45. CERES Fair Food, Preston, VIC

Electric Vehicles, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation

CERES Fair Food delivers organic fruit and vegetables to households across Melbourne, sourced from over 150 farmers and ethical grocery makers. They support regenerative farming practices and closed loop waste cycles, provide employment and career pathways for new migrants, and return 100% of profits to CERES environmental education programs.

With their warehouse already powered by rooftop solar, CERES Fair Food already had one electric van and were looking to add a second electric van to their food box delivery fleet bringing the social enterprise even closer to offering emissions free grocery delivery.

How was the electric van selected?

After a lot of research – including test driving several prospective vans, the Ford E-Transit mid-roof was selected for a couple of reasons:

• Size – most of the other vans that are available are either too small to fit a full delivery run, or much too big. The optimum sized cargo area was a requirement of any van for their purposes.
• Servicing network – Their previous electric van had some problems which were difficult to resolve as the vehicle was a grey import purchased prior to electric vans being widely available in Australia. This experience meant that for this second van they required a van that could be serviced and repaired locally without having to wait months for parts to arrive from overseas. This vehicle not only has an extensive local repairer network, but also has nationwide roadside assistance – including towing a vehicle that has run out of power in the event that a charging station has failed. This local support was really important to CERES Fair Food and gave them the confidence that this van would suit their operations.
• Range – a fully charged battery has a range of about 260kms which is ample to cover CERES Fair Food’s delivery runs. Most of their delivery runs are about half of that range, although some are as high as 200kms.

How is the electric van charged?

CERES Fair Food have two Type 2 Zappi chargers. These chargers have the capacity to use the excess solar to charge the vehicles. They run the Zappi chargers on the ECO setting which uses excess solar first when it’s available. The vans leave on early morning delivery runs and return to the warehouse in the afternoon when the driver plugs the vehicle in to charge. When the sun goes down, the charger stops charging until midnight when it tops up with grid electricity. This means that CERES Fair Food avoids charging in the expensive peak evening period and can utilise cheap off-peak electricity.

While CERES Fair Food aim to use solar as much as possible, some grid charging is required. However it’s important to note that even charging from grid electricity significantly reduces carbon emissions and costs compared to an internal combustion vehicle.

For a large van charged entirely from the grid in Victoria carbon emissions are approx 45% less over the vehicle’s lifecycle compared to a large petrol van equivalent. For a van charged entirely from solar it is approximately 75% less. Source: Electric Vehicle Council Lifecycle Emissions Calculator

Was it difficult to refrigerate the van and how is it working in practice?

One major hurdle to adopting electric vans for food deliveries is their use is restricted to non perishable foods if they are not refrigerated. CERES Fair Food fitted this van with a refrigeration unit powered by the high voltage battery. This unit uses propane, a super efficient refrigerant with a very low global warming potential. The refrigeration unit chosen also doesn’t require regular servicing or re-gassing.

They had several refrigeration options to choose from that offered either refrigeration that ran off a separate battery or integration with the existing battery. CERES Fair Food’s vans are not required to cool below 0 degrees which gave them more options. The turnaround was 1-2 weeks to have the van insulated and the unit installed.

Although not yet used on many hot days, early testing on warmer days showed that the combination of the refrigeration unit and good insulation works extremely well. On a typical delivery run, running the refrigeration unit uses roughly 10% of the overall battery capacity.

What do staff think of the electric van?

Most of the drivers have reported positive experiences.  It is smooth, comfortable, easy to drive and quiet.

“As with anything new, there is always some resistance, and in our case it usually comes down to ‘battery anxiety’.  It hasn’t been an issue, but they are definitely more worried about how much charge they have vs how much fuel is left in a diesel vehicle.  There are many charging stations around Melbourne, so this shouldn’t be a concern – but we have not really had reason to use these in our experience with the new van. ”

Jesse Hull – Operations Manager, CERES Fair Food

Range anxiety is commonly reported by staff when EV’s are introduced to fleets and it highlights the need to ensure your vehicle’s range is well suited to the trips your staff take. As people become more confident driving and charging EVs range anxiety will reduce. A staged introduction of EV’s, as CERES Fair Food have done, can assist with this transition. Source: WALGA Accelerating the Local Government Transition to BEV’s in Western Australia

How much has been saved in carbon emissions and fuel costs?

Corena’s initial cost savings were based on fuel prices at the time (which were much lower than they are currently). CERES Fair Food estimates the van will do approx 40,000kms per year.

“I am confident that the money we save will end up being much higher than the original estimate. In the first 3 months of using the new van we have saved $2398 in fuel vs electricity alone. We’re averaging a savings of $800/month. This is particularly interesting considering those were winter months, and we were using almost entirely grid electricity. We will have better numbers by the end of March 2027 when we have been running it for a year. We expect to see our fuel savings get much better, but also expect very little in service costs.”

“The more important number to me is how much carbon emissions we are saving from polluting our environment and ourselves. Using conservation calculations we have reduced 2.72 tonnes of CO2 in the first 3 months of use (11802 kms)! This is on pace for twice what we were expecting. We will know better numbers after operating for a year, but whatever the numbers end up being we are definitely making an immediate impact – and isn’t that the point?

Jesse Hull – Operations Manager, CERES Fair Food

What’s next for CERES Fair Food?

CERES Fair Food is progressing with electrifying their fleet. They were recently sucessful in a decarbonisation grant application and expect to have 6 out of their 7 vehicles electric by early 2027. A huge achievement!

Want to try an electric van in your not for profit fleet?

CORENA has been approached by a number of food rescue and delivery services asking about refrigerated electric vans so we hope this will become an important case study for other not for profits doing similar work. If you are interested in a loan click here to find out more!

Website: https://www.ceresfairfood.org.au/

See the CERES Fair Food electric van in action

This project has been fully funded. Thankyou!

General disclaimer

This material does not constitute financial advice, general advice, or personal advice of any kind. It does not take into account your specific financial situation, needs, or objectives, and should not be relied upon as the basis for any financial, commercial, or investment decision. You should seek your own independent financial, legal, or professional advice before making any decision in reliance on this information. CORENA accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this material.