Powervamp wins LCY contract with UK manufacturing first
Above: The Powervamp mangement.
Powervamp, employing 40 people, is a designer and manufacturer of specialised equipment for powering all types of aircraft and vehicles.
The units supplied to London City to power aircraft at the airport represent a UK manufacturing first. No other company bidding could meet LCY’s requirements to design the compact ground power units, which are mounted on battery powered movable carts.
London City Airport made the decision to switch to mobile electric power as part of its plan to reduce Co2 emissions.
With aircraft parking and manoeuvering space extremely tight, the fixed installation of ground power units was not possible. The battery powered Powervamp GPU carts can be moved in to place quickly by one person as soon as the aircraft has parked.
It is estimated that Powervamp’s 'green' electric GPUs will eliminate 2,000 tonnes of Co2 annually and produce fuel savings exceeding of £200,000 per annum.
Powervamp beat off stiff competition from large engineering firms to win the contract and Director Ken Walker says that the deal represents a major achievement for manufacturing in the UK.
Joint MD Ken Walker comments: “We score over the major multinational companies that have tended to dominate the ground power industry because we can respond quickly to a customer’s unique requirements using our team of exceptionally talented graduate engineers.
“It is our ability to make decision quickly and work closely with the client, backed by our engineering and service support capacity that gave the customer the confidence in the Powervamp product and company.”
Powervamp already supply its products to more than 60 countries and with new products being continuously developed and launched see a growing world market for its products and services.
On whether the units represent the future of powering aircraft, Co-director and company founder Richard Roller comments: “Airports and Airlines are under ever greater commercial and environmental pressures. Both are embracing electric power not diesel as the way forward.
“Clean and green products are the future and Powervamp are recognised as the specialist in this field. Our products cut pollution but simultaneously cut operating costs too.”
