Operating EVs, Solar Panels & Batteries in Moray

What is it like to run your business with EVs, Solar Panels and Batteries in Moray?

MJD Systems have recently expanded their electric vehicle fleet to include two MG electric cars which have replaced two of our Corsa vans. We chose to do this after having successfully run company and personal electric cars in the family for more than 8 years and felt the MG cars were the right fit for range as well as practicality for carrying our engineers kit to site visits. As we have had some form of electric vehicle in the business or family since 2015 we’ve experienced and worked through the initial challenges and learning curves of changing from combustion engine to electric power and felt more than ready to expand the electric fleet at MJD. We want to go through some of the common questions and challenges we are asked about with an honest review of what it is like to run your business with EVs, Solar Panels and Batteries in the Moray area.

The first point that is usually made to us is “But you live in Scotland, its always raining!” Solar doesn’t actually need the sun to be shining without a cloud in the sky to provide power! Over the years we have been pleasantly surprised ourselves to discover that even on overcast days we can power our office or charge the batteries at Spey Bay and our remote offices on a bright but overcast day. But if we look at the Met Office’s data on the sunshine duration for the UK Moray lands in one of the sunniest parts of the UK last year! And then when we look at the data for Winter 2024 it is one of the sunniest places in the UK again, during a Scottish winter! So as easy as it might be to believe on a dreich Scottish winter’s day that solar is pointless, just remember, we had more sunshine here in Moray than most of the rest of the UK. We’ve included the Met Office infographics below to demonstrate our point.

As an IT Managed Service Provider, we need electricity on a daily basis to run our workshop to power the devices we are prepping or repairing for our clients, as well as the daily operations that run from Spey Bay. Therefore, it made sense for us to invest in solar panels and a battery system to help us reduce our reliance on the grid for power and also to help us reduce our carbon footprint and impact on the planet. The installation of electric car chargers was also a natural progression on from the solar and battery system to allow us to make us of the solar energy to charge the vehicles. This also opens up electricity tariffs designed for electric vehicles which allows us to charge at cheaper rates while also reducing our demand on the grid during peak times. As we right this article at the beginning of May, having just finished April we are pleasantly surprised and delighted at the amount of solar power generated in April and therefore we did not need to pull from the grid. We really can’t stress enough that solar is a viable solution here in Moray.

A big piece of introducing electric vehicles to your fleet is ensuring the education of your workforce who will be driving the vehicles as well as helping and supporting them to understand the changes to your thinking while driving in regards the energy/fuelling of an EV. The main example we use to explain why we don’t believe the range of an EV to be an issue on a long distance journey is, you will always need to stop for toilet breaks and food/drink breaks. By the time our engineers have taken their break, and if required have found a charger and plugged the vehicle in they have received enough charge to continue on their journey in the time their break took. While it can be easy to compare the charging of an EV to filling a tank of fuel, you can forget how long you spent going to the toilet or getting and eating your food on your journey. So, the mindset of an EV driver needs to be just a bit more about planning, not much but just enough to combine these needs together, which means the journey takes no longer than normal. Additionally, driving an EV is more about reading the road ahead and making small adjustments in plenty of time, rather than using your brakes to make quick adjustments to speed as this is less efficient for the battery power.

As businesses we are always keeping an eye on our costs, so it would be remiss of us to not discuss the financial aspects of electric vehicles. Yes, they may be overall a higher cost to initial invest in if bought outright. However, there are more and more affordable options on the market as more manufacturers create their own electric cars. However, the running costs are significantly cheaper when you take advantage of charging back at base (i.e. the office or home) and the maintenance costs are lower as well. We have had chargers installed at our engineers houses where required and operate a reimbursement system to pay for any electricity they need to use from their home charger. Another factor that comes into the financial aspects is the planning of site visits. Prior to the additions of the MGs to our fleet, we always used to try and group site visits together into areas where at all possible to minimise the mileage and time taken travelling. This is no different with an electric vehicle, this just helps to increase the cost savings of operating your EVs. Currently, they are also a lower BIK in comparison to petrol or diesel vehicles. And, these vehicles have access to low emissions zones, so no need to worry about additional charges.

While this may seem to some a small benefit, we do like to highlight that driving an EV is actually more pleasant due to the reduced noise with there being no engine. This creates a far less stressful or stimulating environment when driving in the vehicle and therefore benefits our workforces mental wellbeing when they need to be out driving.

We have had our MGs for a few months now and our engineers are enjoying using them for site visits. We haven’t seen any detrimental impacts to the business and are enjoying and reaping the benefits even more due to the complimentary nature of these vehicles to our solar panels and battery. We would highly recommend anyone who is thinking of taking a step in this direction to go for it, you won’t regret it and possibly only wonder why you didn’t start sooner. As a fellow Chamber member we would be more than happy to chat to anyone with queries on the practicalities of any of the solar panels, battery or EVs fitting in with their business as there are advantages to be gained for Moray businesses and our planet.