Supported by a £25,000 grant from Nottingham City Council’s Workplace Travel Service, John E Wright installed the 22kw chargers to support the company’s goal of electrifying its delivery van fleet by 2026.
“We heard about the grant through our day-to-day work printing and installing for the City Council,” explained Alan Edwards, technical director at John E Wright.
He told Printweek that the grant had formed the “key driver” behind the decision to go with electric vehicles, with the grants covering the costs for additional electrical supply upgrades to facilitate the chargers.
“It’s all part of our big push to zero carbon [emissions] by 2030,” added managing director Tony Barnett.
“Between the vehicles in our fleet, we [drive] about 400,000 miles a year, and we’ll be looking to transfer all of that to electric vehicles.”
The company’s climate strategy is under rapid development, with Nottingham Trent University performing the firm’s first carbon audit next spring, which will give it a scientific baseline against which it can measure its progress.
The company is not waiting around before then, however. As well as the electric car scheme that has seen its managers take up electric cars, and the upcoming electrification of its van fleet, John E Wright is also expecting the installation of solar panels at its main production site by April 2025, having reinforced the roof to support their weight.
“We’ve been promised by the contractor that at least 50% of our energy consumption will be powered by the solar [array], which will help,” Barnett said.
Recyclability and plastics usage is another key issue for Barnett.
“Our graphics business manager, Julie [Boaden], has just found materials to replace a considerable amount of our fabric printing, made from plastic bottles,” he said.
“It’s amazing, the technology is remarkable – and the image quality is fantastic. In 2025, we’ll be able to go to the Council and say that all the banners they buy from us will be on recycled plastic bottles, which I think is pretty remarkable.
“Anything we can do to reduce plastic in this world, I’m in favour of. We separate everything out very carefully [in our waste streams]. We just had our audit from Biffa, and for the year to the end of June, we had just 0.7% of our waste go to landfill.”
John E Wright turns over £6m, employing 60 staff across six UK sites, with a varied plant list including an EFI Vutek H5 and Vutek GS, five Canon Colorado M5Ws, and five HP Designjet Z9+ Pros.
