sainsbury's dearman zero emission delivery truck

Sainsbury’s has extended the trial of its delivery truck with a nitrogen-powered refrigeration unit as it plans a wider rollout.

The truck, which was first trialled last June, has saved 5.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the past 10 months, according to Sainsbury’s.

The retailer is now preparing to trial a larger semi-trailer in summer to further test the technology.

The trucks, created by cooling technology specialists Dearman, use a liquid nitrogen unit rather than the diesel engine for refrigeration. The technology is designed to save on carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions.

The trial is part of Sainsbury’s commitment to reduce absolute carbon emissions by 30% and relative emissions by 65% from 2005 to 2020.

“It’s an ambitious target and to reach it we’ll be exploring a range of innovative solutions,” said Paul Crewe, head of sustainability at Sainsbury’s. “With this in mind we’ve decided to extend the pilot with Dearman, with our team continuing to give feedback on this cutting-edge technology. The hope is that, with our help, Dearman’s technology will be suitable for a wider rollout in the future.”