The Australian branch of Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea is taking its transport fleet all-electric, with a commitment to have quit internal combustion engines for all of its delivery and assembly vehicles nationally by 2025.
Ikea, which has been one of the leading installers of renewables globally – and of commercial-scale solar in Australia – said on Friday that its shift to EVs would start immediately, reaching 5 per cent in FY19, 10 per cent in FY2020 and 100 per cent in FY25.
The company in Australia has a fleet of around 100 trucks to deliver large furniture and another 250 vehicles for deliveries of smaller goods – already seven of the these are electric, delivering goods in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.
The vehicles it uses are not its own, but outsourced through partner companies like Kings Transport and Logistics, which itself has been switching to electric in partnership with Victoria-based electric vehicle conversion specialist, SEA Electric.
As we reported here, SEA packs – which include all the parts, including a built-in high-voltage charger – are designed to electrify a truck chassis or delivery van, and an easily be fitted on most leading trucking brands, giving a relatively quick and very efficient electric transformation.
The company – headquartered in Australia in Dandenong – has successfully fitted systems to vehicles made by Isuzu, Mercedes-Benz, Hino, Iveco and XGW and FAW, and recently announced state government-backed plans to build a “massive” EV assembly plant in the Latrobe Valley.
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