21 May 2021

The Shoprite Group is adding 39 solar-powered refrigerated rigid trucks to its existing solar-powered fleet of 749 trailers by the end of June 2021.

At present, the Group has a total fleet of 855 trucks and 1 247 trailers of which 749 are solar-powered trailers (473 are refrigerated trailers and 276 units are not refrigerated, but the tail lift is powered by solar energy).

The Group has 89 rigid trucks with diesel powered refrigeration of which 8 are solar powered (for the tail lift only). It is the first time that the Group is adding solar-powered nitrogen refrigerated rigid trucks to its fleet - this is also a first in Africa.

The non-solar-powered trailers in the fleet are traditional diesel-powered refrigerated trailers, with the diesel-powered cooling unit situated at the front of the unit.

Solar-powered units have been deployed in the Group’s fleet since 2017, in an effort to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.