Electric cars are coming fast, with all major car manufacturers moving to switch off Internal Combustion Engines by around 2030.
One Perth company, Gemtek Group is leading this gigantic transition, which has been compared with the change from steam to diesel engines over 100 years ago Gemtek has been actively installing electric vehicle charging stations in Western Australia for the past three years and has now opened the state’s first dedicated electric vehicle dealership, Perth Electric Vehicle Hire & Sales Co (PEVHS), to allow fleet and private customers to buy electric cars and commercial vehicles across a range of brands, as well as lease and hire them.
Perth Electric Vehicle Hire & Sales Co is deeply embedded in electrification and believes the future of transport is in electric drivetrains, something that is shifting into higher gear in Western Australia.
“Our core business is electric vehicle hire and sales, as well as the supporting infrastructure. We are a member of the Electric Vehicle Council,” says Florian Popp, one of the founding partners of PEVHS.
“The move into the electric vehicle space that we’ve been active with in the last five years has come from the building perspective and looking at the management of electricity at a building level. It’s at a physical level.”
There are micro-grids, battery-technology and off-grid charging to complex electrical projects for commercial buildings, apartments and public infrastructure.
“We often engage as a consultancy in the design of complete projects. PEVHS is also involved in research to help establish industry standards. “There is still a vacuum of data and policy at many levels. It’s things like regulations, to strata billing, to the greenfield industry of electric vehicles.
“Electric vehicles have different impacts on residential properties, particularly clusters of strata titles, as well as commercial and fleet applications, and public infrastructure.
“It’s even basics like driver safety, emergency response, and servicing for electric cars. We have to develop capacity.
“We try to feed that into the policy debate.”
Popp says Western Australia is helping to lead the way on electrification of motoring with the establishment of the first “Electric Highway” from Perth to Augusta.
It has 12 charging stations along its 315km path, a project involving the RAC of WA and the Australian Electric Vehicle Association.
PEVHS has also been involved with off-grid charging, one of the tougher challenges for electric motoring and something that plays to competition involvement at Targa road events in WA.
“We’ve developed quite a lot of technology for our off-grid activity with our Targa and motorsport activities,” says Popp. “We participated in our first Targa event in 2013 in a BMW i3. Targa racing is the oldest form of racing in the world. And it’s really the only format of motorsport where competitors drive real cars on real roads. That helps us with prototyping of remote charging.
“PEVHS also sees a clear opportunity with the rental and sale of electric cars and has just taken the first step into that future.
“We are now Australia’s first electric vehicle dedicated dealership. Our purpose is to make electric cars available across brands. There is a lot of learning and education that has to happen. And not just passenger cars, we’re also talking about light commercial, buses and trucks.”
Popp admits there are frustrations and plenty of challenges, but he is clear on the mission statement for PEVHS.
“We are motivated firstly by our commitment to the environment and keeping up with overseas car manufacturers. We are very focused on building a sustainable transport future,” he says.
With many auto manufacturers committing to end the production of Internal Combustion Engines within a decade to meet international Climate policies, PEVHS is clearly focused on ensuring WA remains at the forefront of this global transition.
Contact the team on 9248 1881 or at www.perthevsales.com.au
Extracted from The West Australian