Learnings from an EV pilot
WORDS BY PAUL SOR NATIONAL ASSET MANAGER AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY
There are many reasons for incorporating Electric Vehicles ( EV ) into a fleet . Red Cross wants to actively reduce our carbon and other harmful emissions , as we recognise that climate change is making natural disasters more frequent and larger . Red Cross doesn ’ t want to contribute to making more people vulnerable through floods and fires , we are here to help vulnerable people not create them .
But you or your organisation may want to embrace EVs for
• assisting meeting carbon reduction targets ;
• Financial reasons as fuel is only going up in price and is a finite resource ;
• contractual requirements imposed by your supply chain ;
• influencing others to take up EVs ;
• Just to create a better brand impression .
Whatever the reason , there are some lessons to be learnt , and this article hopes to share some of the lessons so you can leap in with confidence .
Ev ’ s are so much better for the environment when charged from renewable energy .
Whilst tail pipe emissions from driving an EV are close to nil , there are still considerable environmental considerations that come from both production and the type of energy used . Leaving aside vehicle type 1 , 2 and 3 emissions from production , it is best to try charge from surplus renewable energy e . g ., excess solar energy not needed to power your building and is captured in a battery . Otherwise , carbon emissions are still high .
The table below shows the impact of energy source and the potential for a hybrid car to be more environmentally friendly from a Green House Gas ( GHG ) perspective in comparison to an EV if renewable energy is not used to charge the EV . In Red Cross premises , even
4 ISSUE 34 MAY 2022 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU