FleetPartners has managed the OfficeMax corporate fleet for more than a decade and has been instrumental in helping the workplace solutions provider to put a handbrake on petrol-powered cars and reduce its transport emissions by 50%.
OfficeMax will reduce its fleet of 105 cars to 95, and all conventional vehicles will be phased out by the end of 2023 and replaced with a combination of electric and hybrid models.
The new fleet consists of 16 Hyundai Kona battery electric vehicles, six Toyota Corolla hybrid hatches and 73 Toyota RAV4 GX Hybrid models.
FleetPartners’ corporate relationship manager Sarah Lewis-Dawes says that understanding staff misconceptions and helping them through this is a critical part of the journey to carbon zero.
“Kiwis are instinctively skeptical of EVs. Range anxiety can be eased once employees try out EVs for themselves and learn the ins and outs of charging them,” Lewis-Dawes says.
Drive days were arranged for staff to test out electrical vehicles, and in the process, OfficeMax made the decision to introduce home charging units to enable staff to feel more comfortable with the transition and ease range concerns.
“Home charging is just one element of the vehicle charge offerings that OfficeMax is undertaking. We are also installing charging units at our showrooms and offices, so that staff members have a range of options to meet their vehicle charging needs,” says OfficeMax chief financial officer Ben Norrie.
The use of RFID technology within the charging units will allow drivers to track their individual power consumption, so that OfficeMax can reimburse staff appropriately.
OfficeMax’s hybrid vehicles will be delivered by the end of September, with its fully electric vehicles due to hit to road this month.
