Business Central February 2021

18 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Rotorua Business Awards - Alsco Rotorua Leading the way in electric freight Richard Loader Ready to go: at the Alsco launch, from left Nick Sautner (Eden Park - CEO), Andrew Caseley (EECA – Chief exec), James Shaw (Green Party co leader), MP Dr Megan Woods, Alsco driver Craig Christenson, Alsco GGM Mark Roberts and Alsco product development manager Gavin Smith. Automotive HQ 109 Riri Street, Rotorua 07 346 2050 info@autohq.co.nz  @automotive HQ We carry out servicing, WOFs and repairs on all makes and models of vehicle, from large fleets to privately owned. We want to keep you, your business, and your family safe on the road. B ravely paving the way with the world’s first intercity ‘E-Freighter’ is but one component of Alsco – Rotorua’s com- mitment to leaving a legacy of caring for the planet and people. Driven from the top and filtering through- out the business, Alsco – Rotorua’s commit- ment also earned an Environmental Sustain- ability nomination in this year’s prestigious Rotorua Business Awards. At the heart of the award is a fully electric 26-tonne Hino Truck transporting clean and dirty linen between Alsco Rotorua’s laundry and service centres in Tauranga and Taupo on a daily basis. Imported as a ‘glider truck’ without engine or gearbox for Alsco-Rotorua, SEA Electric fitted the motor and battery system into the vehicle. Rotorua Branch Manager, Mike Compton, says an application for funding had been applied though Government’s EECA (Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority) fund for the $300,000 project. “They gave us $50,000 towards the project on the proviso that the project is used as a case study with learnings fed back to help other businesses make decisions on the use of electric intercity freighters. The vehicle has been operating since November 2019 and given Alsco are early adopters of the technol- ogy, as we expected there have been some teething problems to work through.” Given the driver operated between Rotorua and the Tauranga/Taupo Service Centres with the vehicle stationary for a number of hours, the rate of charge going into the vehicle was one of the key issues the business has had to grapple with. “We put charging points into Rotorua, Tauranga and Taupo expecting that while the vehicle was stationery there would be enough charge to be operational. It didn’t work as expected and we had to adjust the way the driver operated by splitting his shift to make it work efficiently. “There have also been some reliability is- sues. So it has been a year in the making and we’re still not quite there—a massive learning curve for all involved.” While being the first cab off the rank can be fraught with challenges, Mike is passionate about being an environmental innovator and says while the electric freighter was a real leap it is important to Alsco to be doing the right thing environmentally. At Alsco’s conference a couple of years ago the Group General Manager presented all leaders within the company The Legacy Book, about the All Blacks and asked all managers to think about the legacy they were leaving in regard to their businesses, the people and planet. “Every month we have an EMS (Environmen- tal Management System) meeting inviting staff members to participate and we look at things like recycling stations. “We use massive amounts of water and we’ve have partnered with Million Metres Streams Project which plans to plant and replant a million metres of river bank and fence it off. “We also donate sheets that might have a small black mark on them to Healthy Homes Rotorua as well as the Pacific Island— where- as they used to go to landfill. So it’s things like that that are all part of the legacy—but the E-Truck was the big one.”