OfficeMax Hits Emission Reduction Milestone With Fleet Electrification, Introduces NZ First In-home Charging Solution

OfficeMax New Zealand, the country’s leading workplace solutions specialist, has reduced carbon emissions associated with vehicle fuel consumption by almost 40 per cent*, following the transition of its entire vehicle fleet to EVs and hybrids.

“The fleet transition underscores our commitment to environmental stewardship through reducing our carbon emissions. However, we could only make a move like this by our people getting on board – we are incredibly grateful and proud of the team for their support for this initiative,” says Ben Norrie Chief Financial Officer at OfficeMax New Zealand.

The business has taken a novel approach to engaging its people in the transition and ensuring that any concerns were allayed up front.

“Driving range, charging availability and reimbursement for home-charging were three areas that we wanted to address with our people from the outset,” says Norrie.

“Working with our fleet management partner of 10 years, FleetPartners, we were able to provide our people with EVs and hybrids to test drive, which quickly showed them that driving range was not going to be an issue.”

The business also established a partnership with JET Charge, a leading electric vehicle infrastructure provider in New Zealand and Australia, to install home chargers for employees to charge their corporate cars overnight.

“OfficeMax is the first business we have worked with for home charging using JET Charge+, an industry-first EV charging service that allows fleets to dial their EV charging needs up and down to suit their needs,” says JET Charge Chief Executive Officer Tim Washington.

“A major barrier for electrifying fleets in the past has been the absence of employee home charging solutions. OfficeMax has really paved the way on this, as they’ve demonstrated to their people and other corporates that the transition to electric vehicles can be made simple for employees through an at home charging solution,” said Washington.

JET Charge+ bundles together all the elements a fleet needs to charge their EV fleet. Electricity usage is tracked by JET Charge through its charging management platform, which has given employees confidence that electricity reimbursement is as simple as it was for fuel reimbursement.

The new fleet is driving a considerable reduction in the business’ fuel consumption, with a decrease of 19,298 litres of petrol saved during the January - April 2024 period compared to the same time period in 2023.

OfficeMax’s successful rollout has Norrie excited for the future with the groundwork laid for further emissions reductions with plans to make the fleet majority EV in three years’ time.

“We’ve learned a lot over the last year and I am delighted with how our transition has gone. Our people are happy with our momentum in addressing the challenges that our planet is facing and are looking to what’s next.

“I’m confident that in three years’ time we’ll rollout a majority EV fleet.”

OfficeMax’s ongoing fleet transition supports the company’s 2020-2025 Sustainability Strategy, which has also seen the company convert its LPG powered forklifts to electric, preventing approximately 123 tCO2e in the first year.

Notes:

*124.26 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) between January to April 2023 compared to 76.8 tCO2e between January to April 2024. Reducing fuel consumption does not account for electricity consumption.

About OfficeMax

OfficeMax is New Zealand’s leading workplace and education solutions provider, with tens of thousands of products available through its thriving online-retail business – from workplace furniture, technology and café solutions to cleaning and safety products.

With a vision to empower sustainable and successful workplaces, OfficeMax operates interactive, state-of-the-art customer experience showrooms in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch for business leaders and educators to collaborate with product specialists.

OfficeMax employs more than 500 passionate New Zealanders across its two distribution centres, three showrooms, sales offices, contact centre and Highbrook HQ, and has been an important part of New Zealand workplaces and homes for more than 150 years.

A trusted partner to New Zealand schools for five decades, OfficeMax is a proud sponsor of not-for-profit counselling helpline and webchat service, 0800 What’s Up, and since 2011, has supported more than 16,000 Kiwi school kids with essential resources to help level the playing field through its Max e-Grants programme.

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