Watt’s going down. Bechtle continues to drive sustainable mobility.
Some 3,700 company vehicles currently make up Bechtle's fleet in Germany. They clocked up a total of more than 55 million kilometres in 2021, some 30 million fewer than two years ago as online meetings have replaced many trips. The proportion of the fleet running on alternative fuels has continued to steadily rise to currently more than 30 per cent. By the end of 2022 this should have grown to at least 40 per cent. Bechtle is committed to equipping itself with electric vehicles and reducing its consumption of fossil fuse as per its Mobility Strategy and they want to make it easy for their employees.
As the Head of Group Controlling, Uli Drautz is also responsible for Mobility and Property Management, which, when it comes down to implementing the Executive Board’s decision to integrate e-mobility, he says has made everything much easier. Together with the Mobility Team, a sample infrastructure was created. All vehicles and charging points are centrally managed along with energy and load management. The individual branches and their are all connected up to the system meaning they don’t need to worry about configuring anything to their individual needs. Standardised and open interfaces allow for new charging points to be easily added, and the ease of use is impressive. With just one card, vehicles can be charged at all Bechtle sites and at most public charging points.
A good 30% of the Bechtle vehicle fleet currently run on alternative fuels
and the outlook is electric.
A good 30% of the Bechtle vehicle fleet currently run on alternative fuels
and the outlook is electric.
Bechtle began establishing e-mobility within the company in 2014, making it a trailblazer. Today, there are 445 in-house charging points across 30 German and Austrian sites. 50 more are under construction, with plans to expand to Switzerland. The mid-term objective is to make charging available at all Bechtle branches throughout the DACH region. At the headquarters alone, there are 140 charging points, most in the multi-storey car park, that work on photovoltaic energy gained from the roof solar panels—with a total output of 1,900 Kilowatt-Peaks (kWp). Energy management can adjust the charging load of the available current to optimally distribute it. More solar cells are also being installed or planned at other sites where possible. Whenever in-house power production can’t keep up with demand, it is supplemented with predominately green energy.
My dashboard lets me keep live tabs on the charging power of 445 charging points.
Dirk Moritz, Bechtle Team Mobility
“Bechtle is committed,” says Uli Drautz, on the subject of e-mobility. We are working on the premise that this technology is, in our words, “future-proof”, even if there are now many others. We’ve laid all the foundations for expansion and there’s no stopping now.. Even if that’s proving quite tough at the moment. There are currently very few vehicles available and prices have risen by up to 30 per cent and for Bechtle, where some 100 cars are exchanged every month, this poses quite a challenge. Hybrid models are the best to have and Uli Drautz feels they are also a good way of getting into the world of electric cars as drivers can enjoy the relaxed, quiet, and fully electric journeys—all backed up with a powerful charging infrastructure.
It’s important to Bechtle to be able to offer its employees a solid e-mobility option, and the shift to an emissions free fleet is being pursued further. There is now the opportunity to use an e-bike as your company bike—with more than 900 standard and electric bicycles currently on the road. All of this means that the measures set out in the Bechtle Sustainability Strategy 2030 will be put into motion and there’s still time for more electrifying progress until then.
Bechtle update editorial team
update@bechtle.com
- Press release: Bechtle continues to drive sustainable mobility.
- Sustainability at Bechtle
- Press release: Bechtle publishes Climate Protection Strategy 2030.
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