Iceland’s Richard Walker: EV rollout not ‘happening fast enough’

Iceland Foods boss Richard Walker admitted that the retailer missed its internal targets to transition its fleet to electric vehicles (EVs).

The executive chairman said supermarkets and the environment risked “costly penalties” as he called on the government to “simplify the legislative and operational burdens” currently in place for EVs.

Walker’s comments on LinkedIn came in response to a consultation on bringing forward a ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars to 2030, alongside stricter targets for manufacturers on the sale of zero emission vehicles.

Iceland operates over 1,700 vans as part of its home delivery fleet and Walker admitted the process to swap to electric vehicles “isn’t happening fast enough, for us, or indeed across the UK generally”.

While Iceland hasn’t set any public targets on the proportion of electric vehicles in its fleet, the supermarket has a long-term aim of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

Walker said the retailer has worked with Ford to introduce more efficient vans to its home delivery fleet and rolled out “nudge” technology to vehicle cabins to help its drivers drive more efficiently.

However, he noted that making the step to full zero emission vehicles had been a “challenge” for Iceland.

“We run small store sites, many without space for dedicated charging points. As much as I want the business to go faster on this, additional cost and complexity only serves as a blocker,” he said.

He also called for a faster rollout of charging infrastructure, as well as “support with further purchasing incentives around the vehicles”.

Last month, Walker ranked the Labour government a “6 out of 10” for its performance so far as he said the national insurance contributions hike had “added greatly to the cost of business”.

The exec urged ministers to do more to resolve Britain’s “productivity crisis” and said he wanted faster planning reforms to make it easier to launch new stores.

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