FLEETDRIVE
As we moved further through the implementation of the Strategy we hired a Project Lead as well as a Business Analyst and a Fleet Business Coordinator to provide further assistance to the existing team .
During 2023 we engaged consultants to look at our fleet and provide advice on the potential for the transition of our cars and trucks to EV . They made estimates of when a positive business case will be delivered by changing each individual vehicle in the fleet to EV based on it ’ s annual kms , daily kms , and vehicle type . They expect that 85 % of our cars and utes could be EV by 2030 , which really is such an amazing and significant change .
An evolution of this size is more significant than simply moving to hybrids . It requires changes in the way staff think about Council ’ s cars , partly because we have found that most staff have not even sat in an EV let alone ever driven one . We ’ ve therefore begun running EV Driver Training to try and dispel some of the myths and misconceptions of EVs .
We now have several EVs available for use as shared carpool vehicles across Council . These are cars that stay on-site overnight so have plenty of time to charge via our 7 kilowatt AC chargers . It seems that once people have a drive of an EV they tend to be won over so the aim is to make sure that staff have the opportunity to drive these carpool EVs and are encouraged to do so . Staff seem to be happy to plug them in to an EV charger when they return work .
Range has not been an issue because it ’ s only on very rare occasions that a carpool car will travel more than 250 kms in a day . There has not yet been a need to use a public charger by any staff at all . However , we did have one close call with a driver forgetting to check the estimated range on the battery before borrowing an EV that not been on charge . They only just made it back to a Council depot for recharging .
A fleet car that is simple to use and not too different from what people are used to seems to be preferred by staff .
We are now working with consultants to establish how best to enable the vehicles that are leased by staff to transition to EVs .
We worked with internal stakeholders including Council ’ s WH & S team and relevant facility managers , as well as local electrical contractors to identify the best locations for charging stations . When installed in publicly accessible locations we use access cards to ensure that only staff driving Council owned fleet EVs can use the chargers .
Every year we also work with Council ’ s Environment team to collate fuel consumption data as well as other spending data in order to estimate our Scope 1 emissions ( those that occur directly from the tailpipe ) and Scope 3 emissions ( indirect emissions such as the embodied emissions in our purchases ).
We also maintain both Level 3 Green Stamp ( Motor Trades Association Qld ) and ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems certification .
Being the recipient of the 2024 Environment Award from AfMA is a great honour and highlights that we are leaders in the field . On top of this , we were also named 2024 Fleet Manager of the Year . It ’ s been an amazing few months for the team . It very much inspires us to keep going further and to keep innovating .
ISSUE 47 JUNE 2024 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU 7