The Client
Abacus Cards is one of the UK’s leading greeting card publishers, supplying retailers direct nationwide as well as exporting around the world through a network of overseas distributors. The company prides itself in offering an imaginative and diverse range of greeting cards, manufactured to the very highest quality.
It was founded in 1991 by Jeff Fothergill and Brian Carey, owners of the respected seed company Mr Fothergill’s Seeds. In 2008, Abacus purchased the art-led greeting card publisher Clare Maddicott Publications from its founding owners Richard & Clare Maddicott. Between the two brands Abacus supplies over 3,000 retailers in the UK alone.
The Brief
SaveMoneyCutCarbon was introduced to Abacus after completing EV charger, LED lighting and heating projects for Mr Fothergill’s Seeds in Newmarket and Kentford. The company is progressively moving from fossil-fuel fleet cars to electric vehicles (EV) and wanted to provide charging facilities at its main office.
The main aim of the move to EVs is to reduce carbon emissions, help to provide cleaner air and to protect the environment.
Abacus needed a chargepoint solution at its Newmarket HQ that was cost-effective, easy to operate, efficient and robust, with the option to scale as the company expands its electric fleet to take advantage of advances in battery technology over the next few years, replacing the petrol hybrid models.
The Solution
Simon Blaaser, SaveMoneyCutCarbon’s Business Stream Manager – Electric Vehicle Charging, made an initial visit to the company’s HQ and followed up with a full EV survey. The SaveMoneyCutCarbon EV team then worked with company owners to develop a full solution, including supply, installation and project management.
The fully qualified EV team are OLEV approved, 18th Edition qualified electricians and enhanced-DBS checked.
A key part of the project was the support and application for the Government OLEV electric car charger grants, which covers up to 75% of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV chargepoints (inclusive of VAT), capped at a maximum of £350 per socket, and a maximum 40 sockets across all sites.
Following the survey, four Easee Charge Three Phase 22kW EV Chargers were specified for post-mounted installation in the car park with associated ground works and infrastructure.
The universal Easee Charger is beautifully compact and one of the most versatile EV chargers. It fits all types of electric cars and power supplies, and maximises the available electrical capacity within any building.
The intelligent queuing system gives you peace of mind by ensuring that all cars are charged without overloading the available power supply. The Easee Charger measures accurate power consumption through its built-in power meters. When a charging station has multiple owners, you can keep track of the power consumption of each one by registering their charge with a RFID chip, or through the free app.
The free app gives full control over your Easee Charger, whether at the office or on the go. You can check the status of your charger, start and pause charging, schedule a charge, lock the charging cable, and much more.
Savings
As a comparison, the company runs Toyota Corolla 1.8 MHEV Sportback models for sales staff and on current forecourt pump prices (£1.64 per litre) a vehicle costs £3,718 a year in fuel, based on 27,500 miles annually.
A replacement Tesla Model 3 Standard Range costs £1,884 a year (28p per kWh) for the same yearly mileage – a reduction of 50%. Added to that are the reduced maintenance costs of an EV, as it has far fewer moving parts.
The Toyota Corolla model also emits 4,514 kilos of CO2 (covering 27,500 miles) while the Tesla has zero tailpipe emissions.
Other savings – £1,400 OZEV Workplace Charging Scheme Grant.
