Tesco Grocery Home Shopping, the home delivery service from Britain’s leading supermarket, will cut its CO2 emissions by more than 7,000 metric tonnes in just one year thanks to the introduction of Lightfoot, a unique and innovative driver improvement technology, across its fleet of delivery vehicles.
Tesco turned to Lightfoot – a UK-based clean technology engineering company, backed by Innovate UK – to proactively manage emissions as demand for its home delivery services soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more vehicles covering more miles.
Now, within a year of the new technology deployment, Tesco will deliver a saving of 7,346 tonnes of CO2 across the UK and ROI. These savings are the equivalent to*:
• Powering 1,334 family homes for a year
• Removing 1,598 passenger vehicles from the roads
• Charging 893,586,881 smartphones
• Recycling 312,569 bags of rubbish
It is predicted that the fleet will achieve even greater savings year-on-year as more Tesco Grocery Home Shopping drivers engage with Lightfoot’s tech.
This technology has taken Tesco Grocery Home Shopping’s already advanced driver efficiency and safety programme, which includes in-vehicle cameras and driver trainers, to the next level. The gains that have been made are the result of Lightfoot’s unique approach – engaging drivers and encouraging them to drive more smoothly, safely and efficiently through fun app-based tech which rewards better driving. These improvements have all been realised with Tesco’s existing fleet of vehicles, and best of all, its employee engagement is set to rise as emissions fall**.
Matt Rhind, Distribution and Fulfilment Transport Director for Tesco said “At Tesco we’re committed to reducing our environmental impact across our operations, from energy and waste, to food production and distribution. We make 15,000 delivery journeys every day. The Lightfoot app gives every one of our home delivery drivers real-time feedback on their driving style so they can make immediate improvements and reduce their emissions on every trip they make.
At the end of each journey, a “Lightfoot Score” is given and can be seen by the driver on a fun smartphone app. Using this app, drivers can see how their performance changes over time, enter leagues and compete with their colleagues.
Best of all for drivers, anyone who reaches ‘Elite Driver’ status with a Lightfoot Score of 85% or higher can enter themselves for free into the Lightfoot Drivers’ Lottery, giving them a chance of winning weekly cash prizes, while taking advantage of special offers and giveaways.
Lightfoot MD Rupert Lyon Taylor, said: “The ethos behind Lightfoot is that by rewarding good driver behaviour, our technology can provide huge real-world savings in carbon emissions and fuel consumption, at the same time as rewarding hard-working drivers. Our data has shown that the person behind the wheel has as much responsibility for the performance and efficiency of their vehicle as what’s beneath the bonnet. If a driver is inefficient, their vehicle will be too. We also know that driver engagement with efficiency improvement is the key to long-term success, so we designed our technology around this.
He added: “Over the last year delivery drivers have stepped-up to deliver millions of groceries at a time of need, and so rewarding these hard-working heroes while also saving over 7,000 tonnes of Co2, is something we are proud of helping Tesco achieve”.
*Equivalencies have been calculated using the data above and the official US Government calculation tool for domestic and commercial carbon equivalents.
** Data shows that Driver Engagement, the percentage of drivers engaging with the Lightfoot Driver App to check their scores and enter competitions, has risen to nearly 80% within year one.
