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Electric vehicles are a game-changer in this inner-city development

Petrol prices are climbing above $2.20 a litre this week and if Megan Thomson’s Audi wasn’t so new, she’d sell it, particularly as her new inner-city home comes with three electric vehicles she can hire for as little as $15 an hour in a Queensland-first exclusive deal for residents. Megan joined the electrification transport revolution quite by accident, when she moved from Shorncliffe north of Brisbane to an apartment in The Standard at South Brisbane as one of the original residents mid last year.

“Living here is like being in a hotel, you just don’t have the room service,” Megan says.

“When I was in Shorncliffe, I used to have to drive to get everywhere, now I can walk downstairs and there’s Indian restaurants in both directions. I don’t have to worry about going out to the gym or the sauna or a magnesium pool, it’s all here.”

In taking their award-winning sustainable residential tower to the next level, Brisbane developers at Aria Group partnered with end-to-end electric mobility provider Ohmie GO to establish a small fleet of onsite Teslas that are hired on a pay-as-you-go system, whether you need to run a 30-minute errand or escape to the coast for the weekend. Prices range from $15 an hour to $79 a day or $200 for the weekend from 4pm Friday to 9am Monday. The cars are insured, cleaned, and maintained by the external provider and can be booked and unlocked using a smartphone app.

“The Teslas outweigh the cost of owning a car, and with the cost of fuel going up, why would I not hire out a Tesla to go away for the weekend,” Megan said.

In April, the three Tesla Mode 3 SR plus cars were booked out 102 times, covering some 786 hours and offsetting 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide, an environmental report card that fringe competitors such as Uber, Car Next Door and Go Get are finding hard to beat. The exclusivity of having in-house electric vehicles is also a valuable point of difference for residents.

“We are the first ones building this market and this sector in Australia, and Aria was the first residential developer to take up this solution in Queensland,” Ohmie GO head of growth Max Millett says.

He says early data shows that residents are making the decision to remove their vehicles because of the electric vehicle offering and the Teslas are a key service point in the decision to buy into the building. The company also works in the commercial and retirement sectors and is making a strong move into the hotel and build-to-rent apartment space. Meanwhile an increasing number of prestige developers are customising their apartments to support electric vehicles with charging stations in personal car parks as well as visitor parking spots.

“We’re making Maxwell St a green building,” Craig Purdy of Purdy Developments says of his Arcilla development on Maxwell St in New Farm.

“We will have solar panels for car charging to reduce fossil fuels and we are negotiating with electric car manufacturers to get that right,” Craig says.

The Standard, a 31-storey residential tower with 264 residences, a full concierge service and the three Tesla cars, has been named the best residential high rise in Australia by the Urban Development Institute of Australia this year.

“I think the industry nationally is now looking at Brisbane as setting the benchmark for others to follow,” Aria residential development manager Michael Hurley says.

_{‍Words: Debra Bela Pictures: David Kelly and supplied}

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^{ABOUT OHMIE GO}

^{Ohmie GO is Australia’s first, and leading, electric mobility platform for buildings, which was founded in 2018. Ohmie GO is building the future of electric mobility and transport in partnership with Australia's most innovative and sustainable players in the property industry, changing the relationship between buildings and mobility.}

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^{Media contact: press@ohmiego.com}

What if you didn't need to own a car? What if you could just pop downstairs and borrow one whenever you need a ride?

That is the proposition being made to residents in an increasing number of Australian apartment blocks, office buildings, hotels and even retirement villages.

It's part of a new trend in transport, an extension of car-sharing services, and a way many drivers are trying electric vehicles for the first time.

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Transport experts say the trend could also have significant consequences for car ownership in Australia, and the number of car parks we see in future buildings.

The trend falls under the umbrella of "shared mobility" and it is being introduced as an amenity in new developments, large buildings where car parks are scarce, and urban apartment blocks where residents want to reduce their costs.

Ohmie Go founder and chief executive Kyle Bolto said the company had 14 shared mobility spaces operating in buildings around Australia, another 20 under contract, and he wanted it to be "in at least 100 buildings by the end of 2023".

Convincing building owners to take up the service was simple, he said, once he explained how it worked.

"We've got a bit of a throwaway line: we say it's like having a pool but useful," Mr Bolto said.

Shared mobility services like Ohmie Go offer electric car fleet packages. The company provides vehicles as well as chargers and electrical infrastructure, insurance, registration, regular detailing, roadside assistance, and a software system for residents to book and pay for vehicles.

Residents are charged modest fees to rent the shared cars — driving a Tesla Model 3 for an hour costs $16.50 from Ohmie Go, for example — and Mr Bolto said the service was changing the way residents viewed their own vehicles.

"We are genuinely now starting to see some of our users say, 'why on earth do I own a car? This makes no sense'," he said.
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"We have a mission to change the way people think about vehicles.

"For certain demographics in outer suburbs, regional areas, rural areas, we understand (owning a car), but in dense urban environments, we're really trying to use the transition to electric vehicles as an excuse to say, 'you don't have to buy your own car that sits there 90 per cent of the time'."

Click here to read the full article

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^{ABOUT OHMIE GO}

^{Ohmie GO is Australia’s first electric mobility platform for buildings, which was founded in 2018. Ohmie GO is building the future of electric mobility and transport in partnership with Australia's most innovative and sustainable players in the property industry, changing the relationship between buildings and mobility.}

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^{Media contact: press@ohmiego.com}

Office workers at 100 Arthur Street, North Sydney can now rent a Tesla Model 3 on demand for as little as $15 per hour directly from their building’s carpark thanks to an exciting new partnership between Knight Frank and Australia’s first on-site electric vehicle sharing service Ohmie GO.

Through the use of the Ohmie GO app, tenants will be able to book, access, and pay for an electric vehicle at an hourly, daily or weekend rate. The car is picked up and dropped off from a dedicated bay within the building’s carpark.

100 Arthur Street is the first commercial building to offer this service, having launched on the 1st of March with guided tours of the facility for tenants.

Currently, Ohmie GO offers the service with a choice of vehicles including the Tesla Model 3, Hyundai Kona Electric and a range of e-bikes, depending on the requirements of the building. A pipeline of premium buildings are due to deploy the service in 2021.

With a plethora of new electric vehicles hitting the market over the next two years, Ohmie GO is set to expand the range of vehicles offered.

As part of the partnership, Ohmie GO will manage the service from end to end via their mobile app and Carbar will provide Ohmie GO access to the latest electric vehicles and maintain the vehicles tied to the service.

“We strongly believe sustainable mobility is the future. Our fully managed model provides access to this technology to so many more people while significantly increasing the appeal and sustainability of a building for the asset owners and managers. We believe this service will give property owners an edge in securing and retaining high quality tenants in what is already a tough commercial real estate market”, Ohmie GO CEO and founder Kyle Bolto said.

“Partnering with Ohmie Go accentuates Knight Frank’s premium customer service offering and perfectly aligns with our commitment to innovation and sustainability. As more employees begin to return to the office, it is imperative that the workplace experience is enjoyable and engaging. Providing great customer experiences will be an essential point of difference for landlords and Ohmie Go is an important part of that strategy for us”, Knight Frank Australia National Head of Asset Management Services Lisa Atkins said.

Click here to read the full article

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^{ABOUT OHMIE GO}

^{Ohmie GO is Australia’s leading electric mobility and technology company, which launched in 2018. Ohmie GO is building the future of electric mobility and transport in partnership with Australia's most innovative and sustainable players in the property industry. They are doing so by changing the relationship between buildings and mobility.}

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^{Media contact: press@ohmiego.com}

Sydney’s landmark modernist office tower Grosvenor Place has always been ahead of its time and from next month the building’s tenants will be offered a first in a premium commercial building located in Sydney’s CBD – an emissions free travel option with a Tesla available exclusively for tenants.

Announcing a new partnership with Ohmie Go from February 2022, Grosvenor Place tenants can exclusively access the Tesla Model 3 SR Plus via their phone app and pick-up in the vehicle from its top floor parking bay to silently spin off to a meeting or take it away for a road-tripping weekend.

"The fully flexible offer, from as low as $15 an hour to under $200 for the weekend, will create an added incentive to head back to the office," according to the building’s Executive Director John Derrick

He says the Grosvenor Place tenants are the perfect fit for the Ohmie GO Tesla with their desire for premium and aspirational offers and their environmental and sustainably focused values. He said the partnership would add to the building’s impressive ESG performance where sustainability is a priority from building infrastructure made from the recycled Simply Cups scheme they support and the first waste food dehydrator installed in any office tower in the country.

He said tenants could now fully exercise their own environmental standards by cycling into the office to take advantage of the building’s 5 Star end of trip facilities and first-rate bike parking and servicing station, then swap into the emission free Tesla for a meeting trip.

“The electrification transport revolution is coming and we intend to be at the forefront with this offer and our own provision of recharging bays to be able to quickly scale up to meet demand,” Derrick said

Ohmie GO Head of Growth Max Millett said they were impressed how much the management and community at Grosvenor Place really act on their sustainability efforts throughout the building and Ohmie GO is excited for how this opportunity will be received.

Click here to read the full article

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^{ABOUT OHMIE GO}

^{Ohmie GO is Australia’s first, and leading, electric mobility platform for buildings, which was founded in 2018. Ohmie GO is building the future of electric mobility and transport in partnership with Australia's most innovative and sustainable players in the property industry, changing the relationship between buildings and mobility.}

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^{Media contact: press@ohmiego.com}

Placing every Australian in an EV will help cut down on tail-pipe pollution levels, but doesn’t solve the issues of manufacturing emissions, road congestion or the consumption of space used for storage.

Some see the future of EVs as a built-in and streamlined system of shared or communal ownership.

Australian property developer Cedar Woods has built EV car share facilities into two of its newest apartment buildings in the 6.5 hectare Jackson Green housing development in Victoria.

Once operational, residents from the buildings will be able to hire a Tesla Model 3 through a partnership with proptech company, Ohmie GO, which is looking to roll out similar schemes nationwide.

“Fully managed, on-site e-mobility and its integration with the built-form is the inevitable progression for all new large-scale residential developments,” Ohmie GO Chief Executive & Founder, Kyle Bolto said

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Click here to read the full article

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^{ABOUT OHMIE GO}

^{Ohmie GO is Australia’s first, and leading, electric mobility platform for buildings, which was founded in 2018. Ohmie GO is building the future of electric mobility and transport in partnership with Australia's most innovative and sustainable players in the property industry, changing the relationship between buildings and mobility.}

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^{Media contact: press@ohmiego.com}‍

Residents in Melbourne's EQ Tower will be able to borrow a pair of Hyundai Kona Electrics hourly, or for an entire day. Although pricing hasn't been finalised, the starting rate will be $15 per hour, with no extra charge for distance covered.

Existing car-share services tend to cost between $8 and $14 per hour, with a per-kilometre cost between 30 and 40 cents. Insurance, charge and maintenance costs are all included in that fee, although residents are on the hook for tolls.

Having booked the cars through a smartphone app, residents collect, return and charge the cars in the building's underground garage. Ohmie GO plans to have the chargers powered by renewable energy within a month.

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Click here to read to full article

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^{ABOUT OHMIE GO}

^{Ohmie GO is Australia’s first, and leading, electric mobility platform for buildings, which was founded in 2018. Ohmie GO is building the future of electric mobility and transport in partnership with Australia's most innovative and sustainable players in the property industry, changing the relationship between buildings and mobility.}

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^{Media contact: press@ohmiego.com}

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Imagine having access to an electric vehicle, bike or scooter wherever you go – work, home, hotels. That’s the vision of start-up Ohmie GO, which has convinced some of the nation’s biggest developers, including ASX-listed Mirvac, to install “e-mobility” stations in its projects in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Click here to read the full article

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^{ABOUT OHMIE GO}

^{Ohmie GO is Australia’s first, and leading, electric mobility platform for buildings, which was founded in 2018. Ohmie GO is building the future of electric mobility and transport in partnership with Australia's most innovative and sustainable players in the property industry, changing the relationship between buildings and mobility.}

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^{Media contact: press@ohmiego.com}