If March was the month that life in the UK changed beyond all recognition, April was the month where that change became the new normal.  A month where the days seemed to sometimes last a lifetime, but the weeks flew by. 

Tech continues to be a pervasive part of all our lives right now, but in the past few weeks conversation appears to have started to shift towards wondering how much of our previous “normal” we will actually return to.  Amongst all the anxiety and sadness of our current predicament, there are some exciting conversations starting to happen about the long-term positive impact that this international pressing of the reset button, might engender.

Team DGC has been busy progressing client and project work where we still can but this month we thought we would share a little more of the behind-the-scenes, human side of what the team has been getting up to:  

Meanwhile, our first meeting with the council on Birchmere went well and we have kicked off work with a group of Engineering students from Imperial College London.  We now have 5 students working full-time for the next 2 months on how to optimise both the allocation of electric vehicles to drivers at the depot and their charging scenarios (based on factors such as start charge, availability of charging space at the depot, presence of chargepoints en route during the day and of course, the expected length of journey).  We will be sharing further updates of their progress as we head into summer, but this work is incredibly important in demonstrating how some of the typical practical barriers to electrifying fleets, can be overcome.

·       DG Cities now has its very own gardening club! Our MD Trevor, already a keen gardener, has been giving the whole team top tips and posting vegetable & herb seeds to us all like a green-fingered Father Christmas!

·       Baking has taken the nation by storm and Team DGC is no exception.  Our Head of Strategy & Operations, Heather, may be on maternity leave, but that hasn’t stopped her dropping into a video call and showing us her latest sourdough efforts!  While Juliet, one of our Project Managers, has been wowing us with her vegan cake creations and has discovered the wonder that is aquafaba (chickpea water, for the uninitiated).

·       The prize for having attended the largest virtual meeting of the month goes to Balazs.  Our Head of Project Delivery was part of a 21-person video call, presenting the latest research findings to the SMLL Shared Research Programme members. 

·       DGC has a number of keen cyclists, all of whom were delighted by the results of some research conducted by Helen, one of our Project Managers.  As part of the eRCVII project, Helen has been researching the quantifiable benefits of different transport methods, and was able to show cycling has a positive impact on both the individual and society.

·       In between the baking, cycling, gardening and of course our day jobs, we have been having some exciting conversations about potentially collaborating on an international research project.

·       And we have kicked off a project with a group of Engineering students from Imperial College London in relation to the Birchmere work we are conducting for Greenwich council. We are overseeing the end-of-year project of a 5 student team, working full-time for the next 2 months on how to optimise both the allocation of electric vehicles to drivers at the depot and their charging scenarios (based on factors such as start charge, availability of charging space at the depot, presence of chargepoints en-route during the day and of course, the expected length of journey). We are sure they’ll do a great job, learn a lot in the process and help us work towards practical solutions in overcoming fleet electrification challenges.

Top things we learned this month

·       Harrogate council is the first council to use automated chargers to fully recharge public buses within 7 minute layovers en route. 

This is only a handful of the things we’ve been working on in April – stay tuned for blog posts next month to find out more!