Drax shifts gears into EV market
Energy giant Drax Group now offers businesses ‘bespoke’ electric vehicle (EV) services, including EV charging infrastructure and software, lease of EVs and 100% renewable electricity to power the vehicles.
Drax, who owns the UK’s largest power station in Selby, North Yorkshire, also will provide advice to determine what kind of vehicles and systems will work best for customers, analysis of different charging methods to minimise fleet downtime as well as data to help companies use their fleet efficiently.
Their first client is SES Water, who has installed 16 new charging points and is initially replacing 10 of its 120 strong fleet of diesel vans with EVs.
SES says the switch will result in a carbon saving of 43 tonnes of CO2Â per year and is another significant step forward in SES Water’s environmental commitments which last year saw the company switch to 100% renewable electricity.
Photo credit- SES Water
Henrietta Stock, energy and carbon manager at SES Water said: ‘Every day we use enough energy to power 13,000 homes so we are always looking at ways to balance the environmental impact of our essential activities and support the investment in renewable generation in the UK.
‘We have already significantly reduced our carbon emissions over the last year and working with Drax has enabled us to create a bespoke EV solution so we can understand exactly how to save the most energy, further lowering both our carbon emissions and our costs.’
Drax was criticised by environmental lawyers Client Earth in February who warned a new gas plant at their Selby site would produce 75% of the emissions budget for the entire UK power sector.
In their planning application for its Selby site, Drax said its proposal for four combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) was warranted to replace its existing two coal-fired units ahead of the government’s proposed coal phase-out in 2025.
However, ClientEarth, who were invited to produce a formal assessment of the plans, said that the combination of the project’s scale, high emissions intensity and long operating life make it a ‘significant’ threat to the UK’s carbon targets.