Electric vehicles are shaping the future of last-mile delivery around the globe – but Australia is still dragging the chain. And in November, local last-mile delivery specialist ANC and ORIX Australia Corporation Limited (ORIX), a leading rental, leasing and fleet management company, announced a strategic partnership to show how fleet electrification can be achieved.
The two companies hosted a special EV event in Sydney, attended by ANC clients, business leaders, EV suppliers and Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. The purpose was to announce the partnership, talk about how ANC and ORIX are overcoming challenges to the take up of EVs, and to unveil several of ANC’s newest fleet EVs – including an Australian first: a specially-designed e-TukTuk. Manufactured by BILITI Electric and imported exclusively by Brisbane company EMoS, the e-TukTuks are redefining last-mile deliveries in urban environments.
“We’re very excited to be pioneering these new 3-wheel EVs in Australia,” says ANC CEO Joe Sofra. “They’re being used globally – including by IKEA – and will be launched into the US market in coming months. Initially our two e-TukTuks – which we’ve nicknamed BUDDe – will be deployed to carry out deliveries for IKEA Australia’s Tempe store for a 3-month trial to prove concept.”
Sofra calls the partnership with ORIX a “game-changing pathway to the take-up of electric vehicles”, particularly by its delivery professionals. “There’s a global revolution underway as the last-mile delivery sector accelerates fleet electrification,” he says. “EV fleets are a perfect match for our sector. And while they’re still in a nascent stage in Australia, we didn’t want to sit idly by and wait for the perfect economic environment to accelerate our EV goals. We now urge other last-mile delivery providers to take up the challenge.”
ANC now has 10 EVs in its fleet – vans, trucks and the two TukTuks – with firm plans for more. The partnership with ORIX aims to improve access to EVs on a capital light basis and demonstrates how the cost of adopting EV vs brown fleets is comparable, with rates more economical than renting a vehicle. It also shows that the value proposition mimics a fully operable lease, with no maintenance, tyres, or servicing cost to the driver.
“It’s still early days for EVs as fleet vehicles and there are still many challenges, however, partnering with like-minded organisations helps overcome barriers and creates greener, more sustainable outcomes,” says Reggie Cabal, ORIX CEO. “We are helping remove the complexity for delivery professionals to adopt EVs by aligning vehicles, infrastructure, energy and optimisation into a single, practical plan for a decarbonised fleet future.
“We’re also leveraging short-term rental solutions, which allows clients to undertake pilots to test the operational practicalities of EV and hybrid vehicles in their business operations. Having the right fleet partner working with you to build a cost-effective framework simply makes the transition smoother.”
ANC’s own EV journey was driven by its relationship with one of the company’s key customers, IKEA, which has a global goal to provide all its customers with zero-emission deliveries by 2025.
“As a purpose-led business, our ambition is to enable our customers to live better everyday lives within the limits of the planet, which extends to actively reducing emissions across all our operations,” says Mirja Viinanen, IKEA Australia CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer. “IKEA led the way as the first Australian home furnishing retailer to implement home deliveries with electric vehicles. Now, we are striving towards an ambitious goal of 100% zero-emissions delivery by 2025.
“We are committed to this goal and want to bring the retail sector on the journey with us, so we are calling on the government to help us get there by introducing targeted incentives and charging infrastructure for last-mile delivery and logistics to boost the uptake of EVs.”
