As the hype surrounding electric cars continues to grow, furniture giant IKEA is jumping on the popular trend with a $4.5 million commitment.
Currently, 40 percent of IKEA’s deliveries are made using electric trucks, but the lack of charging infrastructure has been a major hurdle – with the trucks unable to fit into standard passenger car parks.
The Swedish company announced Friday that it plans to build a charging network to solve a common problem faced by delivery drivers — and some customers — who visit its stores. The move follows Woolworths’ commitments to reduce emissions.
IKEA is trying to solve the big electric car problem
The network established by JET Charge will include charging stations at its ten retail locations in Australia as well as its distribution center in Sydney.
“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,” said Alexandra Kelly, head of zero-emission delivery at the retailer. “The public network really supports passenger cars, so if a van or truck tries to use a passenger car charger, it may not fit into the parking lot.”
The difficulty of charging larger electric vehicles at traditional bays is a problem faced not only by delivery drivers, but also by electric vehicle drivers who tow anything behind their vehicles. According to RAVC, most charging stations are not designed to meet the needs of larger vehicles, and with current infrastructure, drivers often have to unhook their trailer to effectively charge their vehicle – or risk blocking other vehicles.
This is something that charging station owners and operators should “pay close attention to,” Carola Jonas, CEO and founder of Everty — a software platform for electric vehicle charging stations — previously told Yahoo. This is evident in a photo of a Tesla riding a charging dock that was shared last month.
IKEA ‘inspires’ other retailers to make shift to electric vehicles
The furniture company will install six electric vehicle chargers in each of its Australian IKEA stores, in addition to 28 charging stations at its distribution center in Marsden Park, Sydney. Kelly said the network will have a mix of slower AC chargers and high-power DC chargers to accommodate overnight and recharging, and she hoped the announcement would spur other retail chains to embrace the future of electric transportation.
“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 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, the next two years 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.”
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.
— With AAP
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