Carbana Car Wash was today due to open its fifth car wash centre, and its first with solar panels. It predicts the technology will halve the Leicester site’s energy bill.
The dedicated car wash operator has invested £990,000 on what was a derelict former car dealership, installing six self-service jet wash bays – five under canopy and one open for higher vehicles – four vacuum and drying bays, and a tyre inflator.
Later this year, the business might announce a water-saving initiative too, with just one of its sites currently having access to a water borehole.
All the valeting equipment at Leicester is from Adriateh, which also supplies the company’s signature slanted enclosures, which Carbana has exclusive rights to use in the UK.
There is also a vending machine on lease from iSpy Group selling drying cloths, air fresheners, tyre shine, and its biggest seller across its network, Red Bull energy drinks.
The new site on St Margaret’s Way, opposite Abbey Park, took three months to secure planning consent for and 10 weeks to build. It joins sister sites, with between four and six jet wash bays, at Doncaster, Royal Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, Aylesbury, and Exeter.
The Leicester site will be open from 7am to 11.30pm, and is trialling a new premium wax from Adriateh, said to enhance a vehicle’s colour and keep its shine for longer. It is charging £1 a minute for the treatment. Other programmes are set at £5, £7 and £9 – with two minutes per pound.
Co-founder Wayne Munnelly says that together with his business partner Simon Moxon and outside financial backing, he hopes to launch a subscription model next year, and have 25 car wash sites by the start of the 2030s: with solar panels, and car driers.
Car driers, first introduced at their Exeter site a year ago, have proved “a great addition”, maintains Munnelly, with Carbana sites charging £5 for five minutes of the service.
The solar panels at Leicester, which have 29.34kWp, will save the business around £8,000 a year, believes Munnelly. And he says that Carbana’s sixth site, which will be at Derby with eight jet wash bays, will also have solar panels.
The business also has dog washes at three sites, a Spotless Water purified water machine, popular with window cleaners, at one, and laundry machines at three. But with Leicester having an old drainage system it would be unable to cope with additional water-heavy services.
Carbana follows a similar business model at each site. While its jet wash bays have lighting, they do not feature underfloor heating: an unnecessary extravagance in the UK where winters are too mild to merit this addition, says Munnelly, who was previously managing director of the IMO Car Wash Group.
To maintain and clean the equipment there is a member of staff on duty between 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, and from 8am to 8pm Friday to Sunday. “We take on three staff, a manager and two part-time,” says Munnelly. “Car washes are dirty places and need to be cleaned and vacuums unblocked daily. We want to give a great service and standard.”
It is not planning a big launch for the Leicester site – at other locations it has held a SpongeBob SquarePants-themed event and a free hotdog give-away, but not at their initial unveiling. “I tend to open quietly to bed in and see how it goes,” says Munnelly.
