The Autumn marked a proud moment for the team at Cranswick Country Foods Preston, as their first four fully electric refrigerated trailers headed out on the road.
In line with Cranswick’s Second Nature sustainability agenda, the team have been committed to combating transport carbon emissions throughout the vehicles used at their site.
Earlier this year they made the move away from standard diesel in their HGV fleet to hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) or renewable diesel. HVO reduces carbon emissions by over 98% compared to conventional diesel, with added benefits of reducing environmental pollutants and fossil fuel consumption.
The fuel holds International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) meaning the raw products making up the HVO are from sustainable sources and can be traced throughout the full supply chain. The HVO switch is predicted to save 800 CO2 equivalent tonnes per year, a huge carbon saving across the site's footprint.
In addition to this, Cranswick has invested in four fully electric refrigeration units to replace the equivalent diesel fed ones. These new units charge a battery whilst they are travelling and subsequently have a battery life of up to 5 hours at their destination, therefore only require plugging into an electricity source as a last resort.
The electric refrigeration units are predicted to save almost 15,000 litres of diesel per year, equating to around 38 CO2 equivalent tonnes per year.
Following a successful trial, Cranswick plans to roll these electric trailers out across their fleet as part of the Second Nature strategy target to reach Net Zero emissions by 2040.
For more information about Cranswick’s Second Nature journey visit This is Second Nature