Rivus ramps up EV charging infrastructure across SMR network

Fleet solutions provider Rivus has competed the first phase of a project to prepare its service, maintenance and repair network for the future needs of electric vehicles.

Rivus, which was named fleet supplier of the year in this year’s Fleet News Awards, has this month completed the installation of 45 charge points across nine of its sites, including locations such as Leeds, Bristol, Southampton, Heathrow, Manchester and Enfield.

All 78 of its independently-owned garages already have EV SMR capability, and by the end of this year 30 will have charging infrastructure installed, providing more than 150 new charge points, each enabling five vehicles to be charged overnight in technician bays.

Sarah Gray, head of alternative fuel vehicles at Rivus, said: “As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting customers with the decarbonisation of their fleets, we are undertaking a phased rollout to upgrade all our garages with additional EV charging capabilities.

“This is a significant investment as well as a huge practical undertaking, with some major logistical challenges.

“However, we are keeping all our garages open as normal throughout the works.

“The only downtime will be outside working hours and at weekends, so customers will not be inconvenienced at all.”

Rivus has benefited from the Government’s workplace charging scheme grant, which covers up to 75% or £350 per socket (whichever is greater) of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV charge points.

The entire project is expected to be completed by 2024.