Geazone Eco-Couriers, a zero-emissions courier company based in British Columbia, announced on November 15 the launch of a hydrogen-powered courier fleet via an online press conference.
President & CEO Andrew Mitchell described the launch as the first of its kind in North America. He said the company purchased 40 new Toyota Mirai fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), which are powered by hydrogen and only emit water from the tailpipe.
“We’ve committed to 40 vehicles being purchased into Geazone, but we have 20 into the fleet today. We should be up to 40 by about the end of the year,” said Mitchell, adding that the launch of a hydrogen-powered courier fleet is partly related to changes in the economy brought on by the pandemic.
“A lot of our business-to-business client base dried up. We pivoted to a business-to-consumer model for final mile delivery by courier. At the same time, we were also looking at adapting our fleet to hydrogen,” said Mitchell.
Stephen Beatty, Vice President of Corporate at Toyota Canada, said hydrogen-powered FCEVs are “the perfect zero-emission solution” for organizations with fleets of high-use vehicles, in places where the fuelling infrastructure exists—which is the case in B.C.
Geazone was able to purchase the vehicles thanks in part to the CleanBC Go Electric Hydrogen Fleet incentive program, which offers fleet operators $8,000 to a maximum of 35 per cent of selling price for the purchase of an FCEV.
Bruce Ralston, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, was also on the call and said they want to encourage more B.C. companies to switch to clean energy in their day-to-day business.
“Geazone Eco-Courier is a great example of a local company that is working to adopt cleaner vehicles which not only aligns with our hydrogen strategy and CleanBC Roadmap to 2030, but helps other businesses and communities reach their own climate change targets by ensuring their couriers are behind the wheel of zero-emissions vehicles,” said Ralston.
Geozone hopes to add more than the 40 new Toyota vehicles once their order is fulfilled, depending on customer demand.
Left to right: Andrew Mitchell, President and CEO of Geozone; Stephen Beatty, Vice President of Corporate at Toyota Canada; Bruce Ralston, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation
