A clear sustainability plan is as essential to the success of your business as managing costs and profit margins. But with so much information available, cost of living challenges, and many companies having limited resources available, what are the tangible actions you can take? Chris Kelly, CEO, EasyGo, explains how sustainability is a key driver of his business model.
The ignition switch
“I started the business nine years ago when everyone said ‘you’re crazy’, but I saw there was a niche for fitting electric vehicle (EV) charge points for homes and businesses in Ireland,” he explains.
EasyGo has filled that niche providing EV charging facilities to businesses, homes, and at community-accessible locations such as hotels and supermarkets. It also supplies private vehicle drivers with access to charge points at various other locations.
“We work within domestic, commercial and public spaces and have two types of customers,” he explains. “The customer who buys the charge points, and the drivers of EVs.”
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A sustainable business model
The sustainability aspect of the business is very much a personal thing and something he strives towards in his life as a whole, says Kelly. “I love cars, but I hate the way cars pollute.
Then EVs started taking off, and offered a far more sustainable option. “This is absolutely the way things are going, with regard to the future of cars, and I thought, ‘what can I do to contribute’? From an early stage, I saw that Ireland would need a private EV charger provider, and thought - ‘There’s no reason I can’t do that’.”
Green strategy
Most of EasyGo’s green business strategy is about supporting other businesses turn green. Its motto is ‘do as we do’, Kelly explains. “Most of our vehicles on the road are electric, and we have plans for our fleet to be 100 per cent electric in the next two years.”
Every aspect of the business is governed by a sustainability plan. “No matter what project we do we look at it first from a safety and sustainability aspect and then its profitability. Sustainability has to lead our decision making. That is the message we’re putting out as a company.”
Set up five years ago Kelly says there is still a lot of education needed to better inform businesses on what they could be doing within this space. “A lot of companies come to us, because they’re not experts in EVs or driving EVs. They are looking for the expertise and we’re in a unique position to be able to provide it. It is also worth noting that a lot of the decision makers are not the people driving the EV within the company.”
Banking on support
But the road to revenue generation is a longer one than that in some other divisions. “It means you have to start earlier than most businesses when it comes to profitability,” he explains. “The business started long before we began selling physical chargers. It began with providing expertise to potential customers, to build trust, and to help them make a sustainable change where it was needed.”
“Sustainability sits at the heart of AIB’s strategy and we are focused on helping our customers make the transition to a more sustainable future across a range of sectors,” explains Mary Whitelaw, chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer at AIB. “Many of our customers are leading the way as sustainability changemakers, and their success stories can serve as an inspiration to help other businesses understand that operating their business more sustainably is attainable, good for their business, and also good for the environment.”
AIB offers its customers a range of sector-specific sustainability partnerships such as Farm Zero C for agriculture. Carbery, the West Cork-based international food ingredients company, and Biorbic, Ireland’s National Bioeconomy Research Centre, have joined forces with AIB to support the transition of farmers to a climate neutral farming model. Cheese manufacturer Carbery is another one of the companies taking part in the changemakers series. AIB offers an energy efficient loan scheme through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), which makes low-cost credit available to Irish SMEs.”
Navigating challenges
Kelly says there are challenges along the road to growing the company. “EV charging infrastructure has to change at a fast pace and it takes time, particularly with regard to legislation. Supporting change in large companies can be a challenge too. You know this is going to make a difference, but you have to move at the pace of others.”
“Before we started, we couldn’t sell electricity through our charge points, so there needed to be a change in directive to allow us to sell electricity through charge points. Then, we started working with ESB to allow us to put charge points on-street, working with the government regarding permissions required, and working with government bodies regarding access to charge points.” Kelly says the company also works with regulatory body, Safe Electric, to work out the best practices and safety for installing publicly and in homes.
Supporting staff sustainability
Kelly says that as well as ensuring that its EV infrastructure is as sustainable as possible, the company also supports its staff to adopt similar practices at home and at work. “We put easy charge points into our employees’ homes, provide charging at our offices, as well as looking at consumption from an energy perspective, using smart tech in offices to monitor that. Sustainability is at the heart of what we do. We’re constantly looking at ways to preserve energy and find more sustainable energy supplies.”
Invested in the company’s future
Kelly says being selected by AIB as one of its changemaker companies has helped highlight the strides already made by his organisation.
“Having the backing of AIB was critical to our success at EasyGo. We needed to partner with a bank that understood our business model. It’s not like opening a shop, buying stock and selling for profit. Our banking team understood that the sales and educational piece was going to take a lot longer to grow. We’re in it for the long haul – and looking at being a solution for EV charging and its infrastructure across the island of Ireland.”
Learn more about sustainability changemakers like Chris Kelly at the AIB Sustainability Conference ‘It’s Time to Act’, which takes place online on Monday, November 20th from 9am to 1pm. Click here to register your attendance