5 August 2021
As part of our Sustainability Pledge to be net zero carbon in our operations by 2030, we have taken delivery of the first electric vehicle that we are trialling for our fleet of service engineers’ vans.
Baxi Heating’s Managing Director, Karen Boswell OBE, handed over the keys to Darren Smith, our Midlands based Baxi Customer Support engineer, who volunteered to take part in this exciting trial. We have been working in partnership with Midlands Truck and Van Centre and Mercedes Benz, who arranged for us to trial the Mercedes eVito Van PURE L2 and organised the installation of an electric charging point at Darren’s home address.
Currently, the range of the vehicle is 90 miles on one charge. However, as technology for commercial vehicles is being developed, we are expecting the range to increase for future models. In 2022, we will be able to exchange this vehicle for the next generation electric van, which should have double the range and a reduced charging time. This will make the vehicle more suitable for our engineers so they can carry out their work in a more sustainable way.
We've adapted the racking we use to carry parts and equipment in the vehicle, using a more lightweight aluminium option, which is approved for use with electric vehicles. The new racking also has to be anchored in a different way to ensure that it isn’t fixed near the site of the vehicle’s batteries. The new racking has been supplied to us by Sortimo.
This is an exciting time for Baxi Heating, and we still have a lot of work to do over the next 18 months. We need to ensure we make the right vehicle choice, that we have the correct infrastructure in place to support our engineers and that we continue to deliver excellent service to our customers. However, the future is certainly looking green!
Read more about Baxi Heating’s Sustainability Pledge here.