Specialist wine retailer Majestic is advancing plans to transform its entire fleet of delivery vans from diesel to fully electric vehicles, supporting its accelerated sustainability drive.
The business will roll out 35 new Citroën ë-Berlingo and ë-Dispatch Vans before the end of the current financial year next March, with half of those expected to hit the road before Christmas. That’s more than double the 16 eLCVs that it had previously hoped to bring into its fleet in 2023/24. Those 35 vehicles alone will strip out more than 700,000 diesel-powered road miles every year, reducing Majestic’s CO2 emissions by up to 170,000 kg.
Majestic aims to transform entire fleet of 216 vans to electric vehicles by 2030 – five years ahead of the Government’s delayed ban on the sale of new diesel vehicles. This will save five million diesel-powered miles every year and strip out 1.2 million kg of CO2 emissions – slashing the retailer’s carbon footprint and supporting a broader commitment from Majestic to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Majestic’s vans play a crucial role in delivering orders for its online customers and its growing B2B portfolio of more than 3,000 on-trade venues across the UK. Each of Majestic’s 207 stores has its own dedicated delivery van, with 60% of all orders placed through its website now dispatched from its network of shops. Around a third of Majestic’s online orders are now made via its Shop Local service, which allows customers to shop the stock available at their local store, in real time, for free collection within four hours or next-day delivery.
Majestic is also slashing emissions in other ways, including introducing a car salary sacrifice scheme to make it easier, cheaper and more convenient for colleagues across the business to lease a brand-new electric or hybrid vehicle. All new stores opened since 2020 are fitted with energy efficient LED lighting, and the business only purchases renewable energy backed by Renewable Electricity Guarantees of Origin (REGO), equating to 99.8% of Majestic’s total energy use. Majestic has recycled more than three million tonnes of corks during the past two years.
The company has also ramped up efforts to introduce more sustainable, organic and vegan wines into its proposition.
Majestic CEO John Colley said: “Majestic’s fleet of vans is among the busiest in retail, so we are acutely conscious of their carbon footprint and the need to go greener. As a business, we are determined to grow in an environmentally responsible manner and the transformation of our fleet to fully electric vehicles will slash our carbon emissions by more than 1.2 million kilograms every year.
“We are committed to driving positive change for our customers, colleagues and the planet. Removing all diesel vans from our fleet by 2030 – ahead of the Government’s delayed ban on the sale of new diesel vehicles – is a key part of that plan.”
But Colley added: “We can only do that with the right infrastructure of electric vehicle chargers in place across the UK, and with cooperation from our landlords to help us to install charging points across our portfolio of stores.”
