CJ Freshway orders 30 eco-friendly refrigerated trucks from Kia

Industry

Published: 21 Oct. 2022, 16:31 Updated: 21 Oct. 2022, 19:23

CJ Freshway orders 30 eco-friendly refrigerated trucks from Kia

Kia CEO Song Ho-sung, right, poses with CJ Freshway CEO Jeong Seong-pil on Friday to celebrate signing a memorandum of understanding. [KIA]

Kia signed a memorandum of understanding with CJ Freshway to supply eco-friendly delivery trucks to the food company, the car company announced Friday.

The automaker announced that it will supply about 30 electric refrigerated trucks to CJ Freshway starting next year. They are used to deliver fresh food. The company provides food catering service to corporate cafeterias and schools.

Electric truck charging facilities will be provided by Kia.

Kia will also develop a purpose built vehicle (PBV) that will be eco-friendly and designed to deliver food that CJ Freshway supplies. It aims to supply those new vehicles to the catering company starting from 2025. PBVs are optimized for specific services such, as ride hailing or shuttle services, and can be customized based on various needs of customers.

Once development is finished, Kia expects to supply 200 new PBVs to CJ Freshway and another 800 to other logistics companies contracted to deliver for the catering company.

Robotics technology will be used at CJ Freshway’s logistics centers to develop a wearable robot, which logistics center workers can use to enhance efficiency of their work process.

“We plan to lead innovation in the fresh food delivery market by developing PBVs fit for cold chain deliveries in partnership with CJ Freshway,” said Song Ho-sung, CEO of Kia. “We will also continue to develop various PBVs fit for other industries.”

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]