IKEA, Volvo Trucks And Raben Group Agree Collaboration In Poland

IKEA Industry, Volvo Trucks, and Raben Group have signed a collaboration agreement on zero-emission heavy transport in Poland. IKEA will introduce heavy electric Volvo trucks for internal transport flows at two IKEA Industry factories in Poland, which will be operated by Raben Group. The learnings from the pilot will be used for the electrification of transport operations at scale in a larger transport network.

IKEA is a large transport buyer with more than 2 million shipments worldwide. To reach the IKEA strategic climate goal for product transport to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by -70 per cent per shipment*, electrification of heavy-duty vehicles is critical. Electrification of transportation is one of the solutions to address the root cause of climate change.

IKEA Industry, Volvo Trucks, and Raben Group will now join forces in Poland to deploy zero-emission Volvo FM Electric trucks. The trucks will handle the internal flow of goods between two IKEA Industry factories 12 kilometres apart in Zbąszynek and Babimost in western Poland. 

The trucks will be charged at the IKEA Industry production facilities using renewable electricity from an external source. The first electric truck will begin operation during autumn, and the plan is to expand the fleet based on the learnings from the pilot.

"We are happy to announce this collaboration which aims to accelerate our shift to more sustainable road transport. This project enables us to explore and learn about the challenges and opportunities in the deployment of electric transport operations at scale and its interdependencies in a larger transport network", says Małgorzata Dobies-Turulska, Managing Director of IKEA Industry Zbąszynek. 

“We are excited to work together with IKEA and Raben Group towards more sustainable truck transport. IKEA and Raben both have ambitious climate goals, just like Volvo. This project will give us valuable insights and constitutes a good basis for an extended collaboration in the future", says Robert Grozdanovski, SVP Europe Central East & East, Volvo Trucks.

"For Raben Group, this project is the first step in decarbonising our fleet, driving towards the ambitious CO2 reduction plans recently scientifically approved by Science Based Targets (SBTi) experts. This is also an important project for the full truckload transportation process. We are one of the first logistics companies in Europe to undertake the ambitious challenge of running an electric truck working with a 24-ton trailer. The future of electrified heavy transport starts today”, says Piotr Banasiak, Managing Director at Raben Transport.

*Compared to the baseline year 2017 (this excludes last-mile deliveries to customers). 

Source : IKEA

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