North East tea specialist Ringtons has bought its first two electric vans as it embarks on a mission to swap all of its delivery vehicles for greener EVs.
The historic tea and biscuit business was first launched in 1907, gaining popularity through the familiar sight on the streets of Newcastle with its horse drawn delivery service.
Now, having moved from horsepower, to petrol power and latterly diesel power for its 229 delivery vans serving more than 200,000 doorstep customers, the company is starting the task of switching to electric power.
The family firm has purchased its first two electric vans and has two more on order, having planned out a complete conversion to electric over the next nine years, in line with Government targets to stop production of traditional combustion engines by 2030.
CEO Simon Smith said the firm鈥檚 conversion could be faster, accelerating as EV van models and charging infrastructure around the 海角视频 develops.
The new electric vans represent a major change from its original mode of transporting tea and biscuits, but also shows the firm is going full circle in delivery sustainability.
Ringtons started life when Sam Smith first started selling tea from the back of a horse drawn cart - and the cart is believed to be behind the company name.
The firm was founded with an initial investment from Mr Smith鈥檚 business partner William Titterington, but it is believed that Titterington & Smith was too large to fit on the cart, so the name Ringtons was formed from the last half of Willliam鈥檚 surname and the 鈥檚鈥 from Smith.
At its height, the firm had around 300 horse drawn vans, with the horses being kept in stables across the region from stables next to the firm鈥檚 head office in Byker, Newcastle to Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
The horses were called into service during the war and, once back in service, were the main mode of transport until the advent of petrol.
The last horse in the Ringtons fleet, Monty, retired in 1962. The only reason Monty - who is now featured on the firm鈥檚 logo - kept going was because his 鈥榙river鈥 didn鈥檛 want to drive a motorised vehicle.
The horses, however, could often be stubborn members of the Ringtons workforce - although they could make useful lawnmowers for customers鈥 gardens while out doing the rounds.
Mr Smith says: 鈥淭he horses weren鈥檛 always the most reliable - if they didn鈥檛 want to be driven they wouldn鈥檛 move. But we have wonderful photos of them all lined up outside the office, ready to go out around the streets.
鈥淣ow we want to make the move to electric, and that will speed up as changes are made in the EV industry. We currently have two Nissan vans which have gone really well, and we have two more on order.
鈥淲e have planned out the maximum time to convert all the vans, which is currently nine years. But we hope to convert faster as newer models become available and infrastructure improves.鈥
The firm is making the move to electric vehicles as part of its sustainability strategy, through which it has committed to significantly reducing its packaging to doorstep and online customers.
By the end of next year, it expects to make a net carbon reduction of 12 tonnes a year.
