Published on December 17th, 2009 | by Susan Kraemer

More Than Half of Londoners Could Have Their Groceries Delivered by EV in 2010

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Sainsbury’s has been testing a fleet of 20 Smith Electric Vehicles for delivering groceries for several years and has found that they easily get the job done. Now it’s just ordered 50 more of the three and a half ton Edison vans—making the grocery chain (at least for now) the world leader in EV grocery deliveries.

Online orders will be delivered in the carbon-conscious all-electric delivery vans and will cover an area that makes it possible to serve an estimated 60% of people living in central London.

Although the US Ford-Smith electric vehicle collaboration fell apart, the European Ford and Smith Electric Vehicles collaborate on the British version. The Edison uses a Ford Transit chassis.

The 3.5 ton Edison normally has a restricted top speed of 50 mph in order to maximize the range to 100 miles per battery charge, but Sainsbury’s have arranged for a custom modification, perhaps to make the purchasing dollars go further. There are few opportunities to travel at 50 mph in central London.

This fleet will be further speed limited to 40 mph with a 60 mile range and include a fastcharge capability. The Edison can haul up to 2,600 pounds, making it ideal for inner city deliveries. The first deliveries of the new fleet are due in March.

Sainsbury customers who eschew the home deliveries in favor of actually driving over to their nearest Sainsbury’s will also have the option of plugging in their own electric vehicles at the grocery store chain: ten of the London Sainsbury stores have just installed charging points.

Upon the announcement, London Mayor Boris Johnson said, “I am determined to put London at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution as they become a mainstream choice. This is cracking news from Sainsbury’s which will help deliver to Londoners not only their groceries, but all the benefits of going electric such as cleaner air and fewer carbon emissions. It shows that a commitment to this technology even in leaner times, is good for businesses and great for our environment.”

Jolly good.

Image: Smith Electric Vehicles

Source: Sainsbury’s via Green Car Congress

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Tags: 20%, 60% of Londoners, electric grocery vans, fleet of 50, home deliveries, smith electric vehicles

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

JJ

If a store is going to do delivery then electric delivery can make sense for regular routes.

This brings back childhood memories. In the suburbs of London, many things were delivered to most homes, newspapers, coal, milk, eggs, bread, the xmas turkey, even bakery treats. The milk was always delivered by electric float trucks since forever. The milkman also was a mini store on wheels for all the other food items above. Gee now I even remember an actual diesel truck full of shelves of food coming around on occasion.

Part of that was because grocery stores were small, local and many of us had no family cars and we could not carry that stuff home. Perhaps also because housewives didn’t go out to work in those days, someone was usually home. When buying larger items you generally had it delivered.

Times changed, most families now have cars and supermarkets replaced the corner store and delivery mostly disappeared and nobody is at home during the day.

We saw webvan not do so well, I don’t see this doing well in the US though. Especially since we shop around getting things from multiple stores to save a nickel here or there while spending more than that on the gas.

I guess if you know exactly what you want on a repeated basis, it makes sense to go back to this model.
JJ

If a store is going to do delivery then electric delivery can make sense for regular routes.

This brings back childhood memories. In the suburbs of London, many things were delivered to most homes, newspapers, coal, milk, eggs, bread, the xmas turkey, even bakery treats. The milk was always delivered by electric float trucks since forever. The milkman also was a mini store on wheels for all the other food items above. Gee now I even remember an actual diesel truck full of shelves of food coming around on occasion.

Part of that was because grocery stores were small, local and many of us had no family cars and we could not carry that stuff home. Perhaps also because housewives didn’t go out to work in those days, someone was usually home. When buying larger items you generally had it delivered.

Times changed, most families now have cars and supermarkets replaced the corner store and delivery mostly disappeared and nobody is at home during the day.

We saw webvan not do so well, I don’t see this doing well in the US though. Especially since we shop around getting things from multiple stores to save a nickel here or there while spending more than that on the gas.

I guess if you know exactly what you want on a repeated basis, it makes sense to go back to this model.
http://spiritof1976.livejournal.com Spiritof1976

There are few opportunities to travel at 50 mph in central London.

You’re telling me! Half the time you’re lucky to make it up to 30.
http://spiritof1976.livejournal.com Spiritof1976

There are few opportunities to travel at 50 mph in central London.

You’re telling me! Half the time you’re lucky to make it up to 30.
http://spiritof1976.livejournal.com Spiritof1976

There are few opportunities to travel at 50 mph in central London.

You’re telling me! Half the time you’re lucky to make it up to 30.
http://spiritof1976.livejournal.com Spiritof1976

There are few opportunities to travel at 50 mph in central London.

You’re telling me! Half the time you’re lucky to make it up to 30.
http://spiritof1976.livejournal.com Spiritof1976

There are few opportunities to travel at 50 mph in central London.

You’re telling me! Half the time you’re lucky to make it up to 30.