Octopus Group today announced that it is funding new zero-emission Jaguar I-PACE vehicles at Heathrow Airport, enabling their rollout later this year as part of the airport’s commitment to reduce emissions.
The agreement comes as Octopus launches its innovative new Transport as a Service solution helping UK businesses with large vehicles fleets to accelerate their transition to zero emission transportation, including commercial vehicles, buses and taxis.
This is the first major zero emission vehicle financing contract for Octopus and will see the first 25 of up to 200 vehicles running at Heathrow Airport from November 2018.
Working with Heathrow and We Know Group, Octopus is helping to deliver the airport’s emissions strategy and action plan. Heathrow has made great strides in reducing carbon emissions from passenger ground transportation, which have come down by almost 10% between 2015 and 2017. Taxis and minicabs make up almost 30% of these carbon emissions from ground passenger transport. This project will support Heathrow in reducing these emissions further.
Chris Hulatt, co-founder of Octopus Group, said:
“There is an urgent need to reduce the traffic pollution in this country as part of the drive to decarbonise. At Octopus we’re focused on finding innovative new ways to help the switch to renewables and to see more zero-emission vehicles on our roads. We understand the challenges for businesses and consumers, and we’re committed to developing meaningful services and products that can help them play their part in creating a truly green economy.”
Dan Saunders, Investment Director at Octopus Group, said:
“We’re proud to be helping Heathrow Airport meet its ambitious carbon reduction and air quality targets by funding these new vehicles. Our pay-as-you-use model is an easy way for forward-thinking organisations to switch to zero-emission vehicles, helping to power the clean vehicle revolution in Britain.
Peter Buchanan, Chairman at We Know Group said:
“Incorporating zero-emission vehicles into our fleet is a key part of We Know Group’s sustainability strategy. We believe wholeheartedly in doing what we can to improve London’s air quality and are delighted to work with Octopus and Heathrow on this initiative.”
Octopus were advised on the transaction by the law firm Burges Salmon.
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Notes to editors:
Octopus’ ‘Transport as a Service’ model provides operators with a holistic, long-term solution to help accelerate the transition to zero emission bus, taxi and commercial vehicle fleets.
Transport as a Service:
- Delivers a turnkey solution to operators including zero emission vehicles, charging/fuelling infrastructure at depots, and reinforcement of the local energy network to ensure sufficient power capacity is available;
- Provides the option to include maintenance and repair costs, as well as renewable energy supply, battery storage and smart grid optimisation technologies to maximise the sustainable impact of the vehicle fleet;
- Transfers financial risk away from operators by implementing a pay-as-you-use mechanism whereby operators pay per mile of usage;
- Pay-as-you-use enables operators to match costs to revenues, securing their operating margin. Once a set usage has been met their contract with Octopus would expire, and they could take ownership of the assets or renew the contract with new vehicles.
The Jaguar I-PACE is Jaguar’s first all-electric performance SUV, with one full charge providing a range of up to 292 miles.
In May 2018, Heathrow Airport committed to introduce up to 200 Jaguar I-PACE vehicles to shuttle passengers to and from the airport, and to be operated by We Know Group.
For journalists in their professional capacity only. Issued by Octopus Group. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No. Issued: September 2018.