Exploring opportunities in EV and charging solutions

Climate change has already become a pressing issue now at the end of 2021. Countries around the globe are advocating for net-zero emissions and actively proposing new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by transportation facilities in cities. With various industries and sectors behind the wheel, electric vehicles have become an important solution for reducing carbon in cities and a green business opportunity that garners much attention (Note 1). Delta was already preparing for this trend as early as 2005.

In that year, Delta's founder, Mr. Bruce Cheng, learned that TOYOTA's second-generation hybrid car, Prius II, was launched in the U.S. but had yet to cooperate with any Taiwanese dealerships, so he helped import the model to Taiwan through its U.S. office. This is the first hybrid car in Taiwan that can run 35 km on one liter of gasoline, which is three times more fuel-efficient than ordinary cars. This vehicle not only became Delta's energy-saving educational tool, but also an EV experience project for the R&D team. It provided numerous inspirations and became the greatest motivation that pushed Delta to officially move into the EV sector in 2008.

The TOYOTA Prius II hybrid vehicle imported from the U.S. to Taiwan by Delta's founder, Mr. Bruce Cheng in 2005 inspired the R&D team and became the initial impetus for Delta's EV business
Grasping the EV business opportunity, Delta signed the We Mean Business Coalition in 2015, listing "Transitioning to Electric Vehicles and Unifying Charging Infrastructures" as one of its five commitments to address climate change. In 2018, we officially announced our membership in the Climate Group's EV100 initiative (Note 2), becoming the first EV energy infrastructure provider member from both Taiwan and the world.

Echoing the EV100 initiative, Delta commits to the transition of electric vehicles and increasing the coverage of charging infrastructuresDelta echoes the EV100 with three major commitments and works with like-minded partners to promote the development and popularization of electric vehicles in their respective fields (Note 3). Delta's EV100 commitment includes 1) the popularization of electric vehicles: at least one charger should be installed at each of the major locations by the end of 2020) electrification of company vehicles: as of 2025, all new vehicles must be electric, and by the end of 2028, all diesel vehicles will be replaced with electric vehicles, with completion by 2030) providing incentives for employees and customers to use electric vehicles to help accelerate the transition to low-carbon transportation.

Officially joining EV100 in 2018, Delta is the world's first electric vehicle energy infrastructure provider member. Image shows the electric vehicle charging area at Delta's EMEA headquarters in Hoofdorp, Netherlands 
After joining EV100 in 2018, Delta has since been actively promoting low-carbon transportation and has been installing charging stations at
its global locations. In the early stages, Delta faced many challenges when promoting internally. The main reason is that EV charging will increase electricity consumption, and the instantaneous increase in electricity consumption for fast charging will affect the stability of the power supply in a plant. In some instances, there is a lack of grid capacity and system control devices available for charging at some locations and the charging time will impact operations. All these factors put factories in a dilemma when promoting EV100. In addition, other factors such as the insufficient number of EV models suitable for company operations (e.g., business cars or minibusses) and the increased cost needed for procuring electric vehicles need to be taken into consideration by the project team. The team needs to fully communicate with different divisions to gain an in-depth understanding of the difficulties and requirements for local implementation and to find appropriate solutions.

Low-carbon transportation is globally promoted and Delta encourages employees and customers to use electric vehiclesDedicated to entering the electric vehicle sector and determined to promote energy saving and carbon reduction, Delta's management team gave clear instructions saying, "we need to fully strive to achieve our commitment to the EV100 initiative" and gave the project full support. In August 2020, the Sustainability Committee approved the provision of allowing employees and customers to use EV chargers for free (subsequent adjustments to the payment mechanism and management regulations will be made depending on usage ). In September, an internal announcement was issued to encourage all of Delta's employees to work together to achieve the goal of low-carbon transportation. As of February 2021, the EV100 project will be coordinated by the Public Affairs Office in China, and in cooperation with the ESG Office and local plants, the project will be promoted internally in conjunction with existing plant energy management systems and reported regularly to the Sustainability Committee. In April, the Public Affairs Office and various plants jointly explored methods for managing charging stations to encourage the transition to electric vehicles by severing the charging power supply from the plant's electricity consumption.

Delta responds to the EV100 initiative by providing 10 electric buses as transportation vehicles at its Shanghai headquarters to reduce the carbon emissions of its employees' commute
Proactive deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure moves Delta towards sustainability with technological innovation
Although the progress of promoting EV100 varies from region to region due to different government policies, market development, and demands, each region is actively developing localized measures with the support of the company's policies, to facilitate the use of EVs by employees and customers. For example, nearly 20 chargers were installed at the Fremont headquarters in the U.S. Combined with the solar power installation on the roof of the building and the roof of the parking lot, the chargers achieve the real use of green electricity. Also, our Shanghai headquarters provides 10 electric buses as vehicles that reduce carbon emissions that arise from commuting.

On the other hand, as governments around the world are increasing their subsidies for electric vehicles, the demand for charging has increased significantly. For example, Shanghai has benefited from Tesla's local factory and its policy for issuing free license plates for newly purchased electric vehicles. The number of electric vehicles at Shanghai headquarters has already exceeded 20. The Shenzhen government has also offered incentives such as tax relief for purchasing electric vehicles and subsidies for vehicle replacement. The neighboring Dongguan plant has also benefited from this and has recently installed five chargers.

The "Progress and Insights Report" published by EV100 shares the technological innovations and sustainability concepts of Delta's EV charging station in Yokohama with EV100 members worldwide
The various education and training programs Delta held in cooperation with business units also help employees to keep abreast of international trends and acquire new knowledge in related industries. For example, the live Youtube event held by EISBG introduces the application and development of chargers in the community and urban areas from an industrial and technical perspective. The China region integrated this into the Academy and e-Learning platform and transformed it into seven series of in-depth educational courses on chargers. The content covers charging tutorials, system introduction, future applications, policy development, and much more for Delta employees.

Through our joint efforts, Delta has installed a total of 149 (AC or DC) EV chargers at 22 of our global locations as of October 2021 (Note 4) to support the charging needs of vehicles with different specifications and to encourage employees and customers to use electric vehicles. Delta has accumulated years of R&D innovation and market experience since 2008 and has now become a first-line supplier of key powertrain systems to major vehicle manufacturers around the globe. Delta's wide range of advanced EV charging solutions and products have been shipped to more than one million customers worldwide. More recently, Delta's Yokohama EV Charging Station, a joint project between Delta and Japan's Idemitsu Kosan, has recently been selected by the Yokohama City Hall Climate Change Response Headquarters as the city's disaster emergency response location. In February 2021, EV100 published this case study in its official publication "Progress and Insights Report," sharing Delta's technological innovation combined with sustainability concepts with EV100 members around the world, hoping to create more and longer-term sustainable business opportunities through a common advocacy platform.

Notes:
1 The International Energy Agency (IEA) called on the world to stop investing in new oil and gas development projects immediately to meet the Paris climate agreement emissions reduction targets. IEA also proposed that by 2030, the sales of electric vehicles should account for more than 60% of the total of cars sold, and sales of conventional vehicles will cease by 2035 (Source: IEA Net Zero 2050).
2 Launched by The Climate Group in 2017, EV100 is a global initiative aimed at accelerating the transition to low-carbon transportation and transforming electric vehicles into the norm by enlisting globally influential companies and government organizations. This is being done in response to the UN's goal of limiting global temperature increases to below 1.5. 120 international influential companies such as ABB, HP, IKEA, NTT, Unilever, etc. have responded to this initiative. For more details, please visit the official site: https://www.theclimategroup.org/ev100-members 3 EV100 requires participating members to publicly commit to switch their owned and contracted fleets to electric vehicles, install charging infrastructure for employees and customers at all relevant locations, or require the use of electric vehicles in relevant service contracts by 2030.
4 Delta originally planned to have EV chargers installed at all remaining stations by the first half of 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with semiconductor chip shortages affected EV charger supply, delaying the plans until 2021.