Co-written by Martin Littlemore, Supplier Compliance Manager, Supply Chain & Service Operations and Chris Georgiou, Head of Compliance at Currys plc

15 February 2022

At Currys we’re working hard to achieve net zero by 2040 and as part of that, we’ve signed up to The Climate Group’s EV100 initiative and set ourselves the target to transition to a 100% electric or alternatively fuelled fleet for vehicles below 3.5 tonnes and 50% for vehicles 3.5 tonnes and over by 2030. To help us reduce our Carbon emissions, in the meantime, we’ve teamed up with TRAILAR.

In partnership with TRAILAR, Currys has invested in solar powered vans to help reduce the fuel consumption of nearly 200 vans across our network. Across the next 4 years, this initiative will aim to reduce our CO2 by 271 tonnes a year, equivalent to 1.39 tonnes a year per vehicle. This will save an estimated 552 litres of diesel per vehicle each year.

“We’re constantly looking at our entire supply chain for opportunities to do more, which is where our relationship with TRAILAR was created.” - Martin Littlemore, Supplier Compliance Manager.

TRAILAR is the leader in solar transport technology, with the mission to make commercial vehicles ’greener’ by reducing their environmental impact. Cutting-edge, ultra-thin solar panels are fitted onto the roof space of existing or new vehicles and connect the panels to the vehicle battery. Solar power is generated and then used to power various on-board activities, and even a vehicle's tail lift. As a result, solar powered vehicles can save 5% of diesel and 1.39 tonnes of CO2 emissions per vehicle each year.

With a large national fleet of vehicles providing customers with next day deliveries, ensuring this heavily utilised operation is performing 24/7 is key to the success of our business. These solar panels actively enabled us to reduce fuel and emissions for each fitted vehicle. The TRAILAR Insights Platform captures and reports important vehicle telematic data to allow us to see how much fuel and CO2 each vehicle is saving each day, as well as a large set of other reports on battery health, utilisation, tail-lift usage and much more.

“We’re very proud to be working alongside a business that is as focused on driving both sustainability and operational efficiencies into their fleet, as Currys are. We look forward to seeing all the vehicles in operation and the benefits our technology will bring.” – Denny Hulme, Managing Director, TRAILAR