Queensland’s Noosa Shire Council has added two electric vehicles to its fleet, and with their body bling will be pretty hard to miss.
The new additions are a Hyundai IONIQ and MG ZS EV, which are replacing a diesel ute and a petrol car. The IONIQ has a manufacturer claimed range1 of 311 kilometres and the MG ZS, 263 kilometres.
“With each of Council’s 85 vehicles clocking up around 20,000 kilometres annually, replacing two of the fossil fuel-powered vehicles with EVs will help reduce our emissions,” said Council’s Fleet Coordinator Geoff Archer (above left).
Noosa Council has EV chargers associated with rooftop solar systems at the Tewantin admin building (90kW of PV) and Noosaville depot (50kW solar system), and will look at other ways to maximise the use of renewables to keep the electric cars topped up.
“Some examples we may be able to explore include the use of solar carports that store power from the sun by day to recharge the vehicles at night,” said Mr. Archer
While these are the first EVs for Council, it also has 3 Toyota Prius C hybrids as part of its fleet. If the new cars perform well, further fleet vehicles may be replaced with EVs in Council’s next budget.
EVs, Solar Energy And Council’s Net Zero Goal
Council adopted its Zero Emissions Noosa (ZEN) Strategy in October 2016, was an inaugural member of the Climate Council’s Cities Power Partnership and declared a climate emergency in 2019. It was the first Queensland council to make such a declaration.
“EVs are one of the many avenues we’re pleased to pursue as we embark on our exciting journey toward net-zero emissions by 2026,” said Council’s Carbon Reduction Project Officer Annie Nolan (above right).
Another avenue has been the pursuit of PV.
Aside from the Tewantin admin and Noosaville depot installations, Noosa Council has a bunch of panels on other buildings; among them:
- The J (50kW)
- Cooroy Library (58kW)
- Noosaville Library (72.5kW)
- Noosa Aquatic Centre (100kW)
- Noosa Leisure Centre (32kW)
The Noosaville Library solar power system is a particularly interesting one as it uses Sunman Energy’s flexible eArc solar panels (previously known as “eArche” panels).
More than 600 kW of solar PV has been installed across Council owned and operated buildings and facilities to date, with more to come.
More broadly across the Noosa community, an estimated 47.5% of freestanding and semi-detached dwellings in the LGA have had panels installed, against a state-wide figure of 41.2% (Source: APVI). Noosa residents certainly appear to be punching above their weight on PV.
The Shire of Noosa is situated around 130 kilometres north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district. Covering an area of 870 square kilometres, it has a population of around 56,500. Its major population centres include Noosa Heads, Tewantin and Noosaville. Council says the shire is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change including heat waves, more intense storms and sea level rise.
Footnotes
- SQ’s Ronald recently published an article on manufacturer claimed EV ranges vs. real world range, including the IONIQ. ↩
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Noosa used to be so poor they had to have a designated beach for people who couldn’t afford swimmers. Now it appears they can afford to spend money on the sort of graphics that typically cost over $3,000 per vehicle. They could have spent that on a rooftop solar system that cuts CO2 emissions by over 8 tonnes a year.
Using electric cars with their low running and maintenance costs is good — even if they are currently pricey up front — because we need to get off oil. But spending money on advertising the fact when it could be spent on actually doing it is dumb.