric vehicles to further transform the market,” said Melissa Barbosa, head of sustainability at Ikea Canada. “The value-add of deploying zero-emission vehicles accelerates our goal of becoming more accessible, affordable, and sustainable for our customer network.”
“Bolt is committed to being a planet positive business. We’re demonstrating this commitment through our focus on becoming a carbon-negative logistics company by the end of 2023. This involves making a conscious investment to help ensure we can provide a zero-emission, carbon-negative last-mile delivery solution, while funding carbon-sequestering initiatives around the globe,” said Mark Ang, CEO of Bolt Logistics. “We are thrilled to be working with Ikea Canada on this initiative and look forward to continuing to collaborate on building smarter and greener supply chains.”
Ikea Canada is part of Ingka Group, which operates 389 Ikea stores in 32 countries, including 14 in Canada.