Electric company cars are now available for N Brown head office staff to use for travel between internal sites and external meetings when appropriate.
The Manchester-based retail group, which runs fashion brands such as JD Williams, Simply Be, and Jacamo, has introduced five electric company cars from Citroen at its headquarters in the north-west of England.
The pool cars replace 14 non-electric vehicles (EV) previously in use at the site, and form part of a wider electric vehicle uptake that includes the introduction of two vans leased from Maxus.
An N Brown spokesperson told Green Retail World that the move was made after an internal review of operational needs and part of a policy of “working smarter and better planning”.
The retail group is also reviewing and considering EV schemes for its colleagues, and has already installed EV charging points across its sites so that staff can charge their vehicles if they have already made the transition to non-fossil-fuel-run transportation.
Ken Mellis, head of workplace, engineering & facilities at N Brown, told this publication: “We’re proud to have committed to the British Retail Consortium’s Climate Action Roadmap and we value the contribution that operating our estate as efficiently as possible has as part of this.
“We have therefore replaced our fleet of pool cars with EVs, which are charged on site with 100% renewable electricity, as we progress towards our goal to achieve net zero by 2040.”
Other retailers rolling out electric company cars or specific EV schemes for staff in recent months include Asda and Holland & Barrett.
EVs in business fleets – including vans and larger goods vehicles – are becoming more commonplace, according to research announced in February but not-for-profit organisation Climate Group. Companies that are part of the group’s EV100 initiative are now operating more than 400,000 electric vehicles in total – a 93% jump year on year.
In other greener retailing news at N Brown, Joseph Mountain was named sustainability lead for the business in March.
[Image credit: N Brown]
