Community: One Stop

One Stop records epic year for charity fundraising

One Stop is celebrating a record year for fundraising, having drummed up£902,000 for a number of national charities and local good causes.

The week-long trial involved a 19-tonne Electra e-Cargo refrigerated rigid vehicle, which can travel up to 130 miles on a full charge.

The lorry made deliveries to Spar retail stores within a 100-mile round trip of AF Blakemore's West Midlands depot. The vehicle then took up to 10 hours to charge at the company’s Willenhall lorry park.

Blakemore said replacing one of its standard diesel rigids with this type of electric vehicle could save the company more than 30 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the course of a year.

AF Blakemore Logistics Compliance Manager, Dave Higgs, said: “This trial will move AFB a step to introducing its first electric HGV, and we are excited to be involved in the drive towards a more sustainable future.

“If the test week is successful, the business will be looking at more suppliers of electric vehicles. We are hoping to do a number of trials over the next five years to understand the potential of electric HGVs and how they could be incorporated into our fleet.”

AF Blakemore has already begun to roll out electric home delivery vans to its Spar stores.

The company’s commitment to reducing its transport emissions is part of a wider focus on sustainability, and in January AF Blakemore added a new environmental sustainability manager to its Responsible Business team.