A forum for collaboration across industries, the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) through increasing certainty for investment and facilitating knowledge sharing and education.
“We are excited to welcome WSP to the Electric Vehicle Council this week, increasing the widespread support for the uptake of electric vehicles across Australia. Having WSP on our team, with their expertise in the technical advisory, planning and infrastructure space will add a new depth of experience as the transition to EVs accelerates," says Behyad Jafari, CEO, Electric Vehicle Council.
WSP’s global scale and expertise across disciplines, along with our EV project experience and commitment to Net Zero means we have a lot to contribute to the discussion and being involved with this diverse group enables us to really understand the challenges and opportunities as they are evolving.
Eleanor Short, Senior Principal – Transport Advisory, is leading collaboration in the EV space across WSP’s services.
She says, “Industry has recognised for some time that the electrification of transport is really bringing the transport and energy sectors together in new ways, and we’re really seeing that in our project work. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to bring together experts from across WSP to solve some of the complex challenges with zero emission vehicles. With my transport planning background I’m interested in where to put different types of charging points, looking at who will use them, when and for what different types of trip. Our power teams help understand grid capacity and demand, and we have designers, property and asset management specialists to really think across the whole life cycle.”
So far, WSP has played a major role in transitioning to zero emission buses in NSW, Victoria, and the ACT. We have also worked to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure in our designs, such as Leppington, and Edmondson South Commuter Carparks, which are powered by rooftop solar panels.
WSP UK has delivered over 25 EV strategy projects, using our bespoke EV forecasting tool - EV: Ready – which we are now adapting for use in Australia. EV:Ready helps understand what EV uptake will look like; where, when, what charging infrastructure will be needed to support this; and who may pay for it. We are also experienced in supporting the fleet transition, applying vehicle databases and using our Green Fleet IQ to develop and evaluate fleet strategies from a triple bottom line perspective.
“Having expertise from teams in different industries is key to enabling EV uptake on an individual, society, and corporate level,” adds Eleanor. “We are working in sectors like freight and mining which are carbon intensive. By applying our understanding of those industries there is a lot of potential to significantly decrease emissions through the electrification of heavy haul vehicles and operations.”
Earlier this year, WSP was engaged by the Federal Government to review global practices to understand charging infrastructure priorities and needs, in order to support the rapid uptake of EVs in Australia. We identified three key considerations for a successful EV charging network. This work is now being used to inform the development of a National Electric Vehicle Strategy (NEVS) to increase the affordability and uptake of EVs in Australia. WSP has since joined over 100 companies to co-sign an ad in support of the national EV strategy, and the measures that Australia can take to facilitate uptake of electric vehicles.
Having committed to halving the carbon emissions of our designs and advice across industries by 2030, we see electric vehicles as one important part of the solution to decarbonise transport in Australia.
Visit our Zero Emission Vehicles page or contact Brian Smith to learn more about WSP’s work in this space.
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