Tim Washington, Co-founder and CEO of EV charging provider JET Charge, talks to Fleet News Group about the rapid rise of EVs in Australia, the start-up’s growth and evolution since it began more than a decade ago as an installer for Tesla home charging stations in Melbourne, and its trial of a charge-as-a-service business model.

When we spoke in late April, the latest data showed EVs sold in Australia in March was almost 10 percent of all new car sales for that month, a startling change from 1-2 percent of sales just a few years ago. Meanwhile EV sales in the UK and the US are slowing.

“I think Australia will be one of the countries that really bucks the trend in relation to EV uptake,” said Washington, adding, “ And the main reason for that is because we are far more receptive to Chinese-made vehicles than the US and Europe, because we have no manufacturing to protect.”

And, he continued, “They've only just started exporting to the rest of the world. The reason you haven't seen most of these brands is because they've been basically satisfying demand in China. As competition increases, and they look to grow their market share, they will start exporting. Australia is one of the Western countries that accepts these vehicles. And so I actually think we're going to see Australia outpace the rest of the world in vehicle adoption.”

Noel Toribio Ilao, Director IV Equipment Bureau at the Department of Public Works and Highways in the Republic of Philippines, speaks with Fleet News Group podcast host Caroline Falls about a fleet of land vehicles, barges and boats that cater for infrastructure and rescue in the 7000-island nation.

The Philippines is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world,” said Ilao, adding, “ I think we're number three. We are visited by different calamities — on the natural side, we have typhoons, we are lying in an earthquake belt, which is the Pacific Ring of Fire.”

Daron Brinsdon, integrated development solutions manager at Teletrac Navman Australia, talks about key findings from a global survey the fleet management telematics group released in March.

Teletrac Navman has some 700,000 vehicles connected to its technology, spanning the globe. It surveyed about 500 fleets finding some two thirds of them currently operate electric vehicles. But they are still in transition and facing challenges.

“This two thirds has varying rates of onboarding,” said Brinsdon, adding, “We're still getting a lot of people who suffer from range anxiety, and worry about whether adopting EVs will allow them to perform the work they need to.”

He said the higher capital expenditure needed to acquire electric vehicles compared with traditional internal combustion powered vehicles was also a constraint on wider EV adoption.