FLEETDRIVE
based fleets, NRMA vehicles are taken home and start from home. In many cases that rules out overnight charging, especially for staff in apartments or households without reliable offstreet parking. That pushes the task into fieldbased charging, introducing complexity around charger access, downtime, payment systems, apps, charging policies and the question of whether charging to 80 per cent is enough.
A half-hour charging stop at lunchtime can blow out if chargers are occupied, impacting productive time. Multiplied across a large fleet the commercial implications are self-evident. The NRMA is also looking closely at battery health over time, including quarterly checks and how different charging speeds may affect degradation. This matters because the business
case strengthens the longer an EV can be kept in service, through lower servicing costs and reduced fuel spend. But that only holds if battery performance remains strong enough over the fleet life.
Perhaps the most useful lesson so far is that successful transition is not only about vehicles and infrastructure. It’ s also about people. The NRMA has found some of its most reserved staff became advocates once they drove the vehicles. For fleets weighing up their own transition, that may be a reminder that trial programs, internal champions and careful real world operational testing can be just as important as the spec sheet. Their experience suggests EV transition is possible, as long as fleets look beyond the spec sheet.
We’ ll keep your fleet moving
Get back to business fast with 24 / 7 roadside assistance, Australia wide.
Learn more
National Roads and Motorists’ Association Limited ABN 77 000 010 506 is a separate and independent company from Insurance Australia Limited ABN 11 000 016 722 trading as NRMA Insurance.
37