| Company Name, City | Konica Minolta, Langenhagen / Germany |
| Company Size | 40.000+ employees |
| Industry | IT infrastructure |
| Website | https://www.konicaminolta.co.uk |
| Charging Solution | ChargePoint AC charging solutions - ChargePoint as a Service® |
Konica Minolta has been a proponent of electromobility since 2012. They decided to upgrade the outdated charging infrastructure and to replace and expand it with a scalable, unified solution last year.
The company facilitates the digitalisation of business processes with its smart office products, such as printing and cloud systems and IT services, and is the market leader in production printing. ChargePoint charging stations for electric vehicles have been installed at the headquarters of Konica Minolta’s German branch and Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH in Langenhagen. Employees, local residents and service providers are able to use these and further stations are to follow at other locations.
Patrick Lamwersiek has the role of Manager General Services at Konica Minolta. He is responsible for the car fleet and facilities management. He is also a member of the Konica Minolta Business Solutions Deutschland GmbH environmental management team. The team is constantly looking for opportunities to improve sustainability, environmental protection and climate protection. “Mobility is currently under the political spotlight, as you would expect, and we have been asking ourselves what we can do in this regard”, Mr. Lamwersiek reveals.
From the very beginning, the discussions around electromobility at Konica Minolta have been split into two parts: Firstly, the local use of the pool of company-owned vehicles for daily operations and secondly, employees and their electric vehicles. In recent years, more and more employees have opted for electric when choosing their personal vehicles, which has led to calls for a charging solution at the workplace. In addition, Konica Minolta has been offering electric company cars as an option since 2020 and these already account for 10% of orders today.
Replacing an outdated technical solution
The Langenhagen site is owned by Konica Minolta, which made installing the new charging infrastructure a little easier. The ChargePoint as a Service® subscription model enabled the company to provide an intelligent charging solution at low risk, with lower capital expenditure and predictable operating and maintenance costs.
“True to the motto: ‘On the whole, you find wealth much more in use than in ownership.’ (Aristotle), using a state-of-the-art charging infrastructure is our focus. We expect to see technical progress in this area and the leasing model will allow us to upgrade to the latest version of the ChargePoint charging station if and when necessary. Our lean organisation for the car fleet and building technology means that it makes more sense for us to leave operating and servicing the systems and equipment to the relevant professionals for a fixed monthly fee.” — Patrick Lamwersiek, Manager General Services, Konica Minolta
The fact that there are numerous providers of charging infrastructure made it initially difficult to find the right partner, as it is not just about the station itself, but also about the software, installation, reporting and servicing options. “We wanted someone who could offer us a complete package. It was a very slow process. Specific questions about the charging solution often went unanswered and communication would end. At ChargePoint, however, we instantly felt like we were in good hands”, remembers Mr. Lamwersiek.
Why an intelligent charging solution is the right choice
For Konica Minolta, it was important to understand how an intelligent charging infrastructure works and why you need a solution that may cost a little more but also offers more. In the end, it was the functions of an intelligent charging solution that were decisive for Konica Minolta: This solution was going to provide charging facilities not only to employees, but also to other user groups such as residents, service providers and the public.
Konica Minolta had a number of crucial requirements for the new charging solution, including a billing function, the creation of different user groups and a web portal where everything can be configured and viewed. The future has also been taken into consideration: The ChargePoint waiting list function offers a smart way to increase the utilisation of the stations. It allows drivers to easily “join the queue” at local stations via the charging provider’s app, which then sends users a notification as soon as a charging space becomes free.
We prefer to leave things to the professionals
In his role, Patrick Lamwersiek is also responsible for facilities management, which requires enormous expertise in a variety of complex topics. “We didn’t want to become experts in charging infrastructure. What we wanted was to use an all-round, worry-free package provided by a specialist”. To ensure that everything went smoothly and continues in the same way, the ChargePoint support team not only provides support to Konica Minolta for the configuration, administration and remote maintenance of the charging solution, but also to its drivers for using the stations.
“The overall process with ChargePoint was a very positive experience — it was all very professional and well organised. Both support and my direct contact partner in sales have been and always are incredibly responsive. You feel like you’re in good hands here.” – Patrick Lamwersiek, Manager General Services, Konica Minolta
This top-quality support included collaborating with a certified ChargePoint installation partner. “We can see that the quality of the products and solutions is also reflected in ChargePoint’s partners”. There has already been a good response from the employees, more and more of whom are looking to purchase personal electric vehicles. After all, they can now charge the vehicles at work for an attractive price.
Konica Minolta intends to further expand electric mobility in the future. The initial focus is on the vehicles used by management and sales staff. It is essential that these vehicles can be charged at home. Things can quickly seem to get complicated when you start to address this, because how do you handle the installation of home charging stations and the reimbursement of charging costs? Mr. Lamwersiek has a clear plan to solve these complex challenges and to cater for all use cases: Everything has to come from a single source. “Using a single provider means that both we and our employees can use the charging solutions simply and in a uniform manner. That’s why we have chosen ChargePoint as a partner. With ChargePoint, we can equip our locations both nationwide and internationally.”
We are delighted to be able to help Konica Minolta access electromobility, both now and in the future. If you are interested in future-proofing your company with the right charging solution, our experts are on hand to help you.
