This award was accepted on behalf of Moreland City Council by Mario Sansotta.
Led by Fleet Coordinator Mario Sansotta the Moreland City Council has been responsible for some game changing work in their journey towards zero emissions. The Moreland team started their electric vehicle (EV) journey with just one Nissan Leaf before introducing others models to reach an EV fleet of 24 EVs and 15 hybrids. More recently the team has added electric bikes to their lineup as part of their ambition to become Zero Carbon by 2040.
“Moreland City Council has taken a leadership role to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy to reduce our carbon footprint,” Mario said.
“The environment has always been important to us but it’s been a bit of a struggle for people to come on board with the vision at first.”
Moreland City Council now provides recognition and incentives for carpooling, using electric bicycle fleet, working from home, public transport usage. For Mario and the team it was all about engaging with the staff community and getting them to realise that value of EVs wasn’t just all about environment but that there was significant savings and convenience to be made from the strategy.
“Our people were a little intimidated about the EVs at first but what we did was work with them and make them comfortable,” Mario said.
“What we found was that by the end of the process they were the most popular vehicles to drive in our fleet – our drivers loved driving them.”
Moreland has expanded their public electric vehicle charging network to 16 stations in 2020 including two more 50kW DC fast charging stations in Brunswick. All are available free to use to encourage uptake of zero emissions vehicles.
“Moving towards renewable energy vehicles the cost savings for us are the fuel, the service and maintenance of the vehicles and also the convenience of putting the vehicles on charge across the day while we work,” Mario said.
“I’d encourage other organisations to seriously consider EV vehicles as they are a game changer in how we move our staff around the municipality.”
Key Achievements:
- Purchased 24 EVs and 15 hybrids, with more in the pipeline. Over a quarter of our passenger fleet is now EV.
- Developed a public electric vehicle charging network of 16 stations, four of which are 50 kW DC fast chargers.
- Save 2,000L of fuel per year per EV passenger vehicle, which saves $2,300 (taking into account electricity spend) and 4.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
- Across the EV fleet, saving of 45kL of fuel per year, equivalent to $52k and over 100 tonnes CO2.
- Maintenance costs for the EV vehicles are lower, and Moreland’s oldest EV is running well after 8 years.
- Raised awareness with staff and community, encouraging the purchase of EV vehicles for personal use.
- All Moreland’s EV vehicles are powered by 100% renewable electricity, sourced from the Crowlands Windfarm.
- The council is carbon natural since 2011, and aims to support its community to become Zero Carbon by 2040.
Sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company Australia.
