City of Canterbury Bankstown Council in Western Sydney was an early adopter of EV’s in their fleet, starting with the purchase of 5 Hyundai IONIQ’s in 2018. Residents in the area are also keen EV fans with over 5000 owned by them (as of March 2022).
They’ve also done a good job as a council encouraging EV use in their area by installing a several free AC chargers and according to Plugshare, attracting a substantial number of DC Fast Charger installations by Evie Networks, BP and Ampol.
Dave Lowery, Team leader of Environmental Sustainability recently demonstrated over 20 Ocular IQ Commercial EV chargers at the Council Civic Centre and described the journey of moving into the age of sustainable transport:
“It’s a cause that’s pretty close to my heart and the Council’s for cleaner transport and to provide infrastructure for the future of passenger vehicles in our local government area.”
“we’re the largest council by population in Sydney and need to consider clean transport. We have the strongest electric vehicle charging presence of any council in Sydney and these Ocular chargers have been really reliable”.
“Now we have chargers installed across 5 locations in the LGA and more than 20 pure EV council vehicles. There are real gains for us with EVs when it comes to protecting our environment and for the quality of life for our residents in terms of noise and pollution, along with our net zero goals. We’ll continue replacing petrol and diesel vehicles”.
EVSE Australia NSW Sales Manager William Ding noted that CB City have been the ideal client because:
“Early adopters often understand the technology and the reason for it best. Dave and Nathan Duong have been instrumental in mirroring our values around sustainability, integrity, safety and working as a team to improve customer experience.”
The next steps for Canterbury Bankstown Council involve installing chargers at a 6th site and advocating the cost and clean savings of EVs so that neighbouring councils can get charging options in place across nearby areas and reap the rewards.
Interestingly in a prior interview with the NRMA, another City of Canterbury Bankstown Council manager said that they’d realised it’s not just cars that can be switched from fossil fuels to electric, there are plenty of other Council assets that can be electrified:
“We’re getting great feedback from the maintenance teams on the performance of electric blowers, chainsaws and other small plant items … Any opportunity where the council can see a benefit to introducing a new electric piece of equipment is being explored.”
