Nestlé and digital road freight forwarder sennder have expanded their collaboration to reduce carbon emissions in road logistics through the use of electric trucks. Since 2021, the partnership has contributed to reducing Nestlé’s transport-related emissions by over 2,000 tonnes of CO2e through more than 3,000 green loads using low-carbon transport solutions, including hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO100) and electric trucks.
As part of the initiative, electric trucks have been introduced for Nestlé’s THOMY product line in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Over four months, these vehicles have completed over 100 orders and covered more than 10,000 kilometres, reducing CO2e emissions by approximately 55 tonnes annually on a single route.
“Achieving our net zero emissions goal by 2050 requires significant logistics optimization,” said Matthias Fleischer, Vice President Supply Chain at Nestlé Germany. “Partnering with sennder to implement electric trucks in Germany has been a critical step in ensuring our transport operations are both efficient and sustainable.” He added that while infrastructure and battery technology are still evolving, electric trucks are already viable for short-distance journeys, such as factory-to-distribution centre routes and customer deliveries.
Sennder has implemented various measures to optimise electric truck operations, including load consolidation and the strategic placement of overnight depot charging stations near Nestlé facilities.
“Nestlé and sennder have been working together since 2021 to implement the two most scalable green solutions in road freight,” said Graham Major-Ex, Senior Director of Green Business & eMobility at sennder. “One is HVO, which is a renewable diesel that reduces carbon emissions by up to 90 percent. The second are electric trucks, which run with zero tailpipe emissions and significantly reduce carbon emissions on every single transport.”
The company’s joint venture with Scania, Juna, has also facilitated the deployment of electric trucks by offering carriers a flexible pay-per-use leasing model.
Nestlé is also investing in solar-powered warehouses and charging stations equipped with photovoltaic systems and battery storage to further improve the sustainability of its logistics network. According to Major-Ex,
“The road freight industry is going through a technological transformation. We are here to help our customers adopt electric trucks at scale to enable them to build a future-looking competitive advantage.”