The North Shore’s specialist ventilation company HRV has taken its first step towards converting its entire service fleet to electric vehicles, with the purchase of a Nissan E-NV 200 van.
“The move is in keeping with our brand value,” says HRV North Shore’s owner James Gilderdale. “Our ventilation, heating and water filtration systems help to make people’s home environments warm, dry and healthy, so it seems counter-intuitive to be pumping out diesel particles to do this.”
“Over 70 percent of New Zealand’s electricity supply is renewable, so it makes sense to use this resource to power our vehicles rather than imported fossil fuels. It’s part of our commitment to a healthier environment.”
The new five-door EV will be one of eight vans on the road fulltime installing and servicing systems around the North Shore, and more will follow as each of the fleet comes up for replacement.
With a 24kWh lithium-ion battery that has a range of over 100km, it’s ideal for a normal service vehicle run. Plugged in overnight (taking advantage of off-peak electricity rates) at the business’s Rosedale premises, the vehicle can also be charged at the growing number of charging stations which Vector, HRV’s corporate’s owner, has opened around Auckland and the country.
The busy HRV North Shore service fleet is kept on the road by the work of 27 staff, an operation that has seen 14,000 units with a value of over $45 million installed in the area since the privately-owned business started up here 13 years ago. Gilderdale has been on board for eight years and took ownership of the franchise three years ago.
While it’s common belief that older homes benefit most from ventilation systems, HRV has had a lot of recent success with a number of the new-build developments springing up on the North Shore.
“With current building practices often not providing sufficient passive ventilation, we are finding that even new homes can quickly become uncomfortable to live in,” says Gilderdale. “But switched-on builders like the developers of 19 units recently built in Mairangi Bay have installed HRV systems in all of their units.”
“Over 1,500 people a year die prematurely in New Zealand because of poor air quality and a similar number are affected by cold and damp living conditions,” says Gilderdale, quoting government-released statistics. “That’s almost the same number of New Zealanders who die annually from breast and prostate cancer combined. And air quality, cold and damp are issues that may be easily improved.”
The company’s commitment to creating “the world’s purest invironments” with their leading-edge ventilation technology is backed by Trustmarks from Allergy NZ, Sensitive Choice accreditation from Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ, and BRANZ accreditation.
It has also seen HRV funding and operating community initiatives such as the filtration station that provided filtered water to thousands of young participants at last month’s Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon Hibiscus Coast leg held in Manly.
“Supporting events like this are a big part of our social agenda,” says Gilderdale.
HRV North Shore, 1/10 Canaveral Drive, Rosedale
Phone: 09 477 0290
Email: jamesg@hrv.co.nz
