Furniture giant IKEA has unveiled plans to assemble a $4.5 million electric truck charging network as part of its push toward zero-emission deliveries.
The Swedish company announced its investment on Friday, revealing that the network built by Jet Charge will include charging stations at its 10 retail locations in Australia as well as its distribution center in Sydney.
The investment is one of the largest in electric delivery vehicles, and follows low-emission transport commitments from companies including Team Global Express and Woolworths.
IKEA Australia’s head of zero-emission deliveries, Alexandra Kelly, told AAP the decision to invest in charging stations was made to meet IKEA’s global goal of delivering 100 per cent zero-emission trucks by 2025.
Currently, 40 per cent of IKEA deliveries are made using electric vans, but Ms Kelly said the lack of charging infrastructure was an obstacle for its delivery partners, Australian National Courier, Kings Transport and All Purpose Transport.
“We identified that a lot of the challenges in the market were related to two things: the cost of vehicles and access to charging infrastructure,” she said.
“The public network already supports passenger cars, so if a truck or van tries to use a passenger car charger, it may not fit into the parking lot.”
The company’s $4.5 million investment will see six electric vehicle chargers installed in every Australian IKEA store, as well as 28 charging stations at its distribution center in Marsden Park, Sydney.
Ms Kelly said the network would contain a mix of slower AC chargers and high-power DC chargers to accommodate overnight recharging and recharging, and she hoped the announcement would spur other retail chains to embrace the future of electric mobility.
“This is a really exciting investment that I believe will change the way other retailers look at their investments supporting the transformation,” she said.
“We hope it inspires change.”
JET Charge CEO Tim Washington said IKEA’s decision to invest in large electric vehicles, and advertise them with bright signage, will get customers and rival companies talking.
He said Australians should expect to see more low-emission transport announcements in the coming years.
“We haven’t seen much progress in retail yet, but if we are anything to judge by, over the next two years we will see a lot of projects hitting the market,” he said.
“We are seeing a huge uptick in logistics projects, which is good because they take a while to get off the ground.”
Supermarket giant Woolworths has also announced plans to replace its delivery fleet with electric vehicles by 2030, and courier company Team Global Express has partnered with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to add 60 electric trucks to its fleet in Sydney.
IKEA’s announcement also comes a day after the federal government’s new vehicle efficiency standard was passed by Parliament, which is designed to set emissions limits on vehicles from January next year.
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