See this original blog on CORENA's site.
CORENA and Geni.Energy are hosting a "Solar for Community Groups" event on May 4th 12pm-1pm.
With the rise of electric vehicle technology and an ever-increasing uptake by the public, there are many electric vehicle benefits for organisations that you might not be aware of.
CORENA works with a wide range of not for profits, social enterprises and community organisations, many of which use vehicles in their operations. These might include delivery vans or trucks, vehicles for home visits or staff use or even buses for transporting clients.
Switching your organisation’s vehicle fleet to EVs from petrol/diesel vehicles reduces your carbon emissions, energy costs, and has a wide range of other benefits! Read on as some of these lesser-known bonuses may come as a surprise and provide extra reason to go all electric.
1. Use Up Your Excess Solar
Compared to petrol/diesel vehicles, EVs produce less emissions, even if charged from grid electricity. As renewable wind and solar energy are increasingly powering the electricity network, grid electricity is progressively producing fewer emissions year on year. If you have solar panels on your roof and can charge vehicles during the day, you will emit even less carbon emissions. By utilising any excess solar, you can avoid spending extra on energy bills rather than letting it go back to the grid.
2. Electric Vehicles Have Tax Incentives
By purchasing an electric vehicle, you can take advantage of incentives and tax benefits coming from state and federal government.
Incentives include the recently introduced Fringe Benefits tax exemption for electric vehicles in addition to subsidies in almost every state.
3. Emergency Power Supply
EV’s can be useful in emergency situations.. This is because many new EVs have Vehicle to Load capability which means you can plug standard appliances, such as lights, fans or phone chargers directly into the car (also great for camping by the way!).
EV batteries are several times larger than a typical domestic battery so they should be able to provide a flexible source of emergency power for a few days. Recent weather events have meant that some not for profits are thinking about how they maintain power for essential items (such as fridges or phone charging) during outages. This is especially important if you are providing services to vulnerable members of the community.
Using an electric vehicle instead of an offgrid battery or generator can improve your
business case even further! Here is a great article from Drive about which cars offer vehicle-to-load functionality Australia.
4. Health Benefits
Electric vehicles pollute less into our roads and cities. The improvement in air quality from less exposure to carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur, particulate matter and other pollutants, is a significant health and safety benefit for your team and the community.
5. Enhance Brand & Public Recognition
Your organisation’s brand and reputation will be greatly enhanced by embracing green technologies such as EVs. Having a zero emissions fleet of vehicles show that you are taking the climate emergency and other environmental concerns seriously. A significant commitment like that can say a lot about your organisation in the eyes of the public and to your potential partners and donors. Non profits especially should be seen walking the walk as well as talking the talk when it comes to being more environmentally conscious, as a result of recipients of such services typically being disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis.
6. Cheaper To Maintain & Less Time Being Serviced
EVs are generally far cheaper to service, and some require less frequent servicing than internal combustion engine vehicles. This is because they have so few moving parts – there are no spark plugs, engine oil, oil filter, engine air filter, fuel filter, engine timing belt, radiator, exhaust system or muffler that need replacing. This drastically reduced number of moving parts means that EVs have fewer things to “go wrong” and this makes them generally more reliable and less prone to breakdowns.
Over time, you will have significant savings from this lower maintenance cost, particularly if your organisation drives lots of kilometres or uses multiple vehicles. CORENA can help you factor in this benefit into your business case when calculating the cost savings from switching to electric vehicles.
7. Superior Acceleration
Unlike petrol and diesel engines, electric motors provide maximum torque (pulling power) from the moment they begin moving. This results in far superior acceleration, including when going up hills, carrying a heavy load, towing or overtaking. Think of how quickly a heavy electric train carrying hundreds of passengers can pull away from a station.
For people who love to drive, this superior performance is an unexpected surprise when swapping to an electric vehicle.
8. Regenerative Braking
EVs use Regenerative Braking, commonly called “regen”. When you lift your foot off the accelerator, regen uses the electric motor to brake the vehicle while also sending charge back to the battery! This also reduces the load on the mechanical brakes, consequently the brake pads on EVs can last for years further reducing servicing costs. In an emergency braking situation, brake force will come from two sources simultaneously – taking your foot off the accelerator will activate regenerative braking from the electric motor, and stepping on the brake pedal will also activate the mechanical brakes.
9. Easier To Drive With Less Noise and Vibration
When driving an electric vehicle, you may notice the quietness of its electric motor in comparison to petrol or diesel engines. When travelling at speed, an EV’s electric motor generates only a quiet background hum and no vibrations, unlike the engine noise and vibrations from the thumping pistons in a petrol or diesel engine. EVs can even be driven inside your premises (e.g. for loading or unloading goods or passengers), in silence and without releasing toxic fumes.
All EVs don’t require gear changes and are driven identically to an automatic vehicle, meaning they can easily be driven by staff members who can’t drive a manual vehicle.
10. A More Stable Ride
EVs have a lower centre of gravity compared to vehicles with a heavy internal combustion engine which sit a lot higher above the ground. An EV’s heaviest component is the battery, located beneath the passenger compartment floor and the comparatively light and small electric motor is positioned on the axle.
The lower positioning of an EV’s heaviest components results in a smoother ride and great handling.
11. Team & Customer Convenience
EV charging points installed in your staff parking area can encourage your team to go electric by offering them a free place to charge while they are at work. Organisations with parking facilities accessible to the general public can potentially offer EV charging as a value-added service while people are parked on-site.
For organisations with a retail or hospitality presence, this can also encourage customers to stay longer on-site while waiting for their car’s recharge to finish, which can potentially result in more sales.
Electric Vehicles Funding For Organisations
As an alternative to applying for grants and rebates, here at CORENA, we can provide free technical advice and zero interest funding to community organisations looking to reduce their emissions and green their energy consumption and transport fleets. We are funded by donations from local community members across Australia. Donations help us fund:
Installing energy efficiency measures such as switching to efficient alternatives or installing insulation
Replacement of fossil gas appliances with electric alternatives
A combination of the above
Interest Free Electric Vehicle Loans For Non Profits, Community Organisations, Charities, & Social Enterprises
You don’t pay any interest on your CORENA loan, and the quarterly loan repayments are set to be a little less than the savings on your operating costs averaged over a year. This means you are never out of pocket. After your loan is fully repaid, you will reap the full financial benefit of having lower operating costs.To learn more, come along to the Geni.Energy event May 4th 2021, 12-1pm.
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