CASE STUDIES

Islington Council expands depot EV Charging Infrastructure with support from TPPL

30 January 2025

Background

The London Borough of Islington is a London borough in Inner London with an estimated population of 215,667. It was formed in 1965 by merging the former metropolitan boroughs of Islington and Finsbury, yet the merged entity remains the second smallest borough in London and the third smallest district in England. The borough contains two Westminster parliamentary constituencies, namely, Islington North and Islington South & Finsbury, with the local authority being Islington Council.

The council has been a member of TPPL since 2012 and has accessed a variety of the frameworks and solutions available to them. Thus, TPPL have been enlisted as a trusted procurement partner to the council when it concerns procurement of fleet related assets or services.

Challenge

During a time when councils face significant financial pressure, Islington has also experienced significant budget deficits in the fleet category following capital expenditure reductions. These deficits have demonstrated a challenge with funding additional investments required for Electric Vehicles (EV’s). However, cost isn’t the only challenge to electrification, as deployment of suitable infrastructure and the operational efficiency of EV’s themselves could also render its own barriers. The council is determined to overcome these barriers with a forward-thinking innovative approach to decarbonising the council’s fleet.

Opportunity

We recently caught up with Chris Demetriou, Assistant Director of Corporate fleet at the council, for a chat about his experience of using TPPL as a procurement partner. Chris has been with the council for 24 years in a variety of roles and is extremely passionate about making a positive environmental difference to residents of Islington. Particularly, he has worked within the fleet department at Islington Council for 4 years and has been responsible for supporting acquisition and upkeep of 550 vehicles, made up by a diverse mix of vehicles of all shapes and sizes. His contribution has been influential helping the council improve operational efficiency with front line service delivery to residents within the borough.

As a forward-thinking fleet ambassador, Chris has made excellent progress with the electrification of the council’s fleet. To date, approximately 25% of the fleet have been converted to EV’s, including some large complex vehicles such as refuse collection vehicles and food waste vehicles. Additionally, he has commissioned the electrification and repurposing of a small number of diesel refuse vehicles. TPPL has been able to support this innovative solution through lot 5 of the TPPL & NEPO HGV vehicle framework, scoped for vehicle repowering projects.

Procurement Solution

The council engaged with TPPL to help them procure a mixture of AC and DC infrastructure equipment at their waste and recycling centre. The successful supplier is expected to deliver between 40 and 50 chargers capable of delivering 7kw, 22kw, and 200kw power to support operation the diverse EV fleet operated from the site.

The procurement project, managed under the TPPL Hydrogen and EV infrastructure DPS was carefully scoped to ensure fit for purpose chargers would be installed and complemented with suitable software to provide ease of use for operators and help maintain more than 98% uptime during their lifecycle.

Bids were received from 8 recognised suppliers ensuring a thorough market evaluation was conducted. This provided the council opportunity to assess numerous professional bids from reputable organisations. A 2-year term with anticipated contract spend of up to £1,200,000.00 was awarded for the project in December 2024. Currently, the council and supplier are going through implementation ahead of groundworks being prepared and hardware installed.

The infrastructure requirement is a key priority to assist the growing number of EV’s operated from the location. Many of them specialist applications sourced via TPPL frameworks during the last 5 years. Commenting on the recent infrastructure project, Chris said:

“We’re committed to creating a greener, healthier Islington, and our partnerships with TPPL and new EV infrastructure provider Compleo is a vital step in reducing our carbon footprint and improving air quality for our residents. By electrifying our fleet, we are leading by example and showing that sustainability and efficiency can go hand in hand. E-mobility and the technology around this sector is moving so swiftly and TPPL have kept pace with changes which is helpful to both myself and other local authorities who might be unsure on what the future holds”

Benefits

When asked what the key benefits are of working with TPPL, Chris stated that “TPPL provide the council with guidance and support to meet compliance with procurement regulations. By working with Peter and the team at TPPL the council can carry out complex procurement processes swiftly due to the streamlined approach. Their services and procurement solutions provide me with flexibility, and through my relationship with our appointed Business Development Manager; Peter Vickers, help is always on hand to obtain guidance on the best way to call-off compliantly from a TPPL solution, whether via a competitive tender exercise, or direct-award process.”

Conclusion

With a clearly defined plan, the council continue to make notable progress with its carbon reduction strategy. Instrumental to delivering the strategy is maximising value through robust and strategic procurement. Identification of innovative products and solutions able meet the operational needs of the council within the financial constraints is key to success. Increasing infrastructure to support EV’s is also vital.

Key successes:

  • High number of quality of bids received from reputable suppliers
  • Comprehensive turnkey solution delivering hardware, software and in-life support
  • Measurable social value outcomes for local business and community initiatives
  • Competitive price achieved with tight deadlines met

For more information on the range of TPPL procurement solutions, please contact a member of the team at enquiries@tppl.co.uk or click here.