Industry related headlines to keep you in the know.
Clicks Group's Montague Gardens distribution centre in Cape Town is set to become the first retail distribution centre in Africa to run a fully electric truck fleet, backed by 30 SANY heavy-duty electric trucks and more than R65 million in solar generation, battery storage and charging infrastructure.
Carbon Footprint
14 September 2026 • 4 min read
What makes this announcement useful is not the ambition — it is the arithmetic. Published diesel volumes, emissions, savings and vehicle specifications give SADC operators a real reference point against which to test their own numbers, instead of a press release about intentions.
Clicks expects the 30-truck fleet to save roughly 780 000 litres of diesel and avoid about 2 000 tonnes of tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions a year. The retailer projects annual fuel savings of between R20 million and R25 million, with a further R2 million to R3 million reduction in maintenance costs. Against more than R65 million in total capital outlay, that is the kind of payback profile operators can actually model.
Group CEO Bertina Engelbrecht framed the decision in both terms. "Electric trucks reduce our reliance on diesel and our emissions, while lowering the cost of operating our distribution network," she said, adding that the group had begun moving towards renewables several years ago and had carried that thinking through into solar, battery storage and now electric transport.
Vehicle specification: 318 kWh battery, 380–400 km range per charge, 20% to 80% DC fast charge in about 30 minutes, 11.5-tonne payload, expected 110 000–120 000 km per truck per year. (Source: Logistics News, 2026)
R41 million of the investment went into battery energy storage systems at two distribution centres. The trucks can be charged from a combination of solar-generated energy, stored energy and grid power — which is the part of the design that makes the arithmetic hold in a market where grid reliability and tariff escalation are both live risks. A depot that can only charge from the grid has bought a different asset from one that can charge from its own roof.
The rollout is structured around fixed routes from fixed depots. Fourteen trucks operate from Montague Gardens, serving roughly 290 stores; a further 14 are deployed at the Centurion distribution centre by 1 October, serving around 566 stores. Two remaining diesel trucks at Montague Gardens are replaced by the end of October, taking that site to a fully electric fleet. KwaZulu-Natal follows by September 2027.
Clicks expects 68 electric trucks on the road by the end of 2027, about 62% of its current fleet, against an original target of 30% electric by the end of 2029. It is targeting more than 90% by September 2028. The group also runs Maxus eDelivery vans and smaller MellowVans, with electric bikes planned for omni-fulfilment. Its transport management system handles real-time visibility, route optimisation, utilisation monitoring and charging coordination — the software layer that makes range planning workable.
The caveat is the operating profile. A 380–400 km range and an 11.5-tonne payload suit repeatable regional distribution from a depot with charging on site. They do not suit a 1 900 km Walvis Bay–Gauteng run, a Copperbelt haul or any route where the return leg depends on infrastructure the operator does not own.
Electrification is now viable on the distribution leg, not the long-haul leg — so run the sums on your shortest, most repetitive, depot-to-depot routes first. Cost the charging and storage infrastructure as part of the vehicle decision rather than separately, and remember that the R20–25 million saving above is fuel avoided at today's diesel price on a fixed, predictable duty cycle.
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Visit Laaimylorrie.com| About the Author | |
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Andre Klynsmith Entrepreneur & Technology Enthusiast Andre's expertise spans technology, blockchain, transport, and logistics — with a passion for innovation and driving positive change across industries. |
| Source: Logistics News View source › | 10 September 2026 |
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