Based in Hamilton, the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) is one of the country’s best- known institutes of technology.
With a reputation for delivering high-quality education across vocational-technical and professional fields, it serves around 13,000 students at any one time.
And that means staff and students are often on the go.
Wintec’s main goals were to reduce its total fleet carbon emissions, while reducing the size of its fleet.
By using the vehicles due for replacement as a first round to test EV appetite and uptake, Wintec was able to assess its long-term goal of a fully electrified passenger fleet.
HOW DID WE SOLVE IT?
It contacted We.EV By crunching the numbers to understand Wintec vehicle use and distances travelled, it designed a unique solution that would work for everyone.
The opportunity to do a pilot transition was a smart move, allowing Wintec to finance the initial investment, test uptake, and ask for feedback.
“After our initial analysis, it became clear that EVs could easily replace Wintec’s Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles and provide the carbon emissions reduction they were looking for,” We.EV says.
WHAT WAS THE RESULT?
We.EV recommended Wintec buy eight Hyundai Ioniq EVs and install nine chargers, complete with smart charging and dynamic loading, to help reduce local network load.
This not only optimised costs but also helped maintain vehicle battery health.
The Ioniq was chosen for its range capability, which covered 99% of all daily trips and allowed for a 92% reduction in kg of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per 100km (an average of around three tonnes of CO2e per year per vehicle).
SMARTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE EV
For Wintec, We.EV’s experience mattered. “It had heard about us introducing EV fleets to other organisations and understood the importance of investing time into change management and education rather than just let people ‘get on with it’ with new vehicles,” We.EV says.
This was essential to get positive buy-in from the widest possible audience of users.
“Though it’s still early days, the results have been impressive so far – with a new ‘EV steering group’ driving the change and ensuring the project went smoothly.”
In partnership with We.EV, Wintec will continue monitoring EV uptake within the organisation so it can help its users on the journey of transitioning to a more sustainable fleet.
“Having worked with We.EV in the past to assist in transitioning a large portion of our fleet to electric it was a bit of a no-brainer to collaborate again for our next phase,” says Joanna Mills, Wintec’s office and vehicle services coordinator “Unfortunately, this time it was a smaller fleet as some of our current vehicles were unable to be replaced with electric ones.
“We.EV understood our needs and were fantastic in delivering on-time to ensure we could capitalise on an external subsidy and were mindful of the many users in our organisation.
“For example, we went with tethered charger cables so that staff would never be onsite with a fleet car and no cord to re-charge. This continues to alleviate some range anxiety felt.
“We.EV were also great in supplying options and we know there are still developments we could make in becoming more sustainable in future.
“Should we be able to invest further in this area we could install solar to power chargers…
“We consider our project a success and would recommend We.EV to any business starting the electric vehicle journey,” Mills adds.
Eight new EVs saved 40 tonnes/year of CO2, achieved a 38% reduction in addressed fleet, and 99% of trips were within the cars’ range.
Contact We.EV to have an informal chat about your EV needs on www. we-ev.co.nz.
