Smith Brothers Stores Ltd Case Study
We upgraded existing infrastructure and electrified 21 sites for Smith Brothers Stores around the UK for use by their drivers.
The Client - Smith Brothers Stores Ltd
Smith Brothers Stores, one of the oldest and largest independent merchants in the UK supplying the commercial and industrial mechanical services sector, started their electrification journey in 2018 across their 21 sites.
Finding issues with the infrastructure already installed in 2022 when the new smart charging regulations came into force, they turned to ChargedEV to complete the rest of their project and replace their existing infrastructure; upgrading to 22kW units across their network, coupled with Chargeasy back office management and a maintenance contract to keep them charging.
30
Charging Sockets
2,840+
Charging Sessions
61.5+ MWh
Electricity Delivered
117,840+
Electric Miles
Over 33,240kg
CO2 Saved
*Figures as of February 2024
The Requirement
Smith Brothers Stores’ goal was to upgrade their existing infrastructure to allow them to implement a charger management system as their current chargepoints were not OCPP 1.6 compliant. Within the charger management system, they needed to be able to monitor their charger utilisation with the ability to report.
The existing infrastructure at some of their sites were installed before the latest electrical amendment; this meant that they required a full reinstallation rather than just an upgrade to the chargepoint.
The infrastructure needed to be adequate to power their fleet of company vehicles across their estate, with a robust maintenance package in place.
The Solution
We had custom mounting plates designed to be installed on their existing ground mounts negating the need for extra civils; saving costs, time and disruption.
With no tariff in place currently, their drivers use custom branded RFID cards, designed and supplied by ChargedEV to start and stop their charges and track usage.
Smith Brothers Stores Limited’s solution, as of February 2024, has delivered over 2840 charging sessions for over 80 unique drivers. Utilising the infrastructure, and managing it through Chargeasy, they have delivered over 61,000kWh of energy; charging up over 117,840 electric miles.
Andrew Teer, Transport Operations Manager at SBS, said:
“The existing structure that we had installed had a number of issues, and with use in our core business hours being different to the operating times of the service provider at the time, we took the decision to remove the smart charging capabilities.
However, the legislation changed in 2022, relating to all installations needing to be smart chargers with back office capabilities, coupled with more occurrences of hardware problems with the product, we needed to find a solution that more suited our needs. The team tested the market place and met many suppliers at fleet events etc, but after a number of months of research, we decided to move forward working with ChargedEV. This decision was based on a better quality product, with a more stable and user friendly interface, with a better all around package being offered, to include warranty, maintenance and future proofing etc.
SBS look forward to a better future with our charging infrastructure, and feel like we are in good hands with our new partner on this project ChargedEV, as we begin to roll out this system at all new branch locations and as we replace the previous devices with the new chargers currently in use.”
