Electrifying The Fleet with EV Charging Stations
Home Assistance and Regional Transport Services (HART) fleet cover a lot of kilometres traveling around the region to keep our aging population independent and living in their own homes. They understand the environmental impact of their vital work and have therefore embarked on a plan to electrify their entire fleet as each vehicle comes up for replacement. Mindful of funding limitations, their plan is to halve the 125 metric tons of C02 produced by their fleet over the next three years.
To this end, they have installed a roof solar system to produce their own electricity and NRCF funding from last year’s Community Grant Program has enabled the installation of 2 EV charging stations and 3 phase cabling.
New vehicles are now able to be charged from the solar installation so HART is not adding to energy consumption and has the opportunity to feed clean power back into the grid during weekends and less busy periods.
Around 2000 Aged Care client trips will take place each year in the new Electric Vehicle being charged by these new EV chargers. There is also the added benefit of reduced pollution and noise emissions around their clients, many of whom travel with HART for medical transport.
An unexpected outcome from the project has been the interest and use of our EV by HART volunteers. There was initially concern and anxiety around the new EV, as drivers were cautious of the technology and concerned about how it would be charged on long runs. However, everyone has embraced the new vehicle and are surprised by how easy it is to drive and charge.
Issac Smith, CEO of HART Services summed up;
“This was the first step for our organisation to move away from Fossil fuels in our fleet. It is a significant step as the transport industry is dominated by big vehicles and high polluting diesel engines, so we are very pleased that this journey has commenced and the positivity shown by our team, clients and the community for the change.”