Mercado Libre went from having 15 electric vans, which were incorporated into its distribution network in December 2020, to 165. With this adhesion, the e-commerce company increased its fleet in Mexico by 1000%, claiming to be the largest in the country.
“We know that we have a key role in transforming the logistics industry. We must be increasingly responsible for understanding the environmental footprint as we grow to reduce it,” said Omar Ramírez, director of logistics and transportation at Free Market Mexico.
Free Market and the use of renewable energies
The new Mercado Libre units are electric vans that do not directly emit greenhouse gas, thus representing a 54% decrease in CO2 generation. The current fleet is already circulating in Mexico. To work throughout the day requires six hours of charging daily.
Along with this announcement, the e-commerce company said it would start using renewable energy in its primary storage and distribution centers. They will begin in the warehouse in Tepotzotlán, State of Mexico. They will continue in Monterrey, and they want to close this year with three centers operating entirely with renewable energy.
Eric Holschneider, the environmental supervisor at Mercado Libre México, said that since 2016 they have been carrying out an intelligent measurement to monitor and fine-tune their consumption remotely. Thus, with smart sensors and dashboards in real-time, they make quick decisions in operation to improve energy efficiency.