MOVING AT LIGHT SPEED
Thanks to its range of solar, battery and hybrid equipment, Think Hire is in the midst of rapid expansion.
S
olar and battery-powered equipment is nothing new, although it’s rare to
encounter hire companies whose fleet is entirely based on such kit – rarer still, one laying claim to have developed one of the world's first relocatable solar-hybrid generators. This is Think Hire’s USP. The company is certainly not backwards in coming forwards, setting its stall out clearly and succinctly. Much like MD Neil Richardson, with his plainspeaking manner and an unfussy technical expertise.
Neil has enjoyed an extensive career in hire, but how did this particular business come about?
“It all goes back to my time at Garic,” he begins. “We established a rapid growth program, which incorporated the transition to green technologies – particularly encompassing what would have been mechanically-driven products. I had been
Think Hire MD, Neil Richardson, with the 'Solartainer' solar hybrid generator.
pushing quite hard with the group, the aim being to become the go-to person for introducing battery tech in all our assets. This required a major investment from the organisation and a leap of faith.
“When Garic Director Matthew Gresty left the company, we went away with the concept for a product that could give us a head of steam in what we believed would be a fast-growing market. This became the ‘Solartainer’ solar-hybrid generator mark one.
“Think Hire was established in May 2018 and I joined in December 2019. We initially put the Solartainer into a test environment and allowed it to fail, which it did many times, costing us a lot of money – it’s one thing putting solar panels on your roof, but quite another when you have a dynamic load and changing job requirements.”
Why do you think the Solartainer failed at first, and how has it developed since?
“Basically, Mark one was like a domestic product and it behaved quite like one. It looked quite similar, though – same size and same basic shape. Solar technology has developed a lot since then, improving and becoming more commercially viable. Since 2018 the cost of solar tech has almost halved while efficiency has pretty much doubled – we’re using 500 Watt panels at the moment.
“It was an intensive 18-20 months of R&D,
but the education and understanding that we received from allowing ourselves to fail has been invaluable.”
Contemporary solar technology doesn’t need sunshine in order to work, just as long as there is daylight. Does this affect how and where the Solartainer is used?
Think Hire is rightly proud of its branding.
New larger premises will enable increased production.
EV charging is easily configured.
38 Executive Hire News - October 2022
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