Energy companies awarded $25m to develop EV fast charging network

The Australian Government has awarded $25 million to five energy companies to roll out more than 400 electric vehicle charging points across the country.

Today’s announcement forms the first round of its Future Fuels Fund, which has been bumped up to $24.55m.

Expanded from the original allocation of $16.5m, an extra $8.05m was granted to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) funding pool for five companies to deliver a fast charging network across 19 projects.

There will be 403 fast charging stations set up off the back of the funding, each able to charge two vehicles concurrently at 50kW or higher, representing a total investment value of nearly $80m.

With a target of building the network across Australia’s 14 most populous cities, each state capital will benefit from the scheme, as will regional centres such as the Sunshine Coast, Wollongong, Newcastle and Geelong with at least eight new fast charging locations coming to each town.

ARENA CEO Darren Miller says the Future Fuels Fund pool had to be increased due to the strengths of each applicant, ultimately resulting in a 49 per cent increase in investment.

“As the costs of electric vehicles come down, more consumers and fleet users are looking to go electric,” Miller said.

“Expanding the fast charging network will make it easier than ever to drive an EV in Australia.

“The proposals we received were of such high quality, we were compelled to increase the funding. We’re delighted to be able to support more than 400 charging stations across the country.”

Evie Networks, Ampol and Engie are set to benefit the most from the funding, with the three companies sharing 93 per cent of the funding between them.

• Evie Networks – $8.85m, 158 fast charging stations, eight regions
• Ampol – $7.05m, 121 fast charging stations, four regions
• Engie – $6.85m, 103 fast charging stations, four regions
• Chargefox – $1.4m, 16 fast charging stations, two regions
• Electric Highways Tasmania – $400,000, five fast charging stations, one region

Federal Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor, previously toldu00a0WhichCaru00a0the Federal Government had committed over $74m to the Future Fuels Fund, with $24.5million going towards the Freight Energy Productivity Program which forms part of the King Review Technology Co-Investment Fund, while a $5 million grant has been given to ACE-EVs to produce EVs in Adelaide.

The funding announced today follows a number of EV policy announcements from across in the country in recent months.

Leading the charge are, unsurprisingly – the eastern states. New South Wales and Victoria have both, for better or worse, recently revealed strategies aimed at incentivising the purchasing of electric vehicles and investments in their own infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the ACT and Queensland too outlined new plans in June, with Tasmania and the NT following in July, all offering a range of perks for those considering the swap.

While all states are investing in a charging station boom of some kind, six are offering any kind of draw for Aussies to make the move from ICE to electric.

But, and it’s a big but, two of them – NSW and VIC – also want to charge EV owners for driving on the roads.

Victoria has come under considerable heat for implementing its tariff from July this year, whereas NSW won’t begin charging EV owners until 2027, or when 30 per cent of the state’s vehicles are electrified – whichever comes first.