Spotlight on... Gurjeet, Director of Operations at Octopus Electric Vehicles

Launched in 2017, Octopus Electric Vehicles (OEV) is the UK's go-to Electric Vehicle specialist, with an end to end offering including car leasing, EV charge points and amazing OE smart tariffs all done in house. Their goal is to empower people to make the switch to electric cars, with a friendly approach that always puts the customer first.

I had a chat with Gurjeet, their brilliant Director of Operations, to discuss what it’s like being at the forefront of the future of transportation.

Gurjeet: Our core product is Salary Sacrifice (like Cycle to Work) and we operate in other areas too. Across these, it is really important to us to provide a holistic experience so we handle the entire journey for customers, starting from getting them into their perfect EV, installing a fab charging point and then signing them up to one of our specialist tariffs to power their car with green energy. We’re unique in being able to do all of this in house to ensure a seamless customer experience. Importantly, we are an independent company and can therefore provide honest feedback and recommendations to our customers and really look after them.

Gurjeet: I am the Director of Operations at Octopus Electric Vehicles. My role is to work alongside and enable my teams to build and grow an operationally sound business so that our customers have an amazing experience as we help them transition to electric transport. When I first joined, our EV department was testing out different operating models. We’re now a fully fledged business ordering and delivering hundreds of cars a month to our customers.

My days are really varied because my operations teams cover so much from Customer Operations to Account Management and Procurement. At one point, I might be working on building out processes for our teams as we grow. Next, I might be brainstorming on how we provide better car servicing experiences through our partners. Another moment, I could be working with my team to negotiate large volume deals with car manufacturers to secure stock for customers. I love the variety and working with great people in so many areas.

Gurjeet: Sustainability is incredibly important to me and I wanted to be a part of the crucial movement to protect our planet and lead the path to Net Zero. It was also an incredible opportunity to become a part of the Octopus Energy family and work directly with customers using an incredible tech platform, alongside a team of amazing people led by Fiona, who I am very happy I get to work with.

Gurjeet: When we first started we were all doing 10 different jobs and it didn’t matter whether you were the director or anyone else; everyone was chipping in and supporting customers. Our one constant is that you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and get stuck into things.

We're growing really fast each and every month, so working here is fast paced. Days can be hectic but we're all really collaborative and look after each other. We have an amazing collegiate culture, which we're very proud of. It’s amazing to think that we started with a tiny team and now we've grown exponentially with brilliant people who are so passionate about helping build OEV.

Gurjeet: I've got a Tesla Model 3, which is an amazing car and I drive it all the time so I've driven it all over the country over the past few years. Although, if I had to pick - heading out to the beautiful New Forest and being in nature. I got to see some local ponies who were unawares of my (very) quiet car! And zero emissions from my trip was the icing on the cake.

Gurjeet: We’re all about myth busting at OEV. There are still misconceptions on the running cost of EVs or battery range and charging. It's amazing how much you save when you stop paying for petrol or diesel! Battery technology has come a long way and now you can travel long distances on a single charge without a worry. For example, I can comfortably drive 200 miles on a full battery. For lots of people this will mean only charging your car once a week. It is so easy to climb into the car and drive without having to worry about range. All you have to do is plug the car in to top up when you need to, just like you would a phone. Not to mention, the charging infrastructure has come on leaps and bounds, with charging points popping up everywhere. Octopus is also simplifying that experience with Electric Universe, which always gets rave reviews. We’re working on making sure everyone knows about this!

Gurjeet: Vehicle 2 Grid technology, our PowerLoop project, is truly groundbreaking and has the potential to totally transform the way we think about electricity distribution and consumption. This cutting edge technology is a new way of thinking about energy demand management with the ability to have a constant cycle: allowing energy to flow from the house to the car battery, and from the car battery to the grid to enable mass EV adoption. We have installed the lightest, smallest domestic V2G chargers in the world for the project and are now beginning to survey and analyse customer behaviour. Hopefully this will allow us to work with customers to encourage more battery charging at night when it’s cheaper and more likely to be sourced from renewable sources like wind power.

Find out a bit more about Powerloop from customers Shilpen and Reshma: