Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, says its proposed business combination partner, Lion Electric Co., a manufacturer of all-electric medium- and heavy-duty urban vehicles, has received a purchase order from Second Closet, IKEA Canada’s partner, for 15 Lion6 heavy-duty zero-emission trucks.
Second Closet, a technology-enabled logistics and last-mile delivery provider, will begin integrating zero-emission trucks into its fleet for IKEA home deliveries in several markets across Canada.
The IKEA and Second Closet co-branded EV trucks that will service last-mile deliveries for IKEA locations in Boucherville, Quebec, Etobicoke, Ontario, Richmond, and British Columbia are scheduled to roll out in the fall. IKEA says this will enable it to achieve 20% of its zero-emission delivery goals. The retailer is committed to reaching its 2030 goal to become a circular and climate-positive business by reducing more greenhouse gas emissions than the IKEA value chain emits while growing the IKEA business at the same time.
“Electrifying our last-mile delivery service is an important step in our journey to become climate positive by 2030, especially with the rapid acceleration of our online business over the past year,” says Michael Ward, chief sustainability officer and CEO of IKEA Canada. “We are pleased to work with Second Closet and Lion Electric, two great Canadian innovators, to support us in meeting our customers with people and planet in mind.”
The impacts of the global pandemic are moving consumer purchases online and thereby increasing the demand for home deliveries. It also increases the challenge this poses in terms of city pollution, congestion and noise levels. In 2020, IKEA Canada completed over 500,000 home deliveries – a 30% increase from 2019.
All of Lion’s vehicles are purpose-built for electric propulsion from the ground up and are manufactured at Lion’s North American facility, which has a current capacity to produce approximately 2,500 electric trucks per year. Over the last decade, Lion has delivered over 300 all-electric heavy-duty vehicles in North America with over 6 million miles driven since 2016.