Farnborough International
The home of pioneering spirit, Farnborough International is a hub of innovation for the aerospace and automotive industries. Hosting industry leaders at their 20,000 square metre exhibition and conference centre which welcomed over 183,000 visitors in 2022 with 200,000 projected visitors for 2023.
SCOPE
Farnborough International is the venue of choice for electric vehicle and home energy show Fully Charged LIVE (FCL) South and as they prepared again to host this year’s event, they wanted to create a charging network for the use of the 26,279 visitors to the show, and all future events. Our 15 years industry experience and extensive industry knowledge meant that it was no surprise when they reached out to Rolec EV to become the official charging partner for the venue.
Farnborough International’s primary concern was providing a charging network with the capacity to support charging for the large number of visitors they take in annually. The exhibition centre contains 6 private car parks, with the capacity to provide parking for 3,500 vehicles.
Rolec EV liaised with Rob Pidgen, Carlo Zoccali and Ben Gleeson at Farnborough International, who provided us with site plans and highlighted areas that would be best suited to chargepoint installation.
‘During planning and installation stages, the specialist EV team worked closely with the client team to coordinate, plan and manage the installation of the nine new Rolec Quantum EV chargers to bring into service within very tight timescales.’ - Ray Cawte, Farnborough International’s on-site electrician and Rolec-approved installer
Of the 6 car parks on site, Car Park 4 - where the initial install was projected to take place – Farnborough International wanted to install chargepoints without digging cable routes. We would have to navigate a solution to this, ensuring that the units could have adequate access to power.
SOLUTION
In preparation for the installation, Rolec's experienced in-house design team produced designs and 3D renders of the bespoke chargers, incorporating the company's brand guidelines meticulously. These designs were then showcased to the Farnborough team, and production promptly commenced the following day.
To enable the units in Car Park 4 to have access to power without the need to dig cable trenches, considerations were made for the inclusion of an M40 compression gland to the rear of the pedestal. This would allow for the unit to receive an individual electrical supply without the need for subterranean cable routes.
Rolec EV provided all 9 fully branded Quantum pedestals prior to the initial Fully Charged LIVE event. The first 5 pedestals were installed in time for this show, later followed by the remaining 4 pedestals in time for Farnborough International’s ITT Hub event two weeks later, where 4000 visitors were expected to attend. Providing the venue with a total of 18 chargepoints spread out over 2 car parks.
The initial chargepoint rollout at Fully Charged LIVE successfully provided visitors with access to 10 chargepoints. The Rolec EV units, powered by Monta, provide visitors with unrivalled visibility of Farnborough International’s charging network, allowing people to book charging in advance of their visit. Monta also initiated the first public trial of their Smart Queue feature at the event, which allowed EV drivers to join a virtual queue and be notified when a chargepoint became available. By utilising this feature Farnborough International were able to optimise the visitor experience and reduce the amount of time people were waiting in their cars to charge.
Benefit
Rolec EV have provided Farnborough International’s visitors with permanent access to 18 super-fast chargepoints for the purpose of charging their vehicles when visiting any of the venue’s extensive program of events.
Over the course of the event, 84 vehicles received charge and 1.115kWh of electricity was supplied to visitors via Rolec EV chargepoints. Generating a total of £666 of additional revenue. Chargepoint access has been provided over 2 car parks, Car Park 1 and Car Park 4.
Farnborough International have benefitted from Monta’s sophisticated back-office management solution and has been able to provide their visitors with market-leading functionality as well as opening up a wide range of operational features for the business. Including additional revenue generation, seamless reporting and 24/7 support.
“From the proposal to the project management and implementation, our experience working with Rolec has been seamless from start to finish.
Offering fast electric car charging points aligns with Farnborough International’s wider sustainability goals and encourages more of our customers to choose eco-friendly transportation options. Our objective was to ensure that our clients and venue attendees who drive electric vehicles have a first-class experience at the venue and we can encourage clients to utilise clean energy for their transportation needs.
“At Farnborough International, we are proud to work with like-minded partners who are pioneering sustainable new technologies and innovations.” - Carlo Zoccali, Venue Director at Farnborough International
Farnborough International