Orbit, one of the UK’s leading housing providers, has invested in a large fleet of battery powered Pellenc equipment, from dealer RT Machinery, to meet its low noise and carbon emissions requirements.

Orbit is one of the largest housing groups in the country with a growing property portfolio of over 45,000 homes spanning the Midlands, east and south. The company says green objectives are at the forefront of its agenda; from construction to day to day operational management of its properties, efficient use of resources is a key consideration.

Through its Orbit Earth initiative, the company say they aim to take responsibility for its impact on the environment, take action to reduce this impact and embed more sustainable practices throughout the business.

Rhys Warwick, an estates team manager for Orbit, was asked to investigate the procurement of new machinery to complement its Orbit Earth initiative. He started researching battery powered groundscare equipment which would be able to withstand the heavy demands of commercial use.

“I was looking specifically at commercially viable equipment rather than domestic tools and found that actually the market was very limited,” he said. “We looked at a lot of manufacturers and the equipment was extremely limited in terms of the running times and the warranty we’d like from commercial equipment.

“Fortunately, we came across Pellenc at SALTEX 2019 and were really impressed at the design, the running times and pretty much everything about that equipment. It was probably one of the only brands we had seen that was really and truly commercially viable with the running times you would need to have a good full day’s work in grounds maintenance.”

After seeing the equipment at SALTEX, a demonstration day was organised, and Orbit ordered a fleet consisting of Rasion Easy mowers, City Cut brushcutters, Excelion strimmers, Selion chainsaws, Arion blowers and the powerful ULiB 1500 batteries. Over a three-year period, the equipment will continue to be incorporated into Orbit’s operations - as Rhys explains.

“I would say that in three years’ time, 95% of our groundscare equipment will be electric, and all of that will be exclusively Pellenc.

“Our operatives have been extremely impressed with the running time of the 1500 battery. They have commented on being able to get round several sites, sometimes not needing a charge for two days. The batteries also hold their charge between use as well.”

“Ultimately, Pellenc equipment has the commercial bite needed to meet our environmental aspirations.”

The complete range of Pellenc equipment purchase by Orbit was supplied by official dealer RT Machinery and area sales manager Scott Reynolds.