The Australian Renewable Energy Authority (ARENA) has announced that it is partially funding a test of 50 electric vehicle (EV) chargers installed on roadside power poles in New South Wales.
The charger is designed for EV owners who live in an apartment, townhouse or unit and don’t have access to on-site EV charging.
The Federal Government’s ARENA has committed $871,000 in funding for the test, projecting a total cost of just over $2 million.
Nine local councils across NSW’s Sydney and Hunter regions are participating in the trial, including Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick, Lake Macquarie, Ryde, Singleton, Parramatta, Northern Beaches and Inner West.
This trial is being led by Australia and New Zealand-based utility company Intellihub and will be supported by Schneider Electric, which will supply a suitable 7.4kW EV charger for “convenient recharge”. convenient and overnight charging”.
Origin Energy will also provide EV chargers with renewable energy, and the charging service will be managed by EVSE.
The trial aims to demonstrate there are no legal barriers to using existing street furniture that already has a power source running in it to charge electric vehicles.
Intellihub says there is potential for 190,000 roadside EV chargers across Australia, and it also estimates that just one street charger could serve 10 households without street parking access.
“Not all electric vehicle owners have the ability to charge their vehicles at home, which is why we are excited to partner with Intellihub on this test using roadside poles, providing the opportunity to Great opportunity to pair with EV charging,” says ARENA CEO Darren Miller.
“We look forward to seeing the results of the trial from Intellihub and hope it will be rolled out across Australia soon.”
Intellihub CEO Wes Ballantine also added that the trial will help ease public access to EV chargers for Australian households.
Mr Ballantine said: “It is expected that 10% of new car sales in Australia will be electric by 2025.
“That equates to an additional 120,000 new electric vehicles on our local streets each year. Many of these car owners may not be able to charge their electric vehicles at home.”
“Power lines are in most of our public streets and that creates an opportunity for the electric vehicle charging market. They are an accessible, safe and practical option for charging electric vehicles. “
This Australian trial is not the first time EV chargers have been installed in existing street furniture, with lamppost and bollard-mounted EV chargers already being rolled out in the UK, US, Germany and Canada.
In Sydney’s The Rocks neighborhood, there are already a number of EV chargers installed on parking machines.
New South Wales electricity company Endeavor Energy’s existing roadside substations will also double as “free and fast” public EV chargers, through a New deal with Australian startup JOLT.
In addition to ARENA committing money for this special trial on behalf of the Federal Government, The New South Wales State Government has also committed to more funding for EV chargers in its 2022-23 Budget, with an additional $38 million.
This State Government-based grant includes $10 million to co-finance 500 kerbside toll booths, $10 million to co-finance 125 medium to large apartment buildings with over 100 parking spaces cars to upgrade the EV charging system and $18 million to buy more speed-grade fast-charging electric vehicles to speed up the release of stations.
