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 Meals on Wheels deliveries to help vulnerable residents continue to live independently in their own home.
The new 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 Ben Blain said that a Meals on Wheels car was the perfect candidate for electrification.
“Because delivery runs happen five times a week, Meals on Wheels makes a lot of sense because you have a lot of kilometres being driven over the course of the week, but they are all local,” he said.
“So the car can charge up at the Archie Graham Centre during the day when it’s not being used and take advantage of the power being generated by the solar panels.
“So it’s the double benefit of a vehicle that has zero emissions that is 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 have 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,” he said.
“So 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. If you’d like to learn more, please visit www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/volunteering or call 5559 4800.
