Supporting Businesses In Their Energy Transition
WORDS BY AMPOL
Making the transition to lower carbon energy solutions is an issue most businesses are facing right now . With increasing day-to-day costs , resourcing challenges and competing priorities , companies are faced with some big decisions .
“ Businesses are in a unique position where we ’ re on the cusp of a substantial global transformation ,” says Rebecca Wilson , Ampol ’ s Head of Business Energy Solutions . “ It ’ s exciting , but it can also feel daunting . There ’ s no doubt businesses have a lot on their plates , so we are trying to make things a little bit easier for them by supporting their transitional efforts wherever they are t on their journey .”
Helping businesses to transition their fleets is one thing , but ensuring the right infrastructure is in place to charge or fuel the vehicles is equally important .
“ Most organisations are looking at how to decarbonise their light fleets first . We are largely seeing these fleets move to battery technology , while the technology and infrastructure becomes more readily available and certain to enable the more complex heavy and offroad fleet transition . Although changing a petroleum vehicle to an EV sounds relatively easy , swapping vehicle technology does come with a number of challenges such as grid constraints , type of vehicles required , fleet routes and utilisation and therefore charging requirements , driver preference etc , and requires careful planning , no matter how big or small your fleet is .”
“ In all cases , it ’ s a chicken and egg scenario . You can bring the vehicles in and make them part of the fleet , however if you can ’ t charge them effectively at the right time and place , enabling your people to do their jobs effectively , they ’ ll sit idle , or worse , frustrate your drivers , and that ’ s certainly not good for any business ,” explains Rebecca , who says integrated charging solutions across multi use cases and platforms are essential . “ We believe charging solutions specifically matched and tailored to an organisations ’ operations , across a variety of use cases at home , work and in public locations , is essential to making the transition easier for businesses and their people .
“ For people like courier drivers , sales representatives , or project managers , it is important to have on-the-go charging available , for example at Ampol Service Stations , however for those that travel back to base each day , depot or worksite charging can help enormously .” Rebecca continues “ It ’ s about ensuring businesses have everything they need for charging their fleets , wherever their drivers are , without increasing backend administration processes or driver downtime .”
Infrastructure however is just one part of the complexity . Some of the barriers to EV ownership include range anxiety – the fear of running out of charge – or the need to be sitting for hours on a charging station . But Rebecca believes there needs to be a change in thinking around the way we drive and charge when it comes to EVs .
“ A substantial part of the transition is changing the way we operate and changing driver behaviour . We ’ re so used to driving the tank to empty , then filling it up to full , in a single session and place . But with an EV it ’ s slightly different . If you ’ re a business customer on the go all day , you might not charge to full – you might pop into an on-the-go charger at an Ampol service station grab a coffee , and use that 10 minutes to top up on a fast charger . You don ’ t need to charge it to full , because you can do that at home overnight , or back at the depot , when the vehicle isn ’ t being utilised .
Rebecca sees one of the most critical success factors for businesses as mapping out and planning the transition journey from the start , and understanding the different technologies and fuels and how those can support a business most effectively , over time .
34 ISSUE 46 APRIL 2024 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU