Synlait staff are switching to EVs

This story first appeared in the November issue of EVtalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE

Innovative dairy processing company Synlait is encouraging sustainability by providing electric vehicle chargers free for staff use at its Dunsandel plant in Canterbury.

That’s resulted in a run on EV dealerships such as those in Christchurch with staff mostly snapping up Nissan Leafs.

Five charging stations (two chargers each) have been recently installed at Synlait Dunsandel, and cabling readied for 22 more chargers.

It’s believed that only two staff members had an EV before the chargers were added, but now about 11 commute in them, charging up while at work.

Many more are considering buying an EV, especially with petrol costs rising, Synlait’s people, culture and performance director Boyd Williams says.
He adds he’s among them.

Such is the success of the Synlait Dunsandel EV venture that the company is likely to consider chargers for its other sites, like its new multi-million-dollar Pokeno factory which is expected to open for the 2019-2020 dairy season in the northern Waikato, about 50km south-east of Auckland.

The EV charging idea came from a raft of sustainability goals announced by Synlait at its June annual conference.

“These EV chargers are part of our commitment to reducing our impact as a company,” Williams says.
“Synlait wants to encourage its staff to embrace sustainability in their own lives and installing EV chargers is one way we can help them do this.
”
Williams says the company surveyed the number of EVs and plug-ins on the market and found the average efficiency was about 0.
19kWh/km with an average battery size of 26kWh.
The average range was 153km.

A typical one-way trip to Synlait from Christchurch is 50km, from Ashburton 40km and from Rolleston 20km.

“This gave us confidence that staff could comfortably do the commute with an EV,” Williams says.

The Canterbury plant also operates a staff shuttle between Rolleston and Dunsandel to get more petrol and diesel vehicles off the road.

Williams says while the EV move helps with the company’s sustainability goals, it’s also “just the right thing to do”.

Providing the free chargers is making the firm more attractive as an employer too, particularly as the factory is in a slightly remote area and means a reasonable commute for many.

Staff, like Alan Jonkers – one of the first there to get an EV, are delighted with the company’s move.

And Christchurch EV City owner Dave Boot says he’s sold quite a few Leafs to Synlait staff within days of the chargers being installed.
“The amount of staff who’ve since bought a Leaf has been phenomenal.
People who have not thought about EVs are now doing so,” he says.

Back at Synlait, Williams says the company was developing a new carpark at Dunsandel and it made sense to add the chargers, the cost inclusive in the car park budget.

Eight of them are 7kW and two are 22kW AC chargers.

The chargers are solely for staff use and not available to the public as the car park is a secured site.

It’s likely to lead to other companies following suit, particularly as supplying EV chargers helps with a firm’s clean, green image and encourages more people to apply for jobs when vacancies occur.