Thai2Go EV deliveries
James Porteous has turned a rundown Thai restaurant in Queenstown into something special providing home deliveries and organic produce to customers using a fleet of EVs.
He has four Gen 2 Nissan Leaf EVs bought about a year ago to replace Suzuki Celerios, covering up to a 24km radius from the Frankton restaurant and organic store.
After growing up Christchurch, Porteous spent 25 years in Tokyo, working mainly in IT.
Deciding to return to New Zealand with his Japanese wife, Porteous, bought the restaurant sight unseen and says the power and gas were about to be turned off when he walked in the door.
That was about five years ago, and his organic and sustainable business venture has taken off since then.
Porteous found more of a market for Thai home deliveries, opting for organic produce in the restaurant and sourcing his vegetables from an Oamaru organic farm.
“I needed to do something a bit different and decided to get integrity into our vegetables so that customers knew where the vegetables were coming from.”
It did so well people even began to want the organic vegetables for themselves, so he leased a former physio’s shop in front of the restaurant to sell them from.
Demand grew to the point where Porteous bought the Oamaru farm and is now thinking about another.
Sticking to his sustainability guns, Porteous has had buy in from other food businesses towards a commercial worm farming operation which turns food and even shopping bags into compost for the organic farm which he says is the biggest of its kind in the South Island.
A truck operates between Oamaru and Queenstown, which is also used for Turners & Growers deliveries, that Porteous hopes to have converted to electric drive as well.
How does Porteous charge up the EVs?He has staff accommodation behind the restaurant, so had the electrics there beefed up to better allow overnight EV charging.
Sometime Porteous will take an EV back to his Cromwell home where he recharges it.
He’s keen to talk to ChargeNet NZ about installing a fast charger outside the restaurant as it’s near a busy intersection.
There’s little need to charge the cars when out and about, and most deliveries are after 4pm.
Cold and grit can affect EVs, but Porteous says most deliveries are within a short distance so temperature and road surface don’t really impact on range.
The biggest impact on his business from having EVs is the saving in fuel and maintenance, which can amount to more than a $10,000 saving per vehicle annually.
“It’s not just that but when you put a car in for servicing or work you can lose the use of it for about three days, an added expense.”
EVs are all part of Porteous’ sustainability plan.
And it’s proving such a hit with customers he’s got a similar Thai2Go venture under way in Timaru.
There’s little doubt a lot more of his branded EVs will be seen on South Island roads in future.
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