Tackling Sustainability – #1 EV Charging Points

Tackling Sustainability - #1 EV Charging Points

Home » Tackling Sustainability – #1 EV Charging Points

The British Prime Minister has recently pledged to invest in our electric car network, outlining his vision that no electric vehicle driver should be more than 30 miles from a charging point. This comes at a time when electric vehicle ownership is at an all-time high, thanks to advances in technology, infrastructure and most importantly, overall driving experience.

Post By Sigma
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Benefits of Electric Vehicles


At Sigma we’ve long known about the benefits of electric vehicles on our roads; they’re clean, quiet and increasingly comfortable to drive. They’re also zero-emissions which is especially important for those with tax benefit issues or who commute into emission-free zones. For too long though, the availability of and access to charging points has put many off making the transition to this type of vehicle.

“We believe passionately in driving a more open and honest sustainable conversation with our clients”

In principle, charging an electric vehicle is exactly like charging a mobile phone. Once the battery has been depleted, an electric car needs to be plugged into a charging point. Public charging points are available but, if you’ve a suitable space, you can also have a charging point installed at your home. The capabilities of these charging points and their connectors varies which has an impact on charging time. Much like the cars themselves, however, the chargers are also developing rapidly. For employees at Sigma, they now only have to drive as far as one of our car parks to find a charging point.

The Future


As part of a significant investment, we are installing at least one charging point at each of our sites, sourcing the electricity required from sustainable sources. We believe passionately in driving a more open and honest sustainable conversation with our clients and with the wider construction industry and this is just one example of where we’re committed to doing more for our employees and our environment.

We’re in good company. The supermarket giant Morrisons has recently announced its intention to install a network of 100 rapid charging points for electric vehicles by the end of the year. Similarly, Lidl has committed to installing charging points at all new UK stores; this equates to around 300 sites over the next three years and will cover around a third of their estate.

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Ingo Fischer, Chief Development Officer for Lidl GB, commented: “At Lidl, we are committed to tackling the environmental concerns that our customers care most about, whilst giving them access to solutions that will support them in their ambition to lead more sustainable lives. It is our hope that, through this significant investment, we will enable easier access to charging points, ultimately helping more households switch to electric vehicles.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves and we’re equally proud to be partnering with such a socially aware organisation, acting as Lidl’s main contractor for their new-build programme.


Sustainability


The issue of being more environmentally friendly in construction is a hotly-debated one; it’s still seen as a choice between cost and sustainability. However, we are increasingly adopting new and innovative ways of supporting our clients with their green agenda when on site, from ‘just in time’ deliveries and offsite modular building, through to proactive waste management strategies and intelligent lighting without adding extra lines to the budget costs.
We also believe in doing what we can as a business and our move to install electric vehicle charging points across our own network is just one of the initiatives we have underway or that we are looking into. There are opportunities to make a difference in so many areas, from our office processes around recycling, energy saving and waste through to looking at our own supply chain and things like carbon footprint and material composition.

It’s great that there is now a greater focus than ever before on the benefits of electric vehicles and investment in the infrastructure that means they are much more credible option. We’re proud to be playing our part and hope other employers will follow suit, but we know that this is just one piece of a bigger, and much more complex puzzle that the industry as a whole needs to accept, embrace and make change as a whole.

 

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