GRIDSERVE announces high profile partners for UK’s first Electric Forecourt®

GRIDSERVE has announced multiple new partnerships with leading retail, service and technology giants to deliver a “world-class” customer experience at the UK’s first Electric Forecourt®, due to open near Braintree, Essex, this November.

The retail partners, including WHSmith, Costa Coffee, Post Office, Booths, and Gourmade, alongside world class charging infrastructure partners ABB, Tesla, and customer support from the AA, have teamed up with GRIDSERVE to help deliver its vision of making electric vehicle charging as simple and stress-free as using petrol stations, but with a radically improved customer experience, designed for the modern age.

Greenhouse worked with GRIDSERVE to devise a media strategy and develop the messaging and media materials to maximise the impact of the launch. The campaign achieved close to 200 pieces of quality media coverage, including in The Telegraph, The i, Daily Mail, Sky News, ITV News as well as articles in key target trade outlets including The Grocer, What Car?, Retail Gazette and Driving Electric.  Overall, the coverage reached over 1B people, and boosted GRIDSERVE’s credibility, helping them secure additional partnerships, investment and government support which will all be key to delivering their vision of building over 100 Electric Forecourts® across the UK in the next 5 years.

To build anticipation ahead of the grand opening in November, Greenhouse arranged exclusive on-site interviews and guided tours with high profile business and transport journalists at The Telegraph, Sky News and ITV. Enabling top-tier journalists to visit the site in this way resulting some of the campaign’s most in-depth and positive media coverage, including a stand-out feature in the Sunday Telegraph. The anticipation created by the site visit resulted in massive media attention for the main opening in November, with every journalist who attended the site requesting another visit at the opening.

The story was strengthened further with a comprehensive media toolkit consisting of a compelling press release, a package quotes from each of the high profile partners to build credibility, and a suite of high-res images and video content of the site, strengthening to the authority and media appeal of the news story.

Alongside the media campaign, Greenhouse successfully managed an integrated social media campaign for GRIDSERVE. This involved developing engaging social content, eye-catching imagery and carrying out targeted community building ahead of the launch to build interest from key audiences.

As a result, GRIDSERVE achieved excellent social media engagement and impact. In the week following the launch, Greenhouse secured more than 70K Twitter impressions and more than 1K retweet, mentions and likes for GRIDSERVE, including high profile engagement from Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps and Cabinet Minister and MP for Braintree, James Cleverly.

The UK’s first Electric Forecourt® near Braintree, Essex, will be the first of over 100 sites to be built by GRIDSERVE in the next five years, as part of a £1bn programme to help make EV driving an enjoyable, ultra-convenient and stress-free experience. 30 electric vehicles can be charged simultaneously with high power chargers that can deliver up to 350kW of charging power, enabling people to add 200 miles of range in just 20 minutes, and much faster in the future as battery technologies within the cars mature.

While vehicles charge, drivers will be able to relax and shop in a state-of-the-art facility that will cater to all their needs. The two-story building houses a waiting lounge, free superfast Wi-Fi, high-end washrooms, a dedicated kid’s area, wellbeing area and business meeting room pods. On the ground floor, a comprehensive retail space includes a coffee shop, convenience supermarket, as well as fresh and frozen food. Well known, quality brands, including WHSmith, Costa Coffee, Post Office, Booths, and Gourmade have partnered with GRIDSERVE to deliver a world-leading “Best of British” retail and customer experience.

GRIDSERVE’s network of Electric Forecourts® will be powered by zero carbon solar energy and battery storage projects, ensuring carbon emission targets can be met, whilst also keeping prices low. To achieve this, GRIDSERVE is developing several large solar farms, supported by grid-scale batteries, as part of its “Sun-to-Wheel” initiative to ensure that 100% of the electricity used at its forecourts is renewable and, from the grid’s perspective, totally sustainable.

Toddington Harper, Founder and CEO of GRIDSERVE said: “It’s our collective responsibility to deliver sustainable energy and move the needle on climate change. By delivering a series of hybrid solar farms in tandem with our Electric Forecourt® rollout, we can ensure that every kWh of energy used to charge EVs is matched from 100% renewable, zero carbon energy sources, enabling us to start delivering net zero carbon transport in 2020, well ahead of the UK’s 2050 net zero target.”

For more information on GRIDSERVE, visit https://www.gridserve.com/.

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