South African grocery giant Shoprite says it won’t be switching its Checkers Sixty60 delivery fleet to electric vehicles (EVs) in the immediate future. The retailer told MyBroadband that it trialled electric delivery vehicles between September and November 2023 and found that they were “not yet” a viable option.One possibility is that the cost-effective electric motorcycles currently on the market don’t offer sufficient range for the daily distances that Sixty60’s drivers have to cover.
Another could be the lack of charging infrastructure, or charging speeds not yet being fast enough to top up the motorbikes between trips.in the past few years. A key part of its success has been the ability to get orders out the store and into customers’ hands as quickly as possible. If drivers were held up by their vehicles needing to charge, it could come at a significant cost to Sixty’s turnaround time