General News
27 February, 2024
Meals delivered in ‘green’ car
A NUTRITIOUS meal, a friendly face and now, one Meals-on-Wheels car even has zero emissions.
The Warrnambool City Council’s latest all-electric fleet car is being used for daily meal deliveries to help vulnerable residents continue to live independently in their own home.
The car is powered by a new charging station installed at the Archie Graham Centre, with the centre itself recently having solar panels installed.
It follows the introduction of council’s first all-electric car in late 2023, which is used by the Local Laws team.
Warrnambool mayor Cr Ben Blain believes a Meals-on-Wheels car was the perfect candidate for electrification.
“Because delivery runs happen five times a week, using an electric car for Meals-on-Wheels makes a lot of sense because we have a lot of kilometres being driven over the course of the week; but they are all local,” he said.
“The car can charge up at the Archie Graham Centre during the day when it’s not being used, and it can also take advantage of the power being generated by the solar panels.
“So it’s the double benefit of a vehicle (that has zero emissions) being powered by green energy.”
The solar panels on the Archie Graham Centre mean that the facility is able to reduce its carbon emissions by 2000kg per month, or the equivalent of taking six cars off the road.
This has also led to electricity costs for the centre reducing by $500 per month (on average), and in the summer months, feed in credit can exceed $6000 per month which leads to further savings.
Cr Blain said that as well as the Archie Graham Centre, solar panels had also been installed at the Civic Centre, the Warrnambool Library, AquaZone, Warrnambool Art Gallery, the Warrnambool Stadium and the council depot.
“As an organisation that uses the majority of our electricity during the day, solar makes a lot of sense,” Cr Blain said.
“We are working on multiple fronts to reduce our emissions, and more electric vehicles in our fleet where possible are an important part of that.”
New Meals-on-Wheels volunteers are always welcome. Anyone wanting to learn more can phone 5559 4800.
