FLEETDRIVE
Nigel: All in-house. So basically, as far as the
hardware that we’ve used it’s basically a twenty
four volt inverter, and that puts out 240 volts
of power for us to use. Then we’ve just used
an aftermarket charge lead for an EV that we
bought off a company down in Melbourne. And
it’s basically just duplicating a power point on the
wall in a simplified version. We’ve done testing on
multiple vehicles to make sure that it is going to
work before we actually put them out in the field.
Daniel: Has there been any major challenges
that you’ve encountered so far?
Nigel: Well, the challenge for us is that we’ve
never actually put 240 volts of power onto a
tow truck. I suppose that that was the biggest
challenge. We had to engage with a qualified
electrician to come and wire that for us and
to make sure that that it all complies with the
current 240 volt wiring regulations and rules. So
that’s probably the biggest challenge.
Daniel: Is there a plan to implement more
trucks into far north Queensland or are you
looking just at Brisbane at this stage?
John: We’re just in the south east corner at
the moment. So these 3 trucks will be more of
a trial to really gauge, I suppose, the uptake of
members requiring this service. We are looking
at other opportunities for EV, whether it be
fast charges or charging locations at a lot of
our contracted providers throughout regional
locations, because we have found there are EVs,
especially in north Queensland, in Townsville
and Cairns. We are working on implementing a
different solution up there.
Nigel: And this one’s obviously a bit of a trial
for us, as John said, because the technology is
moving so fast in this area at the moment, we
don’t want to invest too heavily by putting in old
technology. The idea is to continually look at the
market and evolve as we go along.
Daniel: Has the project had any build effects
because of COVID-19. Has there been any
issues for you guys out there?
Nigel: As far as the EV side on the trucks, it’s
pretty much smooth sailing. We’ve had all the
typical restrictions on people coming on-site and
things like that, but it’s only added to like very
minor delays.
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