Paving the way for a smarter motoring future
As the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia starts to surge, Charles Griplas, Managing Director of Melbourne tollway operator ConnectEast, gives Westpac IQ the steer on what’s driving consumer preferences towards a more sustainable motoring future.
In 2019, sales of electric vehicles in Australia tripled to 6,718, up from 2,216 the previous year, according to data released by industry body, the Electric Vehicle Council.
Even in the face of the COVID-19 economic crisis, electric vehicle (EV) sales are proving to be resilient. Despite a 20 per cent drop in overall car sales, 3,226 electric vehicles were sold in the first half of 2020.
Australia’s journey towards EVs is relatively slow – they comprise 2.5 to 5 per cent of all vehicles sold in many developed countries, compared to Australia where they represent just 0.6 per cent of all sales. But there are signs attitudes are changing.
In the council’s latest survey of nearly 3000 consumers, released in August, more than half of respondents indicated their next car would be electric. The change in consumer sentiment also emerged in an annual survey of EV uptake by ConnectEast, operator of EastLink, a 39km motorway, which connects the Eastern, Monash, Frankston and Peninsula Link freeways in Melbourne.
A poll of some 22,000 Victorian motorists by the tollway operator showed more drivers preferred hybrid power for their next car over a petrol combustion engine, with a preference for fully electric not far behind.
Six out of 10 drivers “definitely” want their next car to be connected to a data network for traffic and road condition warning and vehicle security. This makes sense. If cars are becoming increasingly sophisticated and connected, the roads they travel on should be equally as smart.
ConnectEast Managing Director, Charles Griplas says the toll operator began surveying EV uptake, because it wanted to be part of the debate on the future of motoring. ConnectEast holds EastLink under a concession deed and must hand it back to the Victorian Government in 2043. Joining the future-facing conversation comes back to the need to ensure the tollway will be fit for purpose in the decades to come.
In this Q+A, Griplas outlines how EastLink, which has established a global reputation for sustainability practices, is travelling in 2020.
What impact has the pandemic had on EastLink and ConnectEast?
There has been significant traffic and revenue reduction. The volume of personal vehicles has dropped by 50 per cent on weekdays, and up to 80 per cent on weekends. We also saw the proportion of light and heavy commercial vehicles increase.
We know traffic will return quickly when restrictions lift, so our focus has been on keeping the business going.
Was a pandemic in your risk playbook?
Oddly enough, yes. About two years ago we did a critical management exercise on a pandemic. (We are obliged to have a critical management exercise once a year. It has to be externally audited by the Department of Transport and emergency services.)
I recall sitting there and thinking ‘this is never going to happen’. And then, all of a sudden, it did – and we were able to institute the pandemic plan very quickly.
At the start of Stage 4 restrictions, there was rapid deployment of the call centre to work from home, using a brand new call centre telephony system.
Effectively, most of us work from home. Our IT infrastructure was at the point where everyone was able to operate on the VPN [virtual private network] from home. We have safe work provisions in place for those left in the operations centre or working out on the road.
Our customer service counters were closed, and we went cashless very quickly. We expect EastLink will be the first Australian tollway to become completely cash free.
What surprised me is that we always theorise about resilience of the organisation, but the real test comes when you put it into play.
How is technology improving the motoring experience on tollways?
We’ve recently been modernising and replacing legacy systems to make the road even safer.
For example, we have an extensive CCTV system with more than 200 cameras.
The original analogue system has been replaced by a new digital system, with higher resolution and brighter colours, which operates much more effectively at night. Operators have improved situational awareness about incidents and are able to make better informed tactical decisions. Incident management is more efficient and safer.
The ventilation system in our two tunnels has been improved, as the original system was inefficient.
A new system uses real-time data from air quality and air flow sensors to dynamically control the speed and number of fans required to meet traffic demand.
As a result, tunnel power usage decreased by 70 per cent. Local residents have also benefited, with audible noise from the ventilation stacks halved.
How is EastLink preparing for a significant switch to hybrids and EVs?
We are ready for the switch to hybrids and EVs, when it happens.
We started the survey (the first of its kind) because we wanted to engage in the debate. This comes back to the philosophy of the custodianship. We are not simply a paver and provider who then walks away, we want this asset to be vibrant and living.
It’s not a static or dumb asset to us, it’s quite a smart asset. So, we have to engage with the users of this asset to find out where to take the next leap forward in capital and technological investment. We are guided by the findings, rather than dictating what the next stage should be.
The main impact on EastLink will be less need for tunnel ventilation. As more and more EVs use the tunnels, and fewer petrol and diesel vehicles are on the road, the ventilation fans will be used less and less.
From our survey, we know that motorists are now more likely to prefer hybrid or EV power for their next vehicle, compared to petrol and diesel. We also know from the survey that the number one barrier for motorists is purchase cost. So, it’s critical for the cost of hybrids and EVs to drop down to parity with petrol and diesel power options. No amount of new charging facilities will overcome that primary cost barrier.
However, in preparation for the move to hybrids and EVs, we have been testing EastLink’s compatibility with the latest driver automation functions, as well as infrastructure communication to the vehicle.
What’s happening with efforts to standardise infrastructure-to-vehicle communication for the anticipated rise in connected vehicles in Australia?
We know from our annual survey that most motorists want their next vehicle to be connected to a data network for traffic warnings, road condition warnings and vehicle security applications. Fully self-driving cars are going to benefit from status and incident information provided by infrastructure.
At this point it’s not clear which technology is going to win out in Australia – 5.9GHz DSRC, or 4G-LTE, or a combination of both. Trials are currently being undertaken in Australia. On EastLink we have trialled 5.9GHz DSRC to ensure it doesn’t interfere with our tolling technology, and to explore things like range.
While there are standard messages, for things like lane closed ahead, work still needs to be done in Australia to standardise parameters, such as how far in advance of the incident, do we want vehicles to receive these messages. Detailed standards will be very important so that the user experience doesn’t vary across states or across roads operated by different organisations.
The EastLink survey shows some motorists are disillusioned by self-driving cars. How do they look from a tollway operator’s perspective and what changes are required?
This probably reflects the hype from a few years ago having not translated into actual self-driving cars being available on the market.
Fully self-driving cars – when they eventuate – will significantly reduce the likelihood of accidents.
That will be fantastic for a tollway operator. Fewer accidents equals less congestion equals higher throughput and even more travel time reliability.
Cars increasingly have sophisticated driver assistance features, such as lane-keeping assistance dynamic cruise control, blind spot and collision warning and autonomous emergency braking. Our survey shows a big yearly increase in uptake of these features by Victorian motorists.
As a tollway operator, once you have autonomous vehicles, we think you can actually have more cars on the road. Self-driving vehicles stick to the mandated speed limit. They will stay clearly within the lanes. They will ‘know’ entries, exits, gantries, whether static vehicles are in the emergency lane, or if pedestrians are on the side of the road.
However, there are considerations for us. We have to look at tolling gantries and tags, and work out whether we actually need them when vehicles will be so much smarter. Do we need to light up an entire road, or could it be a dark road? Do we need to line mark, or will removal of line markings create more capacity and flexibility?
We also have to interact with other smart roads in our corridor.
The inaugural 2016 GRESB Infrastructure Assessment ranked EastLink first for sustainability among transportation assets worldwide, how has ConnectEast maintained the heat on sustainability?
Being awarded GRESB’s top five-star rating each year has been confirmation that we are on the right path.
We’ve got 35 kilometres of cycleways, 63 wetlands and a dozen public artworks. EastLink’s landscaping includes four million native trees and shrubs that are home to native fauna. Maintaining that is one of our priorities, so we have our own plant nursery to support the annual planting schedule.
Climate-proofing our assets against extreme heat, drought and excessive rainfall is also key. We also consider rising sea levels an issue that needs to be managed, as the southern part of the EastLink corridor is low lying land. Although our assessment is that EastLink itself won’t be inundated, some roads which connect directly with EastLink may become flooded.
We are an essential service to our community and neighbours in our corridor and we want to keep operating at the highest levels of sustainability.
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