John Lewis trial de-risks decarbonisation investments in vehicles and infrastructure

The John Lewis Partnership is replacing its home services fleet with electric vehicles as it looks to reach a target of transitioning 4,000 cars, vans and light trucks to EV by 2030.

A trial of the initiative will start next month with the establishment of a mixed charging solution incorporating depot, public network and home charging by EV technology specialist, Flexible Power Systems (FPS).

FPS will also integrate data collected into a wider electrification plan for the 350 home services vehicles, which provide home estimating and fitting services for John Lewis.

The project follows a successful joint wireless van charging trial currently underway at Waitrose at St Katharine Dock in London.

The move is part of the partnership’s commitment to have a zero fossil free fleet by 2030. This will include all HGVs running on biomethane by 2028, and its delivery and the home services fleet being electrified by 2030. 

Kate Cosco, John Lewis Partnership’s product services field manager, said: “This is another step along the path of the John Lewis Partnerships ambition to move completely away from fossils fuels in the fleet by 2030, saving an estimated 500,000 tonnes of CO2 between 2020 and 2030. This is a wonderful opportunity to test how electric vehicles work for us in home services. The team are extremely excited to get out on the road and to begin driving these new vehicles.”

Managing director of Flexible Power Systems Michael Ayres said, “Companies like The John Lewis Partnership have to electrify their fleets to combat climate change. Replacing commercial diesel fleets with electric vehicles is just one part of the picture. We need to bring together the ecosystem of chargers, power management and operational interfaces required to keep fleets serving customers efficiently.”

“Like many company car drivers, home services partners have a range of working patterns and living arrangements, we need to ensure we can offer a flexible and scalable charging solution to fit these needs via depot, home or public network charging.

“It’s essential to collect data through trials like this one, to inform and de-risk the very substantial decarbonisation investments in vehicles and infrastructure fleets are planning.”