Gridserve has taken delivery of 12 fully customised Vauxhall Vivaro Electric vans for its rapid response service fleet.

The fully electric rapid response service fleet will help boost charger reliability standards

The vans, supplied in L2H1 guise, will help facilitate a nationwide maintenance patrol running 24/7, 365 days of the year, for Gridserve’s ever-growing electric vehicle charging network.

Operated by a team of field service engineers, the vehicles will be deployed across specific regions of the UK to manage both preventive and corrective maintenance, improving the reliability, transparency and accessibility of the 180,000 charging sessions now taking place each month on the Gridserve Electric Highway.

While the newly passed Public Charge Point Regulations mandate 99% uptime across public rapid charging networks, Gridserve is setting this target as a minimum standard for its network.

Since the start of 2023, field service engineers have worked with the operations team to conduct quarterly health checks at all locations, support predictive maintenance schedules and deal with an average of three repair callouts per day, mainly focused around replacing damaged hardware.

The fully electric fleet will not only ensure the network remains operational but will also help to save the equivalent of 37 tonnes of carbon annually.

Kevin Dodd, head of operations, said: “We’re always looking at how we can use the latest technology to best serve our customers, while also doing the right thing for the planet. Launching a fully electric fleet of service vehicles will provide a new level of charger maintenance while still delivering on our ambition to move the needle on climate change.”

Other work by Gridserve to support drivers includes deploying charging attendants to support key Electric Super Hub locations during busy periods. It has also recently migrated all customer service call centre operations in-house, which the firm says has radically improved both the wait time and quality of response.