• -> Munich security service provider has 15 e-cars and ten charging points
• -> Branch manager Michael Sigmund: “Good experience with e-cars”.

Green light for e-mobility: the Munich branch of the family-run security service provider KÖTTER Security now counts 15 electric-powered small cars among its vehicle fleet. Of these, nine e-cars were put into service in 2022 alone, with another two new purchases to follow this year. E-mobility and sustainable electricity play an important role in the family-owned company’s sustainability strategy.

KÖTTER Security has been providing security for its customers in Munich and the surrounding area for over 50 years. The necessary prerequisite for mobile services such as patrols and intervention: the security forces have to get from A to B quickly. “In order to make this mobility both reliable and sustainable, we rely on the operation of electric cars,” says branch manager Michael Sigmund. “We tested extensively in advance which differences between electric and combustion engines have to be taken into account, e.g. in route planning. And after our employees had very good experiences with the e-vehicles, we modernised our fleet.” Now 15 e-cars (mostly of the Renault Zoe model) are part of the Munich fleet, which consists of 38 vehicles in total.

The advantages for the environment are obvious: especially in combination with regeneratively generated electricity, there is not only a significant reduction in CO2, but also with regard to pollution from particulate matter, noise and pollutants such as NOx. However, more is needed for the success of e-mobility than powerful and safe vehicles: the infrastructure must also be right, first and foremost a broadly developed network of charging stations. The Munich site, for example, has installed ten charging points on its premises. In the future, the electricity for this will also be obtained from the company’s own photovoltaic systems.

On the way to CO2 neutrality in the vehicle fleet

The Munich location is thus one of the pioneers of the total of 50 locations of the family-owned company with headquarters in Essen, which, among other things, is promoting e-mobility as an essential factor in its sustainability strategy. In 2022, the KÖTTER group of companies made a leap from 50 to now 114 vehicles with electric drives (primarily electric cars plus flanking hybrid vehicle use, taking into account a practical 30% electric drive share). Due to the successive commissioning of the new vehicles nationwide, the full effect on the CO2 balance will become visible in the current year: With an expected mileage of almost 2.5 million km, a saving of almost 400 tonnes of CO2 can be expected.

In the coming years, the expansion will continue until the vehicle fleet is completely converted from internal combustion to electric drive. As things stand, the family-owned company is aiming to completely phase out the purchase of vehicles with combustion engines by 2032 – three years before the general ban on the registration of “combustion engines” in the EU recently passed by the EU Parliament. The charging infrastructure with electricity from renewable sources will grow in line with demand. Michael Sigmund: “E-mobility is an important building block for contributing to sustainability and climate protection as well as reducing the ecological footprint of our corporate activities. After all, these are the global challenges of our time. As a family business, we see ourselves as having a particular responsibility for future generations.”

Further information on the topic of e-mobility and other environmental protection measures of the KÖTTER Group can be found in the new KÖTTER CSR Report: www.koetter.de/csr-report-2023