What are you driving?
A 2017 ruby black Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. I like its size. I previously drove a Holden SV6 wagon so this appealed to me out of most EVs that we were looking to introduce to the Mainfreight company fleet.
Having gone electric, would you go back to petrol/diesel?
I enjoy how quiet the car is and the smooth driving. I wouldn’t say I’d never go back to petrol but I’m really happy driving this.
The Auckland sales team is the first within Mainfreight to grow its EV fleet. You also have a Toyota Hybrid and will soon have a Nissan Leaf?
It’s really exciting. Having a full electric vehicle has presented some challenges and showed the importance of planning to make sure you weren’t going to run out of power or having to recharge at inconvenient times.
Weekends were the biggest challenge as it’s not always convenient for our reps to be able to charge at home, so finding charging station locations was a must. It’s different from your petrol/diesel vehicles where there’s always a servo close by and you can get a long way on a tank of gas.
The Leaf has around a 200km range from maximum charge. Once they get bigger battery capacity and higher range, I feel the challenges will ease.
The hybrids are nice-looking cars and easy to drive. The back-up of petrol does put your mind at ease when changing to an EV.
What charging facilities do you have?
We had a new charging station installed at our Auckland branch along with two dedicated EV parking spaces. I now get a closer park than I used to so that’s definitely a bonus.
I don’t have the ability to charge at home as I can’t directly plug in and would need an extension lead. It’s not recommended to do this, so I charge at work and also use charging stations around town. Vortex has a free charging station at my supermarket so I plug in while doing my weekly groceries.
How does your Outlander fit your work role?
It’s important to be professional in all I do and that includes what I drive. My last car was black and the Outlander’s ruby behind the black gives the car a little something different.
How often do you clean it?
I take a lot of pride in my vehicle. Every Sunday you’ll find me washing my car so I arrive at work Monday morning with a clean vehicle and tyres blacked.
That is standard for all Mainfreight vehicles — team cars and our trucks. Depending on the weather during the week, it may get another wash. If you see my car and it’s dirty, someone else has probably been driving it.
Who else drives it?
My car is available to all the team. Because I have a towbar, my car is used to take our barbecue trailer out to customers when we are putting on lunches, etc, and also to events like Round the Bays where we have a team area booked on the day. I have been encouraging people to take it for a drive to try it out.
What do you always keep in it?
I have a few of our Mainfreight Christmas gifts from over the years in the boot, one being the car tidy that holds everything neatly in the back. You’ll find a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, car kit (jumper leads, tow rope, hi-vis), picnic blanket, dolphin torch, silicone spray and customer stationery requirements (you never know when someone may need consignment notes or labels). Being a clean car freak, there’s a cleaning cloth in my glove box.
What was your first car?
A practical and reliable Toyota Corona, I was 19 and living in Christchurch. I loved it. It never broke down, was cheap to run and a gold/beige colour. I would never choose that colour again.
Your dream car?
I have a crush on the Jaguar E-Pace. I run every morning and I’ve been eyeing one up for the past couple of months. It just has a great look and is different to any vehicles on the road. It’s all about the look for me, I don’t know too much about the dynamics or physics to add too much detail to my choices.