Electric Vehicle Rentals
– exploring your fleet ’ s future , without the commitment
WORDS BY ORIX
While Australia currently lags the world in Electric Vehicle ( EV ) take up , ORIX has an innovative solution for businesses keen to go green .
A sense of responsibility to the environment , along with increased interest from clients , inspired the leading fleet management company to add EVs to its extensive rental fleet .
“ We feel it ’ s our duty to try to make greener options available for our customers ,” ORIX Rental General Manager Grant Harrison says . “ Many of our customers want to understand the capabilities of EVs , but they don ’ t want to commit to purchase before seeing how it would impact their day-to-day operations .”
Grant says ORIX clients have told him they want to do their part to help the planet , but are hesitant to commit due to range anxiety , along with concerns about charging time and location , and the upfront cost . For example , if someone has a full day of customer meetings , will they need to build in downtime for recharging and map out station locations along their route ? How long would it take a heavy duty electric commercial truck to plug in ?
Renting EVs lets these businesses test vehicles in real-world situations , so they can then incorporate them into their permanent fleet with more confidence . They can also collect vehicle usage , efficiency and expenditure data from the ORIX OneView app to report on the business impact .
Grant says offering EVs is the natural next step for ORIX .
“ We ’ ve been offering hybrid vehicles in our fleet for a while now , so more sustainable fleet solutions aren ’ t totally new to us ,” he says . “ EVs are the next step in that progression .”
The 2021 Hyundai IONIQ is now part of ORIX ’ s rental fleet , and Grant says the five-door hatch “ is an affordable entry-level EV experience .” It offers a range of 311km on a full charge and can reach 80 % charge in 54 minutes using a 100kW charger , or in 57 minutes with a 57kW charger . It also has a maximum 5-star ANCAP safety rating – and offers zero emissions . For those wanting something more , ORIX has further enhanced its EV fleet by adding Tesla Model 3 ’ s .
“ By trialling it as a rental , you can remove uncertainty amongst your team – such as any
26 ISSUE 28 APRIL 2021 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU