Tesco is putting 2,000 electric delivery vans on the roads
Tesco has put the 2,000th electric delivery vehicle into use for its home delivery service. This brings the British supermarket chain’s electric fleet to double in less than a year. Currently, over 30 percent of its delivery vehicles are electric. The fleet is set to be fully electrified by the end of 2030.
Image: Tesco
The supermarket chain introduced its first electric vans in the London area in 2020. The UK’s home delivery fleet totals around 6,000 vehicles, as indicated in the latest sustainability report, which listed 1,249 electric vans accounting for 21 percent of the fleet. The currently 2,000 fully electric vans make up more than 30 percent of the fleet according to their own figures.
The anniversary vehicle was given to a Tesco supermarket in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, which already uses six vans for home delivery services. Tesco does not specify which model it is. However, the accompanying photo shows a Maxus eDeliver 9, a vehicle that plays a significant role at Tesco.
From 720 to 2,000 electric vans in 1.5 years
The rollout has accelerated significantly recently. In March 2025, only 720 electric delivery vans were in use. Tesco put the 1,000th van into service at the beginning of October 2025 — it was assigned to the Cardiff Extra Store in Wales, which uses 20 electric vehicles to deliver nearly 5,000 orders per week and was at the time the third Welsh location to have a fully electric home delivery fleet.
Tesco initially announced a fleet size of 1,250 all-electric vehicles for spring 2026. This interim target was practically met exactly on schedule: In its sustainability report for the 2025/26 fiscal year, the company listed 1,249 electric home delivery vans in the UK, 547 of which were added during that single fiscal year. Since then, the fleet size has increased by another roughly 750 vehicles within a few months, reaching 2,000.
Approximately 750 Maxus eDeliver 9 Ordered
This period includes a large order from Harris Maxus UK: Tesco ordered exactly 750 Maxus eDeliver 9 in the fall of 2025 – the largest single order of electric vehicles for the importer at that time. Deliveries were set to begin in February 2026.
Mathematically, this order volume nearly exactly matches the increase from 1,249 to 2,000 electric vehicles. However, the current Tesco statement does not clarify whether all 750 vans have been delivered yet or what specific proportion they account for among the new vehicles.
Last year, regarding the configuration of the 750 Maxus trucks, it was stated that Tesco would use the chassis-cab version equipped with cooling units from Thermo King and GAH for the eDeliver 9. These vehicles feature an electric motor with 150 kW of power and a 100-kWh battery. Maxus claims a range of up to 352 kilometers. With a maximum DC charging capacity of 120 kW, the battery can be charged to 80 percent in 45 minutes. The permissible total weight is 4.25 tons, with a payload capacity of up to 1.9 tons.
The 2,000th electric truck is also an eDeliver 9 in this configuration. It’s possible that this unit comes from a bulk order, but Tesco has not confirmed this.
Fully electric by the end of 2030
"The arrival of our 2,000th electric home delivery van in Hemsworth is another significant milestone on our path to a fully electric home delivery fleet across the UK by 2030," says Nick Potter, Transport Distribution Director at Tesco. The company estimates that fully electrifying the home delivery fleet would equate to removing around 22,000 gasoline-powered cars from British roads each year.
Despite the significantly accelerated pace recently, the supermarket chain still faces a major challenge: it must convert the remaining nearly 70 percent of its fleet within just over four years.