The Project
Comtherm is a highly respected and established manufacturer of industrial combustion equipment, they have two sites in Droitwich. The head office is situated alongside the welding a fabrication shop and the second site consists of the assembly shop, the technical shop and the research and development test plant.
In early 2022, Tim Savage contacted Black Pear to discuss upgrading their current EV Charge point facilities to accommodate for the growing demand as their fleet and staff personal vehicles convert to electric.
Tim came to Black Pear with a brief that the chargers be simple to use, control and monitor, he advised that they would like a total of 6 charge points installed. Being OZEV authorised we were able to advise Tim that if they installed smart chargers their installation would be eligible for funding through the Workplace Charge Scheme (WCS), and they would be able to apply funding of £350 per charge point providing £2,100 towards the gross costs of the project. Black Pear Electrical deduct the grant amount from their costs and retrospectively claim the grant.
Grant Calculation:
| Workplace Charge Scheme | |
|---|---|
| Grant available per ChargePoint | £350 |
| Charge Points installed (max. 40) | 6 |
| Total Claim (deducted from gross cost of overall budget) & no more than 75% of total installers cost | £2,100 |
Our Approach
Being independent installers, we we able to advise on the best charger to suit Comtherms requirements. After careful consideration Easee chargers were selected as the most suitable solution for load ease of use, load management and remote connectivity. This was paired with a Matt:e O-Pen protection unit to provide required safety features. A distribution board upgrade was also required to provide sufficient capacity, which along with all final connections, was carried out out of hours so not to disrupt the business.
One of Comtherms own fabricators manufactured bespoke mounting frames to install the chargers. With the Easee system, when several charge points are connected, all available energy will be dynamically divided between the units. The total load will therefore never exceed the limit set during the installation. All connected cars can be charged simultaneously and the available charge current is automatically shared between them, provided that there is enough power available. If there is not enough power available, the cars will be put in the queue. Users can either use the app or RFID key tags to enable the chargers The Smart feature of these chargers meaning that all charge time and power usage can be closely monitored and managed, and importantly the WCS grant can be claimed.
Having installed and commissioned the six charge points, Comtherm staff were set up with user accounts to enable usage via apps and RFID tags. The management team were given access to the Easee Cloud portal, which houses a full suite of tools to control and monitor the use of each charger to a full suite of consumption and costs reports and analysis, for advance administration requirements.
The installation was carried out on time and within the agreed budget.
Black Pear Electrical have provided electrical services to Comtherm since 2018 from general maintenance, LED lighting upgrades and EV charger installation. They are professional and easy to work with, they come to us with solutions to problems and jobs are dealt with in a timely manner. We consider them to be an extension of our own team.
