Goods transport without CO2

by 2035

By 2035, we aim to make all our freight transport emission-free, with vehicles running entirely on green electricity and green hydrogen. Pieter Leonard, Supply chain Food – Transport VAK manager, looks ahead: “Many challenges await us, but we intend to tackle them together with our partners.”

Taking our partners in tow

Our ambition is based on the group's DNA: contribute to a more sustainable world and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of our freight transport to zero”, Pieter says. “And we want to take the lead in this. It started 17 years ago with our investigation into electric trucks for quiet deliveries to reduce the impact on local residents. This is how we emerged as a pioneer in transport electrification. Our years of technological experience allow us to say with confidence that it's realistic to switch to battery-electric and hydrogen-electric vehicles by 2035. Our own fleet will be emission-free by 2030. In this way, we want to reach out to our partners and encourage them to jump on the zeroemission bandwagon with us. Our goal not only applies to our own trucks and vans, but also to subcontractors who drive for us and suppliers who sell and deliver directly to us.”

Trial and error

“It's not going to be straightforward. The next few years are still a kind of test phase. Relatively speaking, electric trucks are still in their infancy. Fortunately, technology continues to develop and will be sufficiently advanced within three to four years. At that time, we'll be able to deploy electric trucks on a large scale and start the transition. We'll definitely include our partners in this story and share our expertise with them. For instance, if we were to buy electric trucks we'd get our subcontractors to test them as well. We want them to learn from our findings and tests as well. Trial and error, as it were. But it should be possible. We're aware there are still many unanswered questions. The message is to involve everyone around us in our learning process, we'll all come out stronger in the end. We also communicated this when we explained our objectives at an event for our transport partners. That transparency and sense of cooperation clearly struck a chord. I personally think it's great that as a company we're so committed to zero-emission transport, and that we're not afraid to be the asking party towards partners. It shows a strong belief in both the technology and our partnerships.”

“The and-and story is very important for zero-emission transport. Both batteryelectric and hydrogen-electric vehicles play an essential role”, Herman Annendyck, Zero-Emission Transport Roadmap project manager at Colruyt Group Technics says. “As we're still at the very beginning of the technological implementation, we don't yet know which technology will be best in the long term. They each have their pros and cons. We're still studying them. We're also entirely dependent on the commercial availability of emissionfree trucks. That's why we keep in close contact with the manufacturers to buy and test vehicles at the appropriate time. Both technologies also require additional infrastructure to be installed at or near our distribution centres. Our technicians and engineers are busy designing and looking at where we can add the new charging and tank infrastructure. Diesel was easy, and exchanging that convenience for a sustainable vision of the future requires new challenges. But there's no turning back, the climate comes first. And this is why, in time, zero-emission will become our new standard.”

Truck driver Luc Deville is enthusiastic about zero-emission: “My experience with electric vehicles is positive. Six months ago I was asked to drive and test VDL's hydrogen truck. Apart from some teething problems, I was very satisfied driving it. In November, I also drove a battery-electric truck when we presented our ambitions around zeroemission transport at a press event. I suddenly realised how much the tyres squeak when I manoeuvred! Driving without the sound of the engine, being able to drive in peace, etc. It really makes for a pleasant driving experience. Yes, I'm a fan. (laughs) You automatically adopt a calmer driving style and it's also easier to keep a level head. This is necessary, because you have to watch out even more in city centres: vulnerable road users will not hear the truck coming, for instance. I still notice some colleagues don't trust electric vehicles, but it was the same when we switched from manual to automatic gearboxes. They'll change their minds once they've driven an electric truck. I can't wait to drive one again!”