Budweiser rolls out EV trucks in sustainability push

The world-leading beer company Budweiser has announced a series of new initiatives to advance its green logistics and sustainability in China, including the rollout of 30 electric heavy trucks across its value chain and the launch of a power storage system in its brewery in Foshan, Guangdong province.

"Deploying EV heavy trucks and smart power storage systems will jointly create a closed-loop solution to recycle retired EV batteries and store green power," said Jan Clysner, vice-president of procurement and sustainability of Budweiser APAC.

The launch of 30 trucks is expected to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 1,690 tons, according to the company.

The power storage system at the company's Foshan brewery could help store solar energy to power beer production and charge the batteries of EV heavy trucks. In addition, EV trucks' retired batteries will be screened and reused to create a new power storage system.

"This is an innovative model within Budweiser global network, which will further accelerate sustainability innovation," he said.

The 30 EV heavy trucks that will be put into service this year will cover eight breweries of Budweiser, four of which launched first in its Foshan brewery.

"We proactively embrace innovation to explore new approaches to achieve green logistics, lead new technologies to drive carbon reduction, and push the development of clean energy sources," said Rodrigo Rodrigues, vice-president of logistics of Budweiser APAC.

According to Rodrigues, Budweiser plans to achieve over 50 percent delivery and 100 percent forklift by alternative energy by 2025.

"As green logistics is an important part of our sustainability journey, we would also like to promote the application of alternative energy and the revolution to the whole beer industry," he said.

After having officially put into use more than 200 green vehicles by the end of 2020, including liquefied natural gas trucks, EV trucks and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the company plans to put into use more than 260 green vehicles by the end of this year, according to Rodrigues.