The Western Australian government owned water utility has kicked off the transition of its vehicle fleet towards electric vehicles, with the purchase of two Hyundai full electric Kona’s and plans to buy dozens more.
The WA Water Corporation has committed to transitioning at least 40 per cent of its vehicle fleet to electric alternatives, as the vehicles in the existing fleet come up for renewal.
The corporation has recently acquired two Hyundai Konas to kick off the transition, which will be used by staff around Perth.
The Water Corporation currently maintains a 102 strong metropolitan vehicle fleet, which already features 30 hybrid vehicles. This could see the corporation purchase as many as 40 new all-electric passenger vehicles for its fleet.
The authority’s commitment will be a boost to the second hand electric vehicle market in Western Australia, with the newly acquired EVs to be sold into the used car market at the end of their lease.
The full eletric Kona’s acquired by the WA Water Corporation come with the standard 449km range on a single charge and will come with the addition of an “In-vehicle Safety Assist” system, to encourage safe driving behaviour from staff using the vehicles.
Charging stations have also been installed at the corporation’s offices in the Perth suburb of Leederville, and it expects to install additional charging stations throughout the corporation’s locations as the EV fleet continues to grow.
Western Australian water minister Dave Kelly welcomed the commitment from the WA Water Corporation, saying that it was a positive step forward towards reducing the State’s carbon footprint.
The WA Water Corporation has committed to achieving zero net emissions from its operations by 2050.
“The move to increase the number of EVs in the Water Corporation’s fleet reflects their commitment to seeking out new and innovative ways of reducing its carbon footprint,” Kelly said.
“I commend Water Corporation for its approach to responsible environmental stewardship, and being an early adopter in taking up EVs as part of its fleet.”
“Water Corporation’s commitment supports a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that I signed in 2018 on behalf of the WA Government with other Australian jurisdictions to identify opportunities to accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles.”
In 2018, representatives from the Western Australian, South Australian and ACT governments, along with representatives of the cities of Adelaide and Hobart signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on support for electric vehicle uptake.
Several state and local government authorities have begun incorporating EVs into their vehicle fleets, as have many private fleet operators, which see the emergence of EVs as providing a lower overall operating cost, due to the substantial savings in fuel costs that can be achieved.
Under the MOU, the progressive jurisdictions agreed to cooperate in the development of action plans to increase the share of electric vehicles in government fleets, as well as sharing information about policies and incentives to support greater EV uptake.
The ACT government has since sought to establish a bulk-buy program for governments to acquire electric vehicles for their fleets, seeing an opportunity to further cut costs.
Michael Mazengarb is a journalist with RenewEconomy, based in Sydney. Before joining RenewEconomy, Michael worked in the renewable energy sector for more than a decade.
