Ampol has powered up the first of its planned 120 AmpCharge electric vehicle charging sites, with the pilot project the precursor to a full roll out to be completed by the end of next year.
Managing director Matt Halliday cut the cord at the first site at the Woolworths MetroGo site in Alexandria, NSW, on Monday, with chargers in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australian to go live soon.
The chargers can deliver electricity at up to 150kw, delivering a full charge for a typical EV in 15-20 minutes, and while in the initial stages charging will be free, it will later be charged at 60c/kWh, and further down the track pricing is likely to move to a dynamic model as the sector evolves.
The five pilot sites also have solar panels and battery storage, which are also being trialled with a view to a wider roll out,’’ Mr Halliday said.
“In addition, the energy used by our AmpCharge EV chargers will be 100 per cent offset by Large Scale Generation Certificates (LGCs) to net the equivalent electricity consumption,’’ Mr Halliday said.
“This first site at Alexandria not only represents the beginning of the initial roll out of 120 EV fast charging sites in our retail network, but the first part of our shift to position as a provider of electricity solutions for customers wherever they need them,’’ Mr Halliday said.
“The delivery of AmpCharge infrastructure on our forecourts will be complemented by new at-destination charging solutions in places like shopping centres, and our home charging infrastructure offer.
“We will also leverage our knowledge and strong relationships across industry to provide charging solutions to fleet infrastructure that will support energy transition.”
Mr Halliday said Ampol had been providing energy solutions to Australian for more than 100 years and it was committed to staying ahead of the curve.
“We think of ourselves as a distributor of energy in Australia and we see that it’s important for us to be a leading provider of solutions for our customers in the future,’’ he said.
“We’ve got a very strong network which matches the population almost perfectly so we’re in a very good position to leverage off that base to provide a charging offer for our customers that goes beyond the forecourt, so charging at home, charging at other destinations, that’s the network of the future.
“We’re certainly looking to build out as fast as we can to match the take-up of EVs that we see coming.’’
The other pilot sites which will go live over the next month are at Carseldine in Queensland, Northmead in NSW, Altona North in Victoria and Belmont in Western Australia.
In June last year Ampol was awarded $7.05m from the federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) which will part-fund the fast-charger roll out.
Extracted from The Australian