Thorlux rolls out electric vehicles

Thorlux Lighting has rolled out the latest addition to its electric vehicle fleet with a Volkswagen ID Buzz minivan branded in the company’s colours and imagery.

The van has a range of around 200 miles and will be used primarily for delivering Thorlux luminaires to local customers. The company says it’s powered using 100 per cent green energy from the 3,000 solar PV panels on the roof of the Thorlux factory in Redditch, Worcestershire which generate1 million kWh annually.

On days with lower demand, Thorlux feeds excess energy captured into the national grid. On good weather days, our whole facility can be powered just from the PV system. Over its anticipated 25-year operational lifetime, the solar PV system will avoid the creation of approximately 4856 tonnes of carbon through reduced consumption. Combining the PV grid with other

green electricity supplies means the Thorlux factory and offices run on 100 per cent renewable electric sources.

Over 70 per cent of the company’s cars are already either hybrid or fully electric, and the firm says that policies are in place to continue increasing this.

Thorlux Lighting, as part of FW Thorpe Plc, has its net zero target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) under the Net-Zero Standard.

Thorlux has recently installed a new boxmaking machine, providing the flexibility to produce specific packaging for luminaires and equipment as required. It eliminates wasteful stockpiling and saves valuable space. Thorlux only uses 100 per cent recycled, biodegradable, Forest Stewardship Council

(FSC)-certified cardboard to ensure high level of sustainability. Card offcuts

are baled and recycled. Furthermore, paperbased packing tape is used instead of vinyl.

Thorlux has been piloting a cardboard recycling scheme for its luminaire packaging. So far, over ten tonnes of cardboard have been returned, which has been reused or recycled through waste management partners.

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