Arsenal are Electric!
We recently got together with our long-time partners Arsenal Football Club to provide Gooners with the opportunity to charge their electric vehicles (EVs) at Emirates Stadium during match days.
To celebrate the installation of the new chargers, Arsenal Under-15’s goalkeeper Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko interviewed men’s first team players Hector Bellerin, Pablo Mari and Bernd Leno about their views on sustainability, green energy and protecting the environment. You can check out the full video below!
In one of our first guest posts of the year, the team caught up with Arsenal’s Sustainability and Logistics Manager, Mike Lloyd, to hear about the electrifying new initiative.
Hi Mike, so great to speak to you today! So what is this new initiative with Octopus Energy all about?
Mike: We have worked with Octopus Energy to install four 7 kW electric vehicle chargers in our stadium car park, offering 100% renewable electricity to electric vehicle drivers on match days and for events at Emirates Stadium. These chargers are 100% compatible with all electric vehicles currently on the market.
How do these new chargers contribute to the wider sustainability goals of the club?
Mike: Arsenal and Octopus Energy have been working together for more than five years to make the club more sustainable.We are always striving to improve our infrastructure to support our sustainability objectives and this is the latest in a long line of initiatives we’re undertaking together. In 2016 we became the first Premier League club to switch to 100% green electricity, and together with Octopus Energy we've planted 500 trees to build Colney Wood at our London Colney training centre, adding to the 29,000 trees we have planted across the site since 1999. These are just a few of the examples of the work we are doing in this space.
How about the giant battery powering Emirates stadium? How did that come about?
Mike: In 2018, Octopus Energy helped consult on this project to provide Emirates Stadium with the UK's first football stadium 2.5MWh battery. We worked with Downing LLP and Pivot Power to get it installed. The battery ensures that we can avoid pulling from the grid at peak times when energy is dirtier and more expensive. Octopus Energy provides the battery with 100% green power to make sure we’re saving the atmosphere from excess carbon emissions while matches are being played.
Why is it important that Arsenal and Octopus Energy are making these provisions for electric cars within the stadium?
Mike: From a practical point of view, the installation of the chargers is very important to ensure we cater for our fans as electric vehicles become more widely used. As a Premier League football club with a huge global following, it’s also crucial that we use our platform to promote green practices, inspire our communities and push each other towards a more sustainable future. This is just the beginning and hopefully as the numbers of electric vehicles on the roads increase, we can match that with the facilities across all our sites.
Published on 13th December 2022 by:
Hey I'm Constantine, welcome to Octopus Energy!
×Close window