With the EV transition inevitable, SupermarketNews spoke to Countdown, Foodstuffs and Z Energy to learn what stretch of the EV road they sit on.
Countdown
Countdown’s first EV charging sites were installed in the Waikato in 2018 at the Hamilton, Bridge Street, Claudelands, St James and Huntly stores. The supermarket installed the first public EV station on Waiheke Island in 2020.
There are now 15 Countdown stores across the country with EV chargers available for customers to use, totalling 65 chargers.
“We know customers really value being able to charge their EV with us while they shop, which is why we have established an internal working group to look at how we can further expand our network of EV chargers into more communities across Aotearoa,” said a Countdown Spokesperson.
EV chargers are also available to staff members and customers to use at the Auckland Fresh Distribution Centre, Palmerston North Regional Distribution Centre and Favona Support Office.
Countdown works with a number of different companies to source EV chargers. The majority are sourced from EVNEX. The Johnsonville Countdown is fitted with Tesla superchargers, and a number of sites are fitted with chargers by WEL networks.
Across the supply chain, Countdown currently has five electric trucks for the delivery of online orders in the fleet and five dedicated charging station to support them.
Countdown, August 2019. Photo: Gareth Cooke/Subzero Images
Foodstuffs
To date, 93 percent of Foodstuffs stores offer EV charging facilities to customers. The latest in-store fast chargers are co-funded by the Government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund and were installed by ChargeNet. The cooperative also currently has a fleet of 28 electric delivery vans utilised by New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square.
“With a transport network travelling over 34 million kilometres around New Zealand to deliver food and products to our stores each year, reducing carbon emissions has become one of Foodstuffs New Zealand’s (FSNZ) most important focuses,” said a Foodstuffs Spokesperson.
At Foodstuffs North Island, the office in Landing Drive has 32 EV chargers for team members and visitors to utilise. They have also recently agreed to lease two Hydrogen Fuel Cell electric trucks in FY23, which are powered by 100 percent green hydrogen and will only emit water vapour.
Foodstuffs South Island currently have two EV trucks in the metro fleet that provide more than 55,000km of diesel-free deliveries annually. Hybrid cars have been introduced for team use, as well as a free loan for the purchase of electric bikes.
Z Energy
The goal for Z Energy is to make it as easy as possible for people to charge on the go, as it is to fuel up today. They were the first fuel company in New Zealand to introduce an EV charger at a retail service station.
By the end of March 2023, the company aims to have a functional charging network between Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga that consists of 30 charging points. While also implementing chargers in a number of sites across the rest of the country.
“We recognise the need for a fair, equitable and inclusive transition, as not all New Zealanders can afford an EV,” said Kaye Herrick, EV Experience Manager at Z Energy.
Infrastructure to manage the transition to EV at Z Energy means managing queue anxiety with multiple charging points at each location, providing integrated billing options, and offering parks that are half a metre larger than the norm to ensure accessibility.
The energy company is also transitioning its own corporate fleet to EVs and is efficiently managing employee reimbursements and experience for at-home charging.
