West Midlands manufacturer lands contract that could help boost the take up of electric cars

A West Midlands manufacturer has won the contract to develop revolutionary charging points for electric vehicles – which could turbo boost the take up of greener cars.

Coventry-based Sarginsons Industries, which traditionally supplies aluminium castings to a range of sectors including automotive and energy, is diversifying its business after becoming the sole supplier to Char.gy.

Char.gy has, over the past couple of years, developed technology which sees charging points either mounted onto lampposts or separate Charging Bollard units created that can draw from the electricity supply to lampposts.

The technology means that vehicle owners in urban areas where only on-street parking is available can access charging points for their all-electric or hybrid vehicles.

Char.gy is already working with a number of local authorities across the UK to fit the technology in urban streets, with Coventry being one of the first to see units installed around the city.

Sarginsons, which is based in Torrington Avenue, will now supply the full unit to Char.gy including the aluminium castings as well as internal assembly, including the electronics.

The firm’s new Technology Centre Manager, Gavin Shipley, will oversee the project with Char.gy as he has worked with the company on the design and development of the project in a previous role. Further new jobs will be created to work on the manufacture and assembly of the products.

Die-cast tooling, machining fixtures and test equipment have also been designed and manufactured as part of the process.

Anthony Evans, the managing director of Sarginsons Industries, said the work with Char.gy was part of the firm’s future plans to develop its offer in Design for Manufacture excellence.

That process sees clients work with Sarginsons through the design phases of a new product or component to benefit from the company’s experience, expertise and advanced use of technology.

Anthony said: “We are very pleased to be working with Char.gy and this is very much a new area of business for us, which we are extremely excited about.

“It is our ambition to grow and find new markets and this is a great example of that – it’s definitely something we will look to build on.

“We have invested significant time and money into our new Technology Centre and are working in collaboration with universities and research centres to ensure it is at the cutting edge of research and development.

 “The core of our business is very much around lightweighting and we have put sustainability and green technologies at the heart of everything we do. So it’s great to be working with another business who have this at their core.”

Richard Stobart developed the Char.gy products after identifying a gap in the market.

He said: “I wanted to drive an electric car but I was living in an urban street, with no garage or off-street parking so I needed to be able to charge it on the street outside my home.

“I looked at the lamppost and thought there must be away of tapping into its supply and, being from a tech background, I decided to devise one.

“It’s taken several years to bring it to this point where we now have units already installed around the country. It’s great to now be working with Sarginsons on this project and we look forward to seeing the orders grow as more and more authorities see the benefit of this technology.”

Pictured: Anthony Evans (Sarginsons), Myles Roberts (Char.gy), Gavin Shipley (Sarginsons), Richard Stobart (Char.gy)