Ashford, UK: Sysco UK has called for greater cross-industry collaboration, as it launches its latest electric vehicle, built as part of a partnership that it hopes will be the catalyst for widespread, fully electric, multi-temperature deliveries.
The new electric vehicle will become the first foodservice vehicle to carry the Climate Stripes graphic, which is designed to highlight the issue of rising global temperatures.
The Climate Stripes were created by Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading and are designed to show vividly how global average temperatures have risen over nearly two centuries.
Speaking at the launch of the Climate Stripes vehicle at its Brakes depot in Reading, Peter Jackson, chief executive, Sysco UK, said: “Food and transport are two of the most carbon-intensive sectors. We have a huge responsibility to tackle climate change through our operations and inspire our customers to do the same.
“We are on a journey to create a future where a delivery of sustainable produce arrives on an electric vehicle, charged with solar panels at the zero carbon depot. This is an important step. But we cannot do this alone and we need to work in partnership with customers, manufacturers, government and the rest of the foodservice industry. We can only achieve real change if we work together.
“Our position in the food system creates an opportunity to inspire our customers to transform their menus and the food that they buy – by far the biggest portion of our own carbon emissions. We hope that the climate stripes on this vehicle will raise awareness of the challenge.”
The new Daf rigid has a range of around 280km with frozen and chilled compartment powered directly from the battery. This is the next step towards Sysco’s ambition to stop buying new diesel vehicles in Great Britain by 2030, the company says.
As part of the launch, Jackson called for greater partnership with government to support the uptake of zero-emissions fleets, highlighting the challenges of a lack of infrastructure and the support needed to decarbonise commercial fleets.
Globally, Sysco intends to electrify 35% of its North American fleet by 2030 as it seeks to reduce its direct carbon emissions by 27.5% by 2030.
The Climate Stripes graphic created by Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading represent the rapid rate of warming and has received a lot of traction with the tagline #ShowYourStripes. Each vertical line represents the average annual temperature in that year – from blue (cooler), to red (hotter).
