Octopus Energy has tied up with Elmtronics to offer electric vehicle charge points to its business customers.
This new partnership expands the value-added services available to business customers to include the supply, installation, back-office software and maintenance of charge points, all of which will be fulfilled by Elmtronics, providing a one-stop shop.
The partners will also work together to support businesses to introduce electric vehicles into their operations.
For Octopus, the new deal further expands its EV solutions portfolio, which already includes EV leasing, smart tariffs for charging overnight, EV roaming through its Electric Juice Network and its Electric Dreams salary sacrifice scheme for electric cars.
John Szymik, CEO of Octopus Energy Services, commented: “Octopus Energy is among the companies doing the most to push the electric car revolution in the UK, and being able to bring more infrastructure to businesses that want to electrify their fleet and go carbon-neutral can only be a positive thing.
“Octopus Energy and Elmtronics will work together to keep making it easier for business customers to go electric, by offering charge point supply, install and aftercare all rolled up into one.”
The new deal supports the firms’ existing relationship. In October 2020, the two companies signed a roaming agreement to allow Octopus Energy customers to charge on Hubsta networks using the Electric Juice Network.
Elmtronics’ Hubsta network is used by thousands of business customers and the integration with Octopus Energy’s Electric Juice network simplifies charging on the go by taking away the need for using different cards and apps, and rolling charging costs into a single bill.
The first charge points under the tie-up have already been installed at Octopus Energy customer Wye Valley Brewery. Two dual charge points have been installed in the brewery’s customer car park for visitors’ use, and two in the staff parking area for employees. The company is aiming to become carbon neutral and has taken delivery of its first EVs on the fleet as part of this drive.
Dan Martin, Elmtronics CEO, said: “Fleets and businesses are increasingly looking to transition to electric vehicles, but the additional complexities of introducing charging can be daunting for some. The partnership between Octopus Energy and Elmtronics will make the process of switching to an electric fleet as simple and painless as possible for its customers will make a real difference to businesses across the UK.
“This is just the start of what we hope is our vision to provide a full solution to our business customers, bringing electric vehicle charging and renewable energy together as a full package.”
Elmtronics has already seen growing demand for commercial EV charge points; it’s worked with over 300 new commercial customers over the last 12 months, marking a 50% uplift in its customer base and including BMW, Milk & More, FedEx and the NHS.
Elmtronics’ work is also being strengthened by its acquisition at the end of January 2020 by European EV charging company Mer, providing a wider offer to companies across the UK.
