Te Whatu Ora EV

Implications for Changing Their Fleet of 300 Vehicles to Electric

Abstract

This research project looks at the implications of Te Whatu Ora Southern transitioning their 300 fleet vehicles to EVs, with the primary focus of this study being Wakari hospital. The key questions this study focuses on are: How would this transition to EVs affect the transport emissions by Te Whatu Ora Southern? What would the cost savings of this transition be? What time of day would be best for Wakari hospital to charge the vehicles and how much would they save by charging at specific times? As Te Whatu Ora Southern ranges from Oamaru to Invercargill and Queenstown, and with around 300 fleet vehicles, the problems to solve were tackled by first looking at Wakari hospital and using results from this hospital to scale to the whole fleet. This research was done by analyzing data supplied by Te Whatu Ora Southern and appropriate literature exploring EVs and emissions reduction. The main results of this research showed that by switching the fleet vehicles to EVs, the road travel emissions would decrease by 80-90%, and that it would be cheapest for Wakari Hospital to charge their vehicles from midnight to 8am, however more research would need to be done in order to implement a more detailed charging plan. The key impact of this research is carbon emission reduction and how Te Whatu Ora could scale these results for not just the southern region but the whole of New Zealand.

Supervised by: Arjan Abeynaike, Craig Cliff