Plumber adds electric van to fleet

BOULDER – Look closer the next time you see one of Precision Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electric’s distinctive trucks. You know, the ones with all the smiling technicians on the side.

If you’re driving around Boulder and a growing part of the greater Denver area, the odds are pretty good you will see one of the company’s trucks on any given day.

Within a few days, that truck might be one of the first all-electric powered service trucks added to the fleet of a plumbing or HVAC company.

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Precision, which is based in Boulder, has purchased the vehicle from Boulder Electric Vehicle Inc. based in Lafayette.

Precision owner and president Tom Robichaud believes the vehicle will save up to $5,000 per year compared to the cost of the diesel vehicles his company now uses. The savings will come from reduced gas consumption and maintenance costs.

The vehicle costs $70,000, and while that’s more expensive than the $50,000 diesel trucks Precision currently uses, Robichaud expects the electric vehicle will pay back the investment by ending the need for regular oil changes and engine and transmission service.

The vehicle has a range of 120 miles, more than enough for a day’s work at Precision, Robichaud said. The company will recharge it at its headquarters with energy generated by solar panels installed by Louisville-based Bella Energy Inc.

If the truck performs as expected, Robichaud could add up to 20 electric vehicles to his fleet over the next few years at a cost of about $1.4 million.

Along with the potential economic advantages, Robichaud sees the acquisition as an extension of Precision’s commitment to the environment.

“I believe the country is moving in a direction to be less oil dependent. There need to be people out there to set the example and lead the way,” Robichaud said.

Robichaud’s peers at other heating and cooling and plumbing companies have expressed a mix of curiosity and skepticism about whether an electric vehicle is up for the job.

Initially, Robichaud was skeptical, too. Precision’s trucks have to handle a lot of weight and haul a lot of equipment, and an underpowered vehicle would not be able to cut it. But ultimately Boulder Electric Vehicle chief executive Carter Brown, a Precision client, convinced Robichaud to take a test drive, and Robichaud immediately saw the potential.

“It just seemed to be too good to be true,” he said.

Precision will take the wraps off the vehicle at an event for friends of the company in late January. Then the truck will head into service with the rest of its fleet.

“It’s hard to believe it’s really here. I’m not a very patient person,” Robichaud said.

The vehicle arrives at a happy time for Precision. Feb. 1 will be the company’s 30th anniversary. Back then it was just Robichaud and his truck, but now the company has more than 40 employees, a fleet of about 30 trucks and $8 million in yearly revenue. It expects to make 20,000 service calls in 2012 and has grown into one of the largest plumbing, HVAC and electric companies in the area, all while working solely in the residential market.

As of a couple of weeks before the event, Robichaud still was trying to figure out which employee would be the lucky one entrusted with the truck. He didn’t know who it would be, but he had set up some criteria.

“Someone with a really good driving record and a big smile,” he said/