One sign that the holidays are very definitely coming is the return of the Coca-Cola Christmas trucks advert to television screens. You know the one: a convoy of brightly lit big red lorries, lots of sleigh bells, much festive cheer and that catchy ‘holidays are coming’ music.
Thing is, the Coca-Cola Christmas Trucks are beginning to show their age. The advert has been around since 1995, and the vehicles in it look like American big rigs, which great big thundering engines. But we have good news: Coca-Cola trucks have been given an electric makeover. Well, sort of.
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To be precise: Coca-Cola’s Belgian distribution arm has put 30 Renault E-Tech electric trucks to work for last-mile deliveries. The first five are already in operation in Antwerp.
But the deal could lead to more: it’s part of a partnership between Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) and Renault Trucks. CCEP is one of the world's largest Coca-Cola bottling companies, with operations across Europe, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
The firm has committed to becoming carbon-neutral by 2040, and the 30 electric trucks will mean that a fifth of its fleet in Belgium will now be zero-emission machines – making it the latest electric truck fleet in the country.
The trucks will be a mix of Renault Trucks’s E-Tech D and D Wide machines, and will be run from distribution centres in Antwerp, Ghent and Chaudfontaine. CCEP says that its Belgian trucks average just over 90 miles a day, so they’ve chosen a configuration of truck with a 125-mile range.
Each truck will be charged overnight at its distribution centre, using what CCEP calls “100 per cent green energy” generated on site.
The two firms are in talks to expand the partnership further in future years. So while for the moment we’ll enjoy the classic Coca-Cola Christmas trucks advert on the telly, and dream of a time when they’ll be a shiny new fully electric version.
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