What does the closure of Sunshine Beach Road have to do with being an advocate for EVs?
Just ask Andrew Fairbairn, from Visit Sunshine Coast.
As a Noosa local, Andrew is a regular visitor to Noosa Junction on a Sunday, so when he arrived at Noosa Junction for a family outing, one sunny Sunday morning in June 2022, he was curious to know why the road was closed.
“I hadn’t seen the whole of Sunshine Beach Road closed before, so I was keen to find out what was happening,” said Andrew.
“What I discovered was the Zero Emissions Noosa Expo in full swing, with an amazing array of EV cars and all forms of E transport on show.”
“While I wasn’t in the market for an EV at that time, I decided to make the time to wander around the expo and was fascinated to see and learn about the EV’s on display.”
As a marketing man, he said the 2022 EV Expo sparked the AIDA he needed – awareness, interest, desire and action. He was able to find out about the E transport options, that helped him to make a significant shift in his thinking about his next car purchase.
He and his family were thinking of buying a hybrid vehicle, but after researching the wait time between ordering and delivery, and after what they learnt at the 2022 EV Expo, they changed their minds.
“Finding out at the EV Expo that we could buy an EV, with the latest technology, and designed from the ground up as an EV, for less than $50,000, was a real tipping point for my family to make the decision that our next car would be an EV and to bypass the hybrid vehicle.”
So, while Andrew and his family would have liked the opportunity to do a test drive, they came back to the 2023 Noosa EV Expo, well informed about the type of EV they wanted.
“It was an easy decision to make”, said Andrew. “All we wanted to find out at the 2023 EV Expo was more about battery range and to decide on a colour!”
Having become a proud EV owner, Andrew has become a big advocate for EVs. He talks to lots of people about the money he is saving on fuel and servicing costs.
While he mainly charges the EV at home from his solar system, he has also become aware of where all the EV charging stations are on the coast and is also looking into buying a smart charger for home use to optimise the feed from his solar system. He is also looking forward to the time when he can power his house at night from the energy stored in his EV.
In his work role at Visit Sunshine Coast, Andrew champions sustainability and part of this is advocating to tourism accommodation houses the benefits of installing an EV charging station for their guests’ use.
He is also advocating to employers that having EV chargers at work is a good way of encouraging staff back to working in the office and has lots of his friends now making the decision to buy an EV.
The next step for the Fairbairn family is replacing their second car with an EV in the near future.
Andrew says that “With EV fuel, the sun, being one of our most available natural resources we have here in Queensland, having an EV really is the way if the future”.
