Executive
Summary
Mace Hartley
Executive Director
Welcome to the October edition of FleetDrive.
In this issue we focus our attention on safety
to coincide with Safe Work Australia’s National
Work Safety Month and changes to the Chain
of Responsibility laws that have come into
effect on October 1.
It’s also an exciting time for electric vehicles
(EVs). Whilst Tesla’s Model S and X have been
available for some time they’re hardly what
you and I would call a fleet vehicle. They have
however excited many by what’s possible and
there’s no question, they’re the electric vehicle
many aspire to if they had the money. First
deliveries of Tesla’s Model 3 will commence in
2019 and there is little doubt this electric vehicle
will be sought after by many including the
novated leasing segment although the delivery
waiting times may dampen the enthusiasm.
The real excitement for fleet managers comes
from the fact there is about to be 5 EVs available
across 3 different segments broadening fit-
for-purpose options. Earlier this year Renault
released the Kangoo Z.E. van and the Zoe Z.E.
compact car whilst Hyundai is about to release
the Ioniq (the first car in the world to offer
separate hybrid, full electric and plug in hybrid
powertrains in a single body type), which will be
followed by the Kona EV early next year along
with Nissan’s generation 2 Leaf EV.
Each of these vehicles come with different
size batteries and therefore achieve different
real-world distances per charge ranging from
200km to over 400km. It is believed each of
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these vehicles will be under or around $50,000.
The Renault’s come with a 5-year battery
warranty and whilst Hyundai hasn’t released
battery warranty information yet, they provide a
lifetime battery warranty in the USA for the Ioniq
EV. There are no indications as to the battery
warranty the 2nd generation Leaf at this stage.
Longer battery warranties have a substantial
effect on a vehicles residual value at the end
of 3, 4, 5 years. Historically EV’s have had very
little resale value and therefore had to be written
down to zero and therefore held for 6 or more
years to reduce the annual cost of ownership.
Longer battery warranties provide protection
to potential buyers of 2nd hand Ev’s and
thereby lift resale/residual values. Further, given
increased demand in 2018/2019 and beyond;
there will be general demand in 3, 4 or 5 years.
Despite longer battery warranties a second-
hand market for EV’s needs to be created.
This means getting people to drive EVs so
they can feel the great torque an EV has over
a traditional internal combustion engine. How
can this be achieved? One option; many city-
based councils have a small number of EVs
that remain in their car park over the weekend.
It’s possible councils could partner with car
share companies such as GoGet to make
these vehicles available to residents to hire over
the weekend. Obviously, there are a number
of issues to resolve including public charging
stations and vehicle insurance however each of
these can be overcome.