Co-op electrifies its fleet with help from Lex Autolease

Lex Autolease has helped the Co-op cut company vehicle emissions by replacing petrol and diesel cars with electric vehicles (EVs), reducing the average vehicle CO2 per km by 47%

The Co-op implemented a new fleet policy centred on ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) to help contribute to the wider business goals in March 2020.

It incentivised its choice list to encourage drivers to opt for greener vehicles, ordering 275 ULEVs to replace the current traditionally fuelled vehicles on its fleet. Almost two thirds (62%) of these new vehicles were delivered during 2020, alongside 35 pure electric vehicles (EVs).

Spurred on by the initial success of this transition to battery-power, in December 2020, Co-op announced it would replace its fleet of fossil-fuel delivery vans with pure EVs by 2025.

The funeral arm of the business also saw the delivery of its first regenerative hybrid hearses last year, with further electrification investment planned for the future.

Lex Autolease is working closely with Co-op on its continual reduction of CO2, while also benchmarking against the broader sector to ensure the business maintains its sustainability leadership credentials.

Mark Darby, customer relationship manager at Lex Autolease, said: “Co-op is well-known for its ethical credentials and has publicly committed to slashing its emissions. It’s great that we’ve been able to assist in helping the business on the next step of its sustainability journey.

“To help with tracking its progress, we’ve been providing Co-op with regular updates using our sustainability dashboard, which offers our customers tailored insights into key metrics, along with the historic and a future fleet sustainability trajectory.”

Co-op is headquartered in Manchester and has worked with Lex Autolease for more than 13 years. It has a fleet of more than 2,900 vehicles, which is made up of 1,300 company cars and 1,600 specialist vehicles.

Dan Payne, head of fleet management at the Co-op, said: “Sustainability is at the forefront of everything we do at Co-op. Having such a diverse fleet can bring challenges as we are often restricted by the availability of appropriate technology.

“Through a combination of considered timing, policy positioning, colleague engagement and our long maintained commercial partnership with Lex Autolease, we have been delighted by our achievements over the last 12 months.”

The Co-op is one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives with interests across food, funerals, insurance and legal services. 

It operates 2,600 food stores, more than 800 funeral homes and provides products to in excess of 5,100 other stores, including those run by independent co-operative societies and through its wholesale business, Nisa Retail.