Even with the most advanced fleet management systems, vehicle downtime will never be fully eliminated. As a result, companies are always exploring new, innovative solutions that can increase productivity by keeping vehicles on the road, serving customers for longer.
Centrica, the market-leading energy services and solutions company and parent company of energy retailer British Gas, currently runs a 2,500-strong fleet of Vauxhall Vivaro E electric vans. These vans service customers across the UK.
The iconic blue British Gas vans are often seen charging at the GRIDSERVE Braintree Electric Forecourt® and by working together, Centrica and GRIDSERVE have been able to improve fleet productivity.
GRIDSERVE, the electric vehicle charging company, has worked with Thinventory, a leading logistics and technology driven company, to bring smart lockers to the GRIDSERVE Braintree Electric Forecourt®.
For Centrica this limits downtime by combining two jobs. It allows drivers to quickly charge their vans while also collecting stock for their jobs that day from Centrica’s National Distribution Centre via the Thinventory network. By co-locating two of the biggest drivers of downtime, engineers get to their customers faster and deliver a better service.
Rob Simister, Director of Fleet Operations at Centrica, said: “A majority of our engineers cannot home charge their British Gas vans and we do not have depots in the UK. This means that the time taken to public charge our battery electric vans is a critical component of how many customers we can serve. By reducing charge time, we can get to our customers faster.
“Working with GRIDSERVE and Thinventory provides us reliable, available high power charging at the same location that our engineers pick up their parts for the day’s service, repair and installation jobs. It reduces the time they are not serving our customers to the minimum and is supporting our net zero fleet roll out. Removing the need for another stop to their daily itinerary reduces miles of driving and saves hours of time every year – and that’s just for one van. If you extrapolate that across the whole fleet, then the benefits are transformational.”
The Thinventory solution was implemented at GRIDSERVE Braintree Electric Forecourt® at the end of 2023, with a range of businesses using the tech-enabled lockers to power up their operations.
With more than 45,000 smart lockers across 1,500 UK sites, including the 21 doors installed at the Braintree Electric Forecourt®, Thinventory enables leading brands with large numbers of field engineers, such as Centrica, to securely collect and return equipment and parts at convenient places near their points of service.
Andy Crees, Operations Director at Thinventory, said: “Operating in 31 countries, Thinventory delivers 30 million items per year, with 99.7% of deliveries made on time. Customers can securely deliver to smart lockers like those at GRIDSERVE Braintree Electric Forecourt®, reducing the distance engineers need to travel to pick up and return items, benefitting both our clients and their customers.”
Sam Clarke, Commercial Lead at GRIDSERVE, added: “We’re always looking at ways to innovate and improve the charging experience. For businesses this means being able to make use of the time while their vehicles are plugged in, whether that’s with rentable meeting rooms or the superfast WiFi in our lounge area. The Thinventory installation offers businesses charging with us extra value. For Centrica drivers, it reduces the need for another stop, giving them more time to support customers.”
