Date: Thursday 4 July 2024 

Time: (4.00 pm Registration) 4.30 pm - 6.30 pm

Location: Flex Space, 4 National Circuit, Barton 2600  

Format: Rectangular tables of eight, panel presentation, light food, and networking drinks

The FMA ACT Branch Committee invites you to the 'Future of EV Vehicle and Mobility Devices' information session being held on Thursday 4 July 2024.

A well established industry with a common presence on our roads, electrical vehicles have gone from prospective technology to mainstream popularity. 

With that poses important adaptions of peripheral technology and devices, reassessment of laws and regulation, and an increase in the need for professionals to deepen their understanding of the entire EV sector.

Those in facilities management are increasingly interacting with EVs and its related components. With technology improving, costs lowering, and the public's acknowledgement of their key role in environmental protection, this relationship is only going to grow.

Those in or nearby to the ACT are suggested to attend, with a suite of experts outlaying the most important terms, lessons, and scopes for the sometimes difficult to engage EV industry. Speakers, each with a respective specialisation in the field, will subjectively outline and relevantly detail what in EV matters to FM.

Environmental factors, its relationship to sustainability goals (in public and private initiatives), and satisfying client and operator needs will all be investigated. Areas such as retrofitting and adaptions to EV technology will be looked at, including their integration into preexisting regulations and standards.

Safety will also take a major focus with two panelists advocating and teaching on the safe running of vehicles and related components (such as chargers) and the broader need to adapt and learn from previous understandings of fire safety.

About the Presenters

Aimee Dretvic
Future Energies Consultant, ACOR Consultants

Aimee is a Chemical Engineer who specialises in future energy. Throughout her career she has driven and contributed to many successful projects in fuels and is now focused on sustainable alternatives.  As a member of ACOR’s EV Centre of Excellence, Aimee collaborates with a team of future focused engineers, developing optimal solutions in the EV space to meet the specific needs of our clients.

ACOR Consultants partner with clients on sustainability solutions including electric vehicle charging infrastructure projects, combining advisory services, engineering design, and risk management consulting. 

Chris White
Commander Fire Safety, ACT Fire & Rescue

Having worked with ACT F&R since 2008 and with a previous background in Fire Safety Engineering, Fire Investigation and Emergency Management, Chris brings years of passionate advocacy to fire safety.

Particularly focused on greater community wellbeing, he identifies resilience in the built environment as a key way to proactively limit harm. His firsthand experience in fire fights has given him hands-on, reliable knowledge of correct equipment, suggestions for best value and use, and recommendations for most efficient emergency response tools and protocols.

As part of his role at The Fire Safety Section, Chris currently reviews all building approval application referrals and performance solutions provided to ACT F&R to ensure buildings and fire safety systems meet the NCC and the operational requirements of ACT F&R. He is the main arm of responsibility for Automation Fire Alarm system, post-occupancy maintenance issues related to fire safety systems in the ACT, and for risk mitigation for EV and energy systems in the built environment.

Frazer MacDonald
Fire Engineer, NDY

Frazer leads NDY’s global fire engineering group and brings national and international experience from major projects across a wide range of sectors. Frazer thrives on leading fire engineering teams in the delivery of world-class projects.

Together with his team, Frazer has been developing internal processes to assist clients with Electric Vehicle (EV) installations in a variety of buildings. A risk-based approach allows the solution to be tailored to each building in order to maximise the efficiency of the building design. Given that EVs represent a burgeoning technology, considerable research remains to be conducted regarding their behaviour in fires and their interface with conventional building fire safety systems. With the anticipated surge in EV numbers spurred by ACT’s Zero Emissions Vehicles Strategy 2022-30, it falls upon design teams, in collaboration with building owners, to assess and address this evolving risk landscape without adding unnecessary cost or complexity.