ElectrAssure celebrates 1000 electric vehicle chargepoints to support National Grid’s fleet EV migration

Posted 26th March 2024

ElectrAssure has celebrated with National Grid the installation of 1000  electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints to support of National Grid’s commitment to  a 100% electric fleet by 2030. The milestone was reached thanks to a close collaboration with the National Grid project team since June 2021 to install EV chargers across its substation and office sites.

Charger number 1,000 was commissioned at Wymondley Substation earlier this month, to support colleagues and engineers working at the National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) site in Hertfordshire. More than 100 sites have now seen chargers installed as National Grid seeks to transform Britain’s energy system and deliver on its commitments around net zero.

In September, National Grid unveiled its 1,000th electric vehicle as part of a pledge in its new Responsible Business Charter to have a 100% electric fleet for its light-duty vehicles by 2030. The charter identifies where the business can have the most significant impact on society, and also includes commitments to increase the company’s workforce and leadership diversity, reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, boost community volunteering efforts amongst its employees and more.

In National Grid’s press release, announcing the milestone, Prem Gabbi, Director of UK Land and Property National Grid, said: “Installing our 1000th EV charger is another fantastic milestone because it supports our wider rollout of electric vehicles by ensuring we have the necessary infrastructure to build a more sustainable future alongside our customers and communities. I’m proud of our teams for leading on such a crucial part of National Grid’s transition to a clean, fair and affordable energy future whilst working alongside excellent partners like ElectrAssure and the wider NGET team.

“The UK’s transition to electric vehicles is a key component in the race to net zero and National Grid’s efforts to transform the country’s energy system mean we play a key role in facilitating this.”

Alun Davies, Operations Director for ElectrAssure, added: “A contract of this size and scope takes a lot of organising and planning in order to be successful. Both National Grid and ElectrAssure took responsibility for ensuring that the charging required by National Grid’s fleet was provided in the most efficient manner possible while causing minimum disruption to critical operations on substations and critical sites.

“It is evidence of the collaborative nature of this approach that the contract is operating ahead of schedule and with the very highest levels of operational availability post installation.”

In summer 2022, 250 of the charge points were deployed to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games for six weeks to charge the athletes EV transport before being rolled back into the National Grid installation programme.