Earlier this year car subscription company Carly launched a new product to help Fleet Managers understand the benefits, and challenges, of adding electric vehicles to their fleet.
The Carly EV Trial for Business www.evtrial.com.au/business is a simple, cost-effective, and low risk way for organisations to introduce EVs to staff and gain insights into future charging requirements. With access to different makes and models, the EV Trial for Business acts like an extended test drive during the initial stages of EV adoption.
We spoke to Chris Noone, CEO at Carly Car Subscription, to find out how the fleet community has reacted to this new product during the first few months.
How has the market responded to the new EV trial?
We’ve seen an incredible response from the market to our recently launched EV Trial. There has been a huge amount of positive feedback in regards to EV Trial really filling a gap between a short test drive and a multi year commitment to buying an EV. Often a short 20 minute test drive is not enough to fully understand how running and managing an electric vehicle will work day to day. It’s pleasing to see a broad range of customers taking up the EV Trial, ranging from small businesses to some of the largest companies in Australia. I was especially pleased to see a big player in the fossil fuel industry trialling electric vehicles!
As Australia pushes forward toward an electric future, the reality is that there are still many people and businesses experiencing EV anxieties. These can include questions around business and personal use, long-distance travel, how charging works and the potential cost savings. The EV Trial seeks to offer a richer experience and provide more answers than the current unsuitable options – EV test drives are too short, and rentals are too expensive and often do not allow the choice of a specific model of interest.
I personally signed-up to our EV Trial product with a Hyundai IONIQ6 when we launched as I found myself on the fence and having lots of questions about going electric. At the end of my trial, I was surprised at how much I learned about driving an electric vehicle day to day. Interestingly, range anxiety was never an issue however public charging was not quite plug and play, but became easier as it became more familiar. Topping up the battery with free solar power at home was an added benefit. Doing the trial gave me a really good understanding of the key things I need to consider when I purchase an EV in the near future.
What is the most popular EV?
Currently our most popular model is the MG 4, followed closely by the Hyundai IONIQ 5. The great thing about EV Trial is that it is designed to allow people and businesses to experience life with an EV whilst also having the opportunity to trial multiple technologies, models and brands. For example, if your business starts the EV Trial with an MG4 but finds it needs more power or a larger size, you can easily switch to an alternative model that may be more suited to your needs.
Have the driver questionnaires provided good/interesting feedback?
We have designed a questionnaire for fleet managers to send to the drivers participating in the EV Trial to gather their feedback – both positive and negative, so they can better plan their transition to electric vehicles. We have received some really solid data from the questionnaires and the qualitative and quantitative feedback has provided some great insights that enable fleet managers to more fully understand the benefits of a larger scale transition to EVs and areas where they need to pay particular attention to ensure success. The results from the questionnaire can be dropped directly into management reports, reducing the need for each organisation to develop their own data and analysis. Organisations have been particularly grateful that we are helping to take the guesswork and risk out of the process.
What’s the average time for the trial?
Since our launch in early March, none of the organisations that have commenced the EV Trial have actually returned any vehicles, so it’s too early to answer that question definitively. Based on feedback from fleet managers so far we expect most EV Trials to be for between 3 – 6 months. That’s the great thing about EV Trial, the minimum period is only 30 days and you can continue the trial for as long as you like – simply hand it back when you’re done.
You can learn more about EV Trial for Business at www.evtrial.com.au/business
