September 11, 2021. Ocado Group has reaffirmed its transition to alternative fuels by signing a deal to open a further natural gas refueling station at its Dordon Customer Fulfilment Centre.
In January 2019, the online supermarket became the first UK retailer to self-fund the purchase of an onsite grid-connected gas filling station at its depot in Hatfield.
The new facility at Dordon is due to open in Q2 2022 and will again be designed and built by Gasrec – the UK’s largest supplier of gas to the road transport sector – to fuel the 10 compressed natural gas (CNG) tractor units already running from the site and allow for the remaining Dordon tractor fleet (70 total) to transition from diesel to blended biomethane.
Graham Thomas, Fleet Operations Manager at Ocado Group, says: “The results we have seen since beginning our switch to gas have been fantastic and shown that we are on the right path to a cleaner, more environmentally-friendly future. This new facility at Dordon will allow us to get more gas trucks on the road and access delivery routes further up the country with our CNG fleet.”
The facility at Dordon will be a tanker fed operation, with Ocado signing a 10-year supply agreement with Gasrec. With 60 natural gas-powered trucks operating from Hatfield and Dordon, this latest development will allow Ocado to more than double their total CNG units over the next three years, with over two thirds of its total fleet running on natural gas.
Gasrec currently supplies a minimum 50% biomethane blend to Ocado, meaning significant reductions in CO2 output – up to 68% across the fleet calculated from the total amount of biomethane used. Going forward, the mix of biomethane is being increased, making further inroads to cleaner transport.
