Following the announcement of Einride’s UK market entry in April 2023, with Walkers Crisps, the first two vehicles have now entered service.
The two new DAF battery electric tractor units will be used to deploy product between Leicester and Coventry, Switching the journey to Einride’s electric trucks will help reduce the equivalent of over 1,600 tonnes of CO2 emissions across three years, and unlock a resilient, cost-effective, and decarbonised way to transport goods across the UK, says Einride. Starting in the Midlands, Einride is planning to then unfold along the UK’s busiest motorways connecting the major metropolitan cities of London, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.
In addition, Walkers Crisps owner PepsiCo has announced plans to scale up the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) – used cooking oil - across the supply chain in a move set to save 2,650 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions annually. The transport of 240,000 tonnes potatoes each year from UK farms to the Leicester production site is now entirely powered by used cooking oil, in partnership with AB Texel UK, the company explains in a statement.
The move follows PepsiCo’s introduction of the alternative fuel in 2022, for more than one and a half million kilometres of truck journeys moving product between the Quaker Oats mill in Cupar and the Leicester distribution centre.
We’re continuing to scale sustainable HVO fuel across the business, with plans to expand its use to our transport operations in Scotland later this year. This future expansion is expected to reduce GHG emissions by another 5,000 tonnes annually. By the end of 2023, we expect to be using HVO to power around nine million kilometres of journeys across the UK, says the company.
