Employees of a forward-thinking manufacturer can now charge their electric vehicles for free after their employer made an investment to combat the energy bills crisis.
Haslingden-based Rospen has installed electric vehicle charging points on site – and pledged that all staff can use them to charge their personal vehicles without cost.
The business, which designs and manufactures weighing and metering equipment for a range of industries, invested in the charging points now in a bid to ‘lead from the front’ in supporting those opting for greener travel.
Six points have been installed at the manufacturer’s Waterside Business Park site for use by its 40-strong workforce.
Technical director Grant McGeever said the decision had been made to support employees coping with rising energy bills.
He said: “We decided to lead from the front and make the investment now, rather than in the future, so that we’re ready for when more people switch to electric vehicles.
“We currently have one employee at Rospen with an electric vehicle and we hope this move will support even more people in making that decision if that’s the road they want to go down.
“With energy bills rising, and people dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, it’s important to us to be a responsible employer and help our workforce in whatever ways we can.”
RAC figures released in September revealed drivers now pay on average £32.41 to rapid charge a typical family electric car to 80%, an increase of almost £10 since May.
Kiel Speak, sales engineer, welcomed the move by Rospen and said it would encourage him to consider an electric vehicle in future.
He said: “It’s great that Rospen is encouraging greener transport and fantastic to know that any charging while at work would be free of charge, especially as people are worrying about paying their bills at the moment.
“I know a few people have already mentioned that they’d look into buying an electric car the next time they replace their vehicle.”
As part of a package of support during the current economic climate, Rospen employees also received a five per cent pay rise. Grant added: “Everything has been going up so fast that we knew we needed to do something to help. The last thing we wanted was for people to be struggling, so we wanted to show our support. We’re all in this together and, as a business, we’ll do anything we can to help our people.”
