Jesse’s long & winding electric road
In 2018 Jesse Hull, Fair Food’s logistics manager, was charged with transitioning Fair Food’s fossil fuelled fleet over to fully electric.
The challenge was part of CERES’ mission to become carbon neutral by 2025 and also to take advantage of the excess power being generated by the 250 solar panels on Fair Food’s warehouse roof.
Back then everyone was excited about the EV transition, the only thing was no one seemed to have any. Jesse’s searches, emails, phone calls revealed there was only one type of EV van available for sale in Australia. But on the precipice of purchasing two SEA Electric Hiace-look-alikes Jesse was cruelled by a fall in the Australian dollar and a brutal $20,000-a-van price increase. It was a crushing blow.
A brief rebound followed – a promising flurry of emails swapped between Jesse and a Hino dealer with a small EV truck. The relationship would fade quickly, vetoed by Jesse’s drivers who worried about getting stuck down narrow laneways in the wider truck. Enquiries were made about the LDV EV80, a well-reviewed Chinese van that was locally available as a diesel. It turned out LDV had released the electric version in New Zealand but not Australia, the Morrison government’s lack of support for EV’s apparently the cause.
A period of resignation followed until in October 2021 out of nowhere Ford Australia announced the launch of its E-Transit van. Everything about it felt right to Jesse – the size, the range, the charging network, the dealer support. Jesse got on the phone and put a deposit down on the first two e-Transits to hit Melbourne. They were due to arrive the following July. It was really happening.
Then in March 2022 Vladimir Putin announced he was conducting a Special Operation in Ukraine. The Special Operation turned out to be a not-so-special invasion and with critical van parts unavailable from Ukrainian factories, Ford announced a three month delay on the e-Transit’s arrival. This soon turned into a six month delay.
When the Ford dealer told Jesse realistically he would not be getting his e-Transits until sometime in 2024 Jesse asked for his deposit back. For a while spirits were low until a tip-off led to an unlikely ally – The Good Car Co of Hobart. A start-up founded by friends frustrated by the lack of EV’s available in Australia, The Good Car Co had started importing second-hand electric Nissan Leaf’s from Japan. After a few emails Anthony and Kate from The Good Car Co found several low km Peugeot Expert electric vans they could bring over from the UK. Jesse chose one with a 300km range, put a deposit down and waited patiently.
After a few weeks on a ship, another few weeks in customs, a few weeks after a hiccough with a missing key and the usual registration rigmarole, the van finally arrived last Thursday.
Jesse presented Jack, a seasoned Fair Food driver, with the keys to take it for a test drive. Jack sent his initial thoughts back in a text “Thumbs up! I flippin love this van!”
On Friday Chop, Fair Food’s delivery co-ordinator, took the Expert out for its first delivery run and was so excited he told every customer who was home about the new van.
With the Peugeot Expert safely at Fair Food Jesse is now turning his attention to replacing the rest of the Fair Food fleet.
He’s hoping the next chapter of his EV transition journey won’t be as an interesting as the first, but whatever happens now Jesse won’t let anything stop him on his mission to take Fair Food’s fleet fully electric.
Have a great week
Chris
