Our smart meter vans are going electric
While we’re working hard speeding up the global transition to 100% renewable energy, we’re also constantly looking for ways to make our own operation greener. Today, we’re super excited to share some news in that department...
⚡ All our smart meter vans are going electric ⚡
Soon, all Octopus Energy Services engineers will be pootling around on 100% renewable electrons, installing nifty tech to make UK homes smarter and greener: everything from smart meters to the very same EV chargers they refuel on themselves!
The first 23 vans have already hit the streets.
Why our vans are incredibly awesome
- Replacing 23 diesel vans with electric ones will save an average of 3 tonnes of CO2 every week – that's the same amount of carbon as 1,500 trees absorb in a year! And this is just the beginning of our electric van rollout...
- Our vans have a 75kWh battery, and can go for 205 miles until needing a charge. That's like driving all the way from Manchester to Newcastle and back.
- Despite being part of the Octopus family, they’ve got 4 wheels, not 8.
- The vans are full of Octopus magic. Not only do they carry tools, meters, electrical equipment, and PPE – they hold kids' colouring books, fluffy octopuses, and even battery packs to keep your internet connected, so that customers working from home can stay online while they're getting their installs done. The EV charging cable tangled in our tentacle design even glows in the dark.
- PLUS: every van has been set up with a special Augmented Reality view that can be unlocked via a secret QR code that your engineer will give you on the day.
This is not our first rodeo when it comes to electrifying our fleet. It's previously been really tricky to source big hefty vans that are also fully electric: the market was small. So, before we could get our tentacles on these beautiful Peugeot e-Experts, we got involved in a trial of London Electric Vehicle Company's e-taxis that meant our engineers have been able to drive around in two of their gorgeous EVs.
Pink tentacles on the outside, green on the inside 🔥🐙😎
— Octopus Energy (@OctopusEnergy) July 24, 2020
Our energy services team just got two totally incredible prototype electric vans from @LondonEVCompany, so they can install smart energy hardware (from smart meters to EV chargers) in the greenest way possible. pic.twitter.com/liEPAmAb8A
Stay tuned for updates as Octopus Energy Services gets even greener 💚
And while you're here, why not read about:
Why we started our own smart hardware installers
How our smart meter installers supported the NHS and vulnerable people during lockdown
How we've made smart meter installs something to look forward to
To celebrate our lean green metering machines, we’d like to name the very first few vans.
And against all advice from our lawyers (sorry Helen), family members, and pretty much everyone else...
We want Twitter’s help to name our vans.
Tweet your name ideas with #NameOurElectricVans and tag @OctopusEnergy by Thursday 22 July.
Winning names will be emblazoned on two of our vans (in indelible paint, so be nice).
We’ll pick 8 of our favourites, and share them in a Twitter thread late next week. The two most retweeted finalists from our thread will be painted onto the back of two of our new vans.
What can you win?
The creators of the top two van names will win the honour of playing a small, strange role in the green transport revolution.
All 8 of our favourite van-namers will be the first in the UK to get hold of something really special: a tiny toy version of our e-van. Look how cute!
Hot Wheelz ❌ Watt Wheelz ✅
Competition info and rules:
- If you want to throw a name suggestion into the hat, just tweet your idea and tag us @OctopusEnergy. Use the hashtag #NameOurElectricVans too, and make sure you’re following us!
- We’ll stop taking suggestions Thursday 22nd July at 5pm. After that, the Octopus team will put their heads together and choose 8 final contenders.
- On Monday 26th July we’ll tweet out a thread of those 8 favourites. Retweet the one/s you want to see plastered on the back of our electric van – TWO WILL WIN! Only retweets of the tweets we share in our finalists' thread will count as legit votes.
- On Wednesday 28th of that week, we’ll confirm the two most retweeted names from our thread of finalists as the winners, and our van-painters will make the names permanent.
- We’ll keep a record of who suggested our 8 favourite names and get in touch to organise sending out the mini-octovan toy prize. They’ll be delivered within the next month.
- Go to town on these names: we want your wildest suggestions and your worst puns! But please keep in mind that there’s a team of real people – Octopus’ lovely social media helpers – (and of course, everyone else on Twitter) reading your tweets. We reserve the right to block anyone tweeting anything that's not cool.
- We reserve the right that all final judgements are ours.
Published on 16th July 2021 by:
Hey I'm Constantine, welcome to Octopus Energy!
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