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With sustainability and cost management in mind, Bowker installed solar panels at a Lancashire dealership. Bowker BMW managing director Chris Eccles spoke Motor Trader through the project.
The Bowker BMW and MINI factories in Blackburn and Preston took steps to increase dealership continuity in Lancashire by installing 1,600 new solar panels. This move will allow the auto center to generate a quarter of its electricity needs from solar energy. It will also help reduce its carbon footprint by saving 130 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Motor Trader spoke with managing director at Bowker BMW Chris Eccles about the group’s sustainability push, the transition to a larger stock of EVs and the challenges in the year ahead.
About the solar panel installation, Eccles said: “Solar projects are all over the Bowker group. But it started over 10 years ago when I installed solar panels on my house. That is a case of multiple investments and returns. So, my breakeven point was about four and a half years at that point. That’s with the old feed in the rate scenario.
“So I started thinking about how this could work in business. We’re here during the day with every light on, air conditioning on, and climbs up and down. So, I investigated rooftop solar panels in Blackburn, and it’s a very similar scenario where there’s a payback in about five years but with a pretty astounding 25-year savings while consuming energy and getting paid off the grid as bait. -in rates. That alone over 25 years would save about half a million pounds, and I believe with the current increase in energy costs it will far outweigh those savings.
Not only is it a push towards sustainable energy use, for Bowker going solar is part of the long-term cost savings. Eccles added: “We looked at how best to manage our energy costs, including things like buying our energy forward, which we have now done. So, the energy prices we pay today are locked into September next year. As a business, we haven’t actually felt the sharp edge of rising energy prices. This purchase of energy allows us to sell the excess, but obviously now with energy costs as they are we don’t sell anything, we store it for our own consumption. Nonetheless, we realized we had to do something because as soon as we get out of those tariffs, we’re going to have a significant increase in costs. So that led us to look at other avenues of how we manage our energy consumption and that’s basically the solar projects that we have today.
“With the panels we will generate at least 25% of our own energy. The projections we’ve been working on are very conservative in terms of what energy costs are now, so that’s going to be much more useful. This is a major investment in our sustainability.”
Eccles felt that Bowker could switch to this plan quickly because his size allowed for quick decisions. He is also aware of the environmental impact the more powerful cars, such as the BMW M series, that the group sells, have on the environment. He said: “Because we are a smaller group, not a huge PLC, with a small team of directors, we are able to sit down each month with this on our agenda, and a pound saved is as good as a pound spent, not to mention the impact to the environment. We have to be careful about that especially with powerful cars like the Porsche and BMW M series that we work with in the group. Thinking ahead is a great way to put it but is it thinking ahead or is it just a business that can make decisions and care. With the solar project, we have acted quickly because we believe it is important to run our business going forward. It is very important to set the right tone.
“Last year we celebrated 50 years of the M series at BMW. But that changed and there was an outline being drawn; the next variant will be a hybrid. We can now have the environmental side of the car along with the performance.”
As for BMW and MINI’s growing EV portfolio, Eccles feels that while the group is doing its part by investing in infrastructure at dealerships, the shift is still holding up at the national level. He added: “Our biggest challenge with EVs is the infrastructure across the national road network. We have done our part by investing heavily across the group in charging facilities. But, on the other hand, we don’t really understand the true cost of that to our business. We know our gas and diesel costs will go down, but that will be replaced by an increase in electricity. So once again making solar panels is an interesting thing for us to do.
“As fuel prices went up, we saw much higher demand for EVs, and we talked to people who had never considered them before. That gave a significant growth in the market. This is mostly with retail customers. There is always interest from businesses.
“However, towards the end of last year we saw a decline across all brands in terms of residual value, partly as a combination of the bad press with charging infrastructure, and then fuel prices started to fall as well. I think this will lead to a decline in value within the used car market, and all manufacturers had a push at the end of last year to get as many new EV cars on the road as possible to support their annual goal in terms of their CO2. footprint. So, it’s a perfect bit of a storm. Nevertheless, there is still strong demand in showrooms at the moment, which is largely led by business purchases. There is still a degree of intrigue in the private sector, but people are nervous about reach anxiety. I think EVs are here to stay, but whether that’s the final long-term solution I think is up for debate.”
High and low
Looking back on 2022, Eccles highlights some of the struggles for the group, but also how the group has been able to overcome it for a very positive year. He said: “Getting out of the lows was probably the highlight. We started the year with a great bank of forward orders across all of our brands, which has potentially given us a false sense of security. It was a stronger and more buoyant market and energy prices hadn’t really hit people yet, and the Ukraine conflict hadn’t fully hit at that point.
“That changed around March. Consumer confidence fell and Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, disrupting component manufacturing in the country. At that point we had our largest forward orders bank, and it was reversed; we almost had to resell cars that people had bought from us to a different model or maybe a different gearbox. That said, consumers understand the situation very well.
“But in the end, we had a very successful year. Residual values on used cars remain high, so the financial impact is reduced if the car is delayed because the customer’s car has a value and in some cases increases in value. I think as a business and an industry, we’ve learned a lot in the last three years and it almost gives us the confidence to be successful again.”
Finally, Eccles looks ahead to 2023, highlighting the used car supply as a key challenge. He concluded: “Supply is still a challenge, and we are in a transition with the range moving to more EVs. With interest rates rising and everyone’s general and household costs increasing, there are still many challenges. I dare say it feels a bit more challenging now than it did last year. But we are not afraid of the challenge. I think we’re used to working with the volume and output of cars that we have now.
“Our biggest hurdle is the availability of used cars to feed our used car department, which is probably 60% out of stock. I think the internet is a kind of machine, and we can sell cars nationwide with the right stock at the right price. But it’s become less available to us because we can only get as big as our new car business in terms of parts exchange coming in. There is more and more competition from various buying platforms, so we have to work even harder to maintain the quality of our used car stock, which is tough.”
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