Westpac adds 65 new EVs to its company fleet
Friday, 25 May 2018
Westpac has received 65 new electric and plug-in hybrid Hyundai Ioniqs that it will add to its corporate fleet as it prepares to meet a target of almost 100 electric cars by 2019.
'We've been on a journey to get to 30 per cent electric vehicles in the Westpac fleet,' says Rob Halsall, head of commercial services for Westpac.
'That equated to 97 cars in our fleet of 301 cars. By June this year we'll be at 65, which is means 22 per cent of our fleet will be electric.'
Westpac first added three electric vehicles (EVs) in late 2016 and committed to convert 30 percent of its fleet by 2019. The cars will be sent to Westpac branches and offices ranging from Albany to Invercargill from this month.
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According to Halsall, before deciding on which type of cars to buy, the company took a close look at where its mobile staff travelled to make sure either full electric or hybrid cars would suit.
After detailed analysis, the decision was made to buy the Hyundais.
'We've had a 10-year relationship with Hyundai, but we did trial several other cars. We got a number of our guys in to drive the cars until we made our final choice.'
The Hyundai Ioniq is the first car to be available in New Zealand as either a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or pure EV, but Westpac chose to not go for the hybrid model, considering the plug-in hybrid (which can be charged from an external power source and travel for commuting distances on pure-electric power) to be the more ecologically friendly choice.
'We think this is the right thing to do for the environment and to help the country meet its emissions targets,' Westpac general manager for commercial corporate and institutional banking, Karen Silk says, in a statement issued by the bank.
'We also believe we have an important role to play in the future of electric cars in NZ. When our leases expire, these fleet cars will go into the used car market. That will help make electric cars more accessible and available to Kiwis.'
As well as introducing the cars to its fleet, Westpac is also undertaking the largest corporate charger installation in NZ. Over the last few weeks, work has started at Westpac's Britomart head office to upgrade the power supply of the building so that it can accommodate the 23 chargers that will be installed in the car park.
'We will have 65 chargers in total across the North and South Island, but we'll also have four publicly available chargers at our Tauranga branch and one at our Hamilton corporate office,' says Halsall.
The publicly available chargers will be made available free of charge outside of business hours (before 7am and after 6pm) to the public.
'Outside of business hours, people will be able to drive up to the car park and charge their cars while they do some shopping or spend time in the area,' says Ms Silk.
While some of the cars will go into Westpac's pool, more than 80 per cent will be provided to specific staff as 'tool of trade' company cars.
Staff will be encouraged to charge the cars at work, but if they need to charge at home, Halsall said the company will reimburse the costs.
In addition to greening its fleet, Halsall says that the adoption of EVs will help the company significantly decrease its carbon emissions. Westpac says it has decreased its carbon emissions by 38 per cent since 2012 and offsets the remainder of its emissions through the purchase of NZ carbon credits to be carbon neutral.
'We believe we'll be able to reduce our carbon emissions by another 200 tonnes per year with approximately 50 vehicles on the road.'