IN Brief:
- Joda Freight has invested more than £250,000 in solar generation and electric materials-handling equipment.
- Electric forklifts now operate across three of its four sites, with battery storage planned to support overnight charging.
- Two rigid electric vehicles are planned later in 2026 as electrification extends into pallet distribution.
Joda Freight has invested more than £250,000 in solar generation, electric materials-handling equipment, and supporting infrastructure as it reduces diesel use across its warehouse and pallet-distribution operations. The Keighley-based company has installed photovoltaic panels on part of its warehouse roof, replaced diesel forklifts with electric models across three of its four sites, and plans to add battery storage and two rigid electric vehicles later in 2026.
The solar installation is being delivered in two phases. Panels have been fitted across half of the warehouse roof, with the remaining area due to follow alongside battery storage intended to support overnight charging. Joda Freight’s stated aim is to generate and store enough electricity to charge its entire electric forklift fleet each day.
That combination gives the project a clearer operational purpose than a stand-alone rooftop installation. Forklifts create a comparatively predictable electrical load because charging can be aligned with shifts, breaks, and overnight periods, while on-site generation can reduce daytime grid demand. Storage would add flexibility by retaining solar output for use when the equipment is idle and available to charge.
The next step moves electrification beyond the warehouse. Joda Freight plans to purchase two rigid electric vehicles later this year to support pallet deliveries through the Pallet-Track network, introducing route length, payload, vehicle utilisation, and charger availability into the energy calculation. Road vehicles are a less controlled load than forklifts, so the effectiveness of the wider programme will depend on how charging is fitted around live transport work.
The company is taking that change in stages rather than attempting an immediate fleet replacement. Diesel trucks remain part of the operation, while equipment that can be electrified with fewer network dependencies is being addressed first. Solar generation, forklifts, battery storage, and rigid vehicles therefore form a sequence of investments rather than one technology purchase.
Customer reporting is developing alongside the physical assets. Joda Freight says its transport management system produces individual carbon-footprint reports using operating data, giving customers a way to measure logistics emissions against specific activity rather than broad estimates. That capability is becoming part of the commercial specification as more retailers and manufacturers ask logistics providers to supply evidence supporting their own emissions reporting.
Warehouse electrification also changes the relationship between facilities management and transport operations. Power availability, charger capacity, vehicle schedules, and energy storage can no longer be treated as separate topics if the same site is expected to support forklifts and road vehicles. A warehouse that can generate electricity but cannot deliver it at the times required by the fleet still has an operational constraint.
Joda Freight’s place within the Pallet-Track network gives the programme a wider logistics context. The company is a founding shareholder member and covers the Leeds area, so its electric rigid vehicles are expected to operate within a network that divides pallet movements between local collection, trunking, hub handling, and final delivery. Repeatable regional routes may suit battery vehicles better than less predictable long-haul work, but the actual duty cycles will determine whether that assumption holds.
The economics will be shaped by measures that are not yet public, including annual solar output, battery utilisation, charging losses, vehicle acquisition costs, maintenance, and the productivity of the electric rigids. First-day solar performance offers little evidence about winter generation, while two road vehicles will provide only an initial indication of how the technology performs across the company’s transport mix.
Electric forklifts also change routine maintenance and energy management inside the warehouse. The operator no longer stores and handles diesel for those machines, but it must manage battery state, charging access, and the possibility that several vehicles need power at the same time. As the fleet grows, charger scheduling can become a capacity issue in its own right, particularly where warehouse peaks and charging windows overlap.
Even so, the investment shows how decarbonisation is moving into the ordinary infrastructure of logistics operations. Forklifts, warehouse roofs, batteries, transport management systems, and rigid trucks are not separate sustainability projects when they share the same operating base; they become parts of an energy and fleet-planning system that has to work without compromising service.
The useful test will come once battery storage and the two rigid EVs are in daily use. Joda Freight will then be able to compare energy cost, charger utilisation, vehicle availability, and emissions data across a larger part of its operation. Those figures will show whether the £250,000-plus programme has created a durable operating model or simply moved the company’s electricity demand from one part of the business to another.
