Case Study: Co-Creating Zero Emission Deliveries

IKEA Retail (Ingka Group) is no stranger to issues around supply and volume of commercial electric vehicles. With a target to achieve zero emission deliveries globally by 2025, there is no time to wait around for the solutions to come to them. Instead, IKEA is co-creating fit-for-purpose vehicles themselves.

Developing a vehicle suited to their needs required strong collaboration, which they found from OEMs Renault and MAN. The result is a 20m3 box body truck enabling the company to load its vans with full pallets specific to IKEA’s needs, with a range capable of reaching most of their customers in cities from stores or logistics centres. The bespoke design enables them to optimise deliveries and reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

They managed to get the truck on the roads of Paris within just 6 months from the first meeting with partners. A few weeks later after two rounds of successful tests, the company’s French service partners placed an order for its first vehicles.

Following the success of these initial tests, the challenge now turns to scaling up. Their Renault truck is currently half-way through a European tour, having been tested in real last mile environments in Copenhagen, Turku and Amsterdam with further tests in Poland and Switzerland in the pipeline. The aim is to encourage as many of the company’s European service providers to place orders as possible.

Other collaborations are now in the pipeline, with tests for heavier duty trucks underway. IKEA Retail see this collaborative approach to be not only an efficient way of working but one that’s delivering scalable solutions.

As IKEA Retail accelerates towards its 2025 target, they want to bring their peers along with them. The company decided not to patent the vehicle and is encouraging others to use and benefit from it.

This case study is from our EV100 2021 Progress and Insights Report. Please click here to read the report.