GP Günter Papenburg AG – Efficient fleet management and employee charging with Virta

GP Günter Papenburg AG is a family-owned company founded in 1963, currently with 4,000 employees at 120 locations in northern and central Germany. With a fleet of 1,600 trucks and cars, the company is increasingly focusing on electromobility in order to reduce emissions and promote sustainable mobility.

Sustainability and e-mobility as growth drivers

GP Günter Papenburg AG is a versatile full-service provider in the construction and raw materials industry. The company covers the entire value chain: from raw material extraction to processing, construction and recycling - all with its own machines, vehicles and teams. This structure enables efficient and economical work.

CEO Angela Papenberg, emphasises:

"Sustainability plays a central role in the construction industry - it's all about sustainable construction, energy efficiency, renewable energies and the circular economy. Material flow management in particular is crucial for us: from the extraction of raw materials to recycling, the topic of the circular economy has always been with us."

Image 1: Angela Papenburg, CEO of GP Günter Papenburg AG at the Halle (Saale) site

The company is also focusing on energy efficiency in its vehicle fleet and is planning to gradually electrify it.

"Electromobility is becoming increasingly important for our fleet management. This year, we want to get 50 new electric trucks and continue to gradually electrify our passenger car fleet," says Angela.

Holistic EV charging solutions for complex fleet structures

The first electric vehicles were added to Papenburg's fleet in 2021. It quickly became clear that a reliable, centralised system for charging infrastructure and fleet management was needed.

The solution should make it possible to efficiently manage charge points, vehicles and driver accounts across all locations - and also offer guests uncomplicated charging opportunities.

Virta as a strong partner for fleet and EV charging management

Image 2: Felix Windrich, Energy Manager at GP Günter Papenburg AG

"We deliberately chose Virta because the company has been active in e-mobility for many years and has an international presence. For us, Virta is a strong, global partner that has the necessary manpower to support us in all matters," explains Felix Windrich, in charge of Energy Management.

Together with Virta, 37 charge points were installed at six locations. The entire charging infrastructure is managed centrally via Virta Hub.

Frank Boschet, Fleet Manager, explains:

"In Virta Hub, we can see all our charging locations and the charge points at the individual locations. Here we can stop, start and check charging processes or carry out firmware updates at any time. Everything can be controlled centrally via the backend," says Frank.

Image 3: Frank Boschet, Fleet Manager at GP Günter Papenburg AG

The Virta platform eliminates the complexity and manual processes that would result from operating at multiple locations. Frank adds:

"Our entire charging infrastructure is set up so that every employee, regardless of their location, can charge anywhere. The same conditions and the same approval system apply at all locations."

Image 4: The charging status is tracked in the Virta app

Successful partnership and continuous development

The collaboration with Virta is characterised by continuous discussions and jointly finding the right solutions.

"We have a fixed contact person and our challenges are actively addressed. We work together to find solutions to fully implement the charging infrastructure in our complex company organisation. Overall, we are very satisfied with our collaboration with Virta," explains Felix.

Home charging, employee charging and renewable energies as a model for the future

GP Günter Papenburg AB's Employees can charge their company cars at home; billing and reimbursement of electricity costs is automated via the Virta Hub.

"With Virta Hub, we don't have to worry about billing. This runs fully automatically and is assigned to the individual vehicle users and the respective locations," says Frank Boschet.

Image 5: Frank Boschet working with Virta Hub.

Frank sees an exciting development in electromobility:

"We are getting more and more positive feedback from employees. Initially, there were some reservations, but now we're getting more inquiries to switch company cars to electric. Employees are also asking whether they can charge their private vehicles."

Employee charging is thus becoming an important factor in employer attractiveness and employee loyalty. Felix emphasizes:

"The opportunity to charge at work helps to retain employees and rethink the future of mobility. We are also preparing to remain future-proof and interesting in this area."

Image 6: Charging stations at the Hanover site.

Parallel to the electrification of the fleet, GP Günter Papenburg AG is investing in renewable energies, for example through PV and wind power plants with an output of 200 megawatts.

"If we can supply our operating sites with renewable energy, that also includes electromobility. Our aim is to make our operations and production as well as mobility and logistics effective and sustainable," says Angela.

Looking to the future, Angela adds:

"As a company, we will continue to implement our e-mobility strategy and we see it as our responsibility to act as a role model and motivate others to join us on this path. I think we have already taken good steps here."

Image 7: New parking lot at the Hanover site with 13 charge points and pre-wired parking spaces.

Thomas Jürgeleit, Customer Success Manager at Virta, comments on the four-year collaboration between Virta and GP Günter Papenburg AG:

"Together, we are creating the necessary infrastructure to support more electric vehicles. Our flexible solutions are tailored to the future requirements of the industry. As a direct contact, I support GP Günter Papenburg AG in translating complex requirements into practical solutions. That's how we're driving forward the sustainable transformation of the industry."

Alexander Fuhrmann, Strategic Partner Sales Executive DACH, adds:

"GP Günter Papenburg AG impressively demonstrates how electromobility can be successfully integrated into everyday operations. They are a pioneer and show that the expansion of a sustainable charging infrastructure is not only feasible, but also makes economic and ecological sense. And we at Virta are delighted to support GP Günter Papenburg AG on this path to success."