Electric bZ4X joins Gisborne food rescue fleet

A Gisborne social services organisation has added a fully electric Toyota bZ4X to its fleet, with the running cost savings going straight back into frontline work across Tairāwhiti.

Eastland Toyota supplied the bZ4X to SuperGrans Tairāwhiti, while the Greenlea Foundation funded a Toyota Hilux alongside it. Both were unveiled at the organisation’s annual general meeting on 11 August.

The organisation covers serious distance. Staff and volunteers travel throughout Gisborne and the wider East Coast, including remote coastal communities, delivering and rescuing kai, running workshops and responding to emergencies. Last year it distributed 3,887 kai parcels, helped provide 96,021 foodbank meals, delivered 78 workshops, supported 365 people through wraparound services, and upcycled or distributed more than 30 tonnes of rescued kai.

Sarah Elliott, strategic advisor at SuperGrans Tairāwhiti, says reliable transport underpins all of it, and the electric option brings an added benefit.

“These vehicles will make a real difference to what we’re able to do, while the electric bZ4X also helps us lower our running costs and reduce our environmental footprint,” she says.

For a charitable organisation running high annual mileage, that matters more than it might for a private buyer. Charity fleets are among the clearest cases for electrification: high utilisation, predictable regional routes, and every dollar saved on fuel and servicing returning to the organisation’s work rather than its overheads.

Eastland Toyota will also run workshops with SuperGrans covering basic vehicle maintenance, electric vehicle technology, safe driving, and career pathways in the automotive industry, putting EV familiarity in front of a community audience that might not otherwise encounter it.

Eastland Toyota branch manager Aaron Baylis says supporting local organisations is part of the dealership’s role in the region.

“SuperGrans is one of those organisations that’s always there when people need a hand. We see the difference they make in our community every day, so when the opportunity came up to help them get around the region more easily, it just made sense,” he says.

Eastland Toyota says the partnership marks the start of a long-term commitment to supporting families and communities across Gisborne.