When it was time for some of the Indigo Herbs team to move to a new premises to create more space, we knew we needed a solution to ensure stock could be moved between buildings without increasing our carbon footprint. The Electric Van was the perfect answer!
Finding a Solution
At Indigo Herbs we have two premises, both based in Glastonbury, Somerset. One building is our production unit, this is where we receive all the bulk delivieries of the wonderful plants we sell from around the world. The plants then go through our production process to become our finished products ready for retail. Our other premises host the rest of the departments in our business, including fulfilment. Our fulfilment department is where we store all our packaged products ready to ship around the globe to our customers.
For years, the production and fulfilment departments were situated together in the same building, however due to continuous space constraints, in March 2018 we separated them to give our production department enough room to operate to their full potential. Our production and fulfilment departments work very closely together, so it was a big leap for the business to have them in separate places, it took a lot of thought and process planning!
The Electric Van
The main hurdle to overcome was how to transport the finished product from our production facility to our fulfilment department quickly and efficiently without causing any operational problems or delay with orders. We wanted to make a responsible decision and knew we needed a solution that made the least impact on the environment. After a lot of thought and consideration, we decided to go for an Electric Van as our transportation vehicle.
Electric Vans produce no CO2 emissions, so are a favourable option to improve air quality and reduce carbon footprint. With about a mile and a half between each building, this option was perfect for us as we would not be driving long distances in the van; currently we are doing one van run a day between buildings.
A potential issue with electric vehicles is how long they last before requiring a re-charge, however with 9,300 electric charging locations currently in the UK and new charge points being added daily, the infrastructure and availability is changing in a positive direction!
Not only do electric vans have lower running costs due to the cheaper cost of electricity compared to diesel, they are also cheaper to maintain with fewer moving parts. The van is simple to drive, and very quiet to respect the gorgeous environment around us here in Glastonbury.
When our managing director Steve Mckewon first drove it ‘home’ to our office, he described it as "Like driving a spaceship, but more importantly, like driving the future!”
