WSP Opus charges ahead

This story first appeared in the february issue of Evtalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE

New Zealand’s civil engineering and infrastructure consultant company WSP Opus is stepping up to the mark on sustainability.

It’s nearly 400 vehicles – half in its pool fleet and the rest part of staff packages – cover about nine million kilometres annually across New Zealand.

Alternatives such as EV car share services like Mevo will also be rolled out this year to help reduce company vehicle mileage and emissions and possibly reduce demand on WSP Opus NZ’s fleet over time.

As about 55% of its carbon emissions come from transport, company procurement manager Ineke Brockie says it’s a “no-brainer” to incorporate EVs to reduce those emissions, with a 6.5% reduction in all its emissions targeted by the end of this year.

She says the fleet conversion is making good inroads with the list of approved EVs likely to be extended.Hyundai’s new Kona electric cross-over has already been added.

“The focus is on 100% electric, with some PHEVs in the mix where need be.”
Reasons for including the Kona and PHEVs are the need to cover greater distances and to avoid running out of power.

“Time is money in our business and long charging times en route is not generally going to be an option at this stage,” Brockie says.

Charging site maps are provided and the company has added charging stations at its offices that are visited by staff driving its EVs.

WPS Opus is now installing TransNet charging units at some of its 40 sites around New Zealand and plans to have at least 30 charge units operating by the end of this year – one for each vehicle.

“We have installed a small number of charge units and currently favour the TransNet Pulsar Wallbox units, especially for sites with multiple EVs due to the load sharing capability,” Brockie says.

“Each EV will have a charge unit allocated, and of our 40 locations around the country at least 15 will have one or more EVs by the end of this year.Some others may also have a charge unit for visiting EVs.”

Vehicles are leased through Custom Fleet NZ, Brockie says, and are replaced about every 3.5 years.

“So, our EVs will start becoming available on the second-hand market late 2020.”

Some challenges have been experienced with the EV roll-out.

“In the first half of 2017 we rolled out three EVs to put our toes in the water.Then after that we struck a number of challenges that slowed us down,” Brockie says.

These included property issues where not all sites were suitable through such things as limited expiring leases, the cost of getting power to the carpark, and landlords’ concerns.

Power supply to carpark chargers at various premises may cost thousands of dollars, so the company needs to understand the situation well ahead of time when considering a site, Brockie says.

Although the company has almost 400 fleet vehicles, it is focussing on its pool passenger fleet of 100 vehicles.

Only a portion of the pool fleet leases are expiring during the roll-out period, and not all pool vehicles are suitable for EVs due to business demands of the fleet.

With business restructuring, the return of package vehicles and other business changes meant that expiring pool cars often did not need to be replaced.

“Consequently, we are looking at new strategies for 2019 to help us achieve our goals,” Brockie says.These could include offering EVs to staff package drivers as an option, extending the EV list and moving vehicles around the offices as appropriate to help make it work.”

That can all make it challenging for the company to reach its 30% target.

“We have to think of different ways to get there,” Brockie says.

Also, many company vehicles are used for infrastructure projects, needing to carry a number of people and equipment, drive off-road or tow trailers, which requires a large proportion of the fleet to be utes.

There are no utes available in EV options in New Zealand, although it’s an area which will see a change in the future, Brockie says.

“However, the Kona and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV are contenders for our business where there is a need for longer distance driving, off road, or more space for equipment.

“Currently, we have rolled out about 15 EVs that are the all-electric Hyundai Ioniqs which have good range (about 200km) and can carry a reasonable load.”

Should the company make EVs available to package drivers with vehicles used for business, home charge costs would most likely be addressed as part of a “whole of life” cost so that drivers won’t need reimbursing as costs will already be covered.

Information is provided about charging the EVs at each location and where public charging stations can be found.

“But we hope to do more this year to help keep them more informed about the joys of driving EVs,” Brockie says.