Move to hybrids central to Novex’s sustainability journey
RICHMOND COURIER COMPANY SAYS PRIUS IS CAR OF CHOICE FOR ITS DRIVERS
It’s not hard to figure out what this Richmond-based business does once you see one of their fleet vehicles drive by. Emblazoned on the doors, in big green letters, is: “Novex: clean delivery.”
A locally owned and operated courier company founded in 1980 servicing a wide area from Lions Bay to Chilliwack, Novex embraced a new philosophical priority at the turn of the century — sustainability.
“We started our path in the early 2000s,” explains Novex marketing manager Brett Surgenor. “We understood that our industry was a major contributor to carbon emissions, and with the development of new technologies, such as the Toyota Prius hybrid, we figured why can’t we go towards clean technology and still have a successful business model. So we decided to become early adopters.”
In many ways, Toyota shares a similar story. In 2000, the automaker embarked on its own sustainable journey with the release of the first mainstream production hybrid car in the Prius, which paired the Japanese manufacturer’s trademark reliability with new eco-friendly hardware.
Surgenor says this was a very attractive combination for Novex.
“We’ve had no problems with them, they’re top notch vehicles,” he reports. “We had one driver just recently go in for servicing after 160,000 kilometres and there were no major issues, both the brakes and the batteries were totally fine. That’s what all of our drivers have experienced.”
He adds: “The range capability is also phenomenal thanks to those regenerative brakes, designed to capture and recycle unused energy back into the battery.”
Surgenor notes that range is very important. “Our drivers go 300 kilometres on any given day, so to have something reliable that can achieve such mileage in a much cleaner fashion than a standard gas-powered vehicle is just a bonus.”
Novex started out purchasing and maintaining its own fleet, but switched to an owner-operator model shortly after. With this arrangement, new contractors either bring their personal vehicle or are told where to purchase one. The current policy requires the automobile to be either an ultra-low-emissions vehicle or a hybrid/electric.
There are no brand requirements, but Surgenor says the Prius has been an overwhelmingly popular choice due to the aforementioned reasons as well as providing excellent fuel economy (the 2017 boasts a 4.5 L/100 km combined city and highway rating), a quiet ride (the gasoline engine only activates when needed) and low average upkeep costs.
Other sectors have followed suit. For instance, the ubiquitous presence of the Toyota Prius at any taxi stand in the Metro Vancouver, and around the globe, has generated many stories on the Internet documenting vehicles racking up hundreds of thousands of trouble-free kilometres.
In fact, a couple of years ago the Vancouver Sun published an article about a local 2004 model used as a taxi being retired after the odometer clocked over 1.5 million.
In 2015, BCAA launched Evo, the city’s only all hybrid car sharing service utilizing exclusively, you guessed it, the Prius. Evo states they chose the platform for its manoeuvrable, easy-to-drive nature, five-passenger carrying capacity, minimal carbon footprint and abundance of cargo space thanks to the practical hatchback form factor.
Surgenor says he expects the number of Toyota hybrids to grow higher as Novex pivots once again towards a strategy of using solely electric or partially electric vehicles.
“We want to prove to everyone in the industry that you can be successful as a business while doing the right thing for the environment.”
THIS STORY WAS CREATED BY CONTENT WORKS, POSTMEDIA’S COMMERCIAL CONTENT DIVISION, ON BEHALF OF B.C. TOYOTA DEALERS.