How Sainsbury’s procurement team led the way in launching a new EV charging network

Range anxiety is the term to describe the fear a driver of an electric vehicle (EV) has that their battery will run out of power before they reach their destination or a charging point. It’s a common barrier dissuading people against EVs, despite the environmental benefits of driving one. In a bid to make range anxiety a thing of the past, and better equip UK infrastructure to support the estimated 5 million-plus EVs expected on the roads by 2030, retailer Sainsbury’s developed and rolled out an ultra-rapid charging network for EVs across many of its sites. 

Smart Charge is a bold diversification strategy for Sainsbury’s and a first for a UK retailer in that it built and manages the brand itself, offering a much-needed service to sustainability-conscious customers. But what makes this project even more interesting is the critical leadership role the procurement team played in converting the idea into a reality. “We partnered with the business to set up the entire supply chain from scratch,” says director of procurement and supplier management Matt Stallard, who shared details of the project at the CIPS Sustainable Procurement & Supply Summit in November 2024. “The team designed their own supply chain ecosystem, which has led to a unique customer proposition.”

The scheme won the title of Best Sustainability Project at the CIPS Excellence in Procurement & Supply Awards 2024, and contributed to Sainsbury’s being named Overall Winner. 

Existing and new suppliers were evaluated against strategic fit and capability. Some trusted suppliers that understood Sainsbury’s business were selected as ideal partners to transition together into this new industry. One example is Lynx Construction, which has worked with Sainsbury’s for 20 years on building petrol filling stations. The procurement team worked with Lynx to help it transition away from carbon-intensive to carbon-neutral energy, leveraging its extensive experience and the well-established relationship. 

In other areas, new suppliers needed to come on board. Kempower, a leading Finnish EV specialist supplier at the cutting-edge of ultra-rapid technology, was one of them. A major player in Europe, Kempower wanted to establish a solid partnership in the UK, making Sainsbury’s a perfect fit. Overall, taking an agile approach that delivered at pace allowed the team to assemble a supply chain that combined the best of Sainsbury’s with the best of charge point operations.  

The project wasn’t without its challenges. These included post-pandemic lags in the global supply chain and competition for EV hardware, given growth in the market. “There’s often someone bigger than you with greater purchasing power and lead times could be very challenging at times,” says Stallard, adding that being a customer of choice helped to overcome this. Another issue was that the UK’s power infrastructure does not yet have the capacity required to enable Smart Charge at every one of Sainsbury’s sites.  

In its first year, Smart Charge opened more than 50 hubs across the country, providing more than 400 ultra-rapid charging bays. “Every single one of these hubs is fully accessible to all, including those with differing accessibility requires, allows contactless payment, incurs Nectar points [the Sainsbury’s customer loyalty programme] and has more than 99% uptime,” says Stallard. “We’ve already powered over 20 million carbon-free miles for our customers, using 100% renewable electricity.”  

Procurement’s leading role in such a successful rollout has impressed Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts, who says: “The procurement team has been a driving force behind accelerating positive change and reducing carbon across Sainsbury’s and our supply chain. They have also changed the way we talk about value.” 

Critical learnings for the team include the importance of flexibility, adaptability and adopting a start-up mindset, the value of deep relationships with selected suppliers for mutual benefit when entering a new market and the importance of cross-functional working.  

“The biggest thing I learned was that we could take an initial ask for procurement support and turn it into something that has had such a big impact on the environment,” reflects Dhooper. The project is bigger than Sainsbury’s, Stallard adds: “We've created and participated in an infrastructure across the UK that should have an exponential effect on the sale of EVs, putting more carbon-free miles into the UK as a result.” 

Do you want to be one of the remarkable individuals or organisations that have won a CIPS Excellence in Procurement & Supply Award? Join us at Sainsbury's head office in London to get inspiration from presentations from some of the 2024 winners and ask any questions you might have in a dedicated awards Q&A session.