For over 115 years, Petit Forestier has kept pace with changes throughout society, consistently evolving to meet the challenges of its sector.

Today the European leader in refrigeration continues to reinvent itself and has set ambitious targets to switch 40% of its fleet to electric power and 70% of its new vehicles by 2030 to reduce its carbon footprint by 25%.

In pursuit of these objectives, Petit Forestier is providing further training for all its employees, on topics ranging from the challenges of the energy transition to the fundamentals of electric vehicles including recharging facilities and customer relations.

Sam Hargreaves, Regional Business Development Manager (North) and Ian Derrick, Refrigeration Director at Petit Forestier recently attended one of the group’s training sessions in Villepinte, France. Sam said: “It was a great opportunity to learn more about the group’s electric vehicle offerings. There are lots of changes to things such as insurance with electric vehicles, so it’s great to have that first-hand knowledge to be able to guide our customers and help them make informed decisions for their business.”

Neale Brothwood, Managing Director at Petit Forestier UK and Ireland explained: “As a business, we’re seeing a change in the customer landscape. Businesses have their own sustainability targets they need to meet, and by adapting and meeting their demand we can help them on this journey. The investment goes beyond our vehicle offering we are also upskilling staff at all our depots to provide the same level of expert knowledge across both vehicle types and improving our depot infrastructures to support customers in-house.”

Additionally, Petit Forestier is launching a range of tools to guide customers on transitioning from Diesel to Electric vehicles. This includes a guide, offering one-to-one workshops and a total cost of ownership tool that enables the Sales team to demonstrate to operators the difference in cost per mile/ km and the carbon emission savings that can be achieved when adopting electric vehicles. Not only does the tool consider the vehicle itself, but also the size of the refrigerated body, refrigeration unit and drops per day.

Customers are already starting to benefit from this support. The group recently instigated a ‘Go Green’ workshop to guide their long-standing customer Greencore through a transition to an alternative-fuelled vehicle leading to the purchase of its first 3.5t Renault Master ZE. Jeremy Fitton, Head of Logistics, Network and Transport for Greencore, added: “Petit Forestier truly understands the alternative fuelled vehicles landscape, including the additional requirements of BEV, CNG and Hydrogen vehicles, both fiscally and operationally.”