EV chargers on power poles could be a game changer. But who will control them?
Public EV chargers could soon be everywhere as power poles get a new purpose. ( ABC News )
With thousands of power poles all around, the potential to turn them into electric vehicle chargers is limitless.
When the power pole right outside Dani Alexander's terrace house was converted into an electric vehicle charging station, she fast-tracked her timeline for buying a new car.
Alexander's house in Sydney's inner west is on a busy street with no off-street parking and therefore no ability to install a home charger.
"The access [to chargers] or lack thereof really left us with some concerns," Alexander says.
"Once we found out that there was going to be some in the neighbourhood and then finally just outside our house, we looked into it a lot more seriously."
With no off-street parking, an EV charger in front of her house was just what Dani Alexander needed. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
As an energy expert and heading UNSW's Energy Institute, she is conscious of electrifying and already has a solar system installed on her house.
Moving to an EV was the logical next step, and a couple of months after the public charger went up, her family bit the bullet and bought an EV.
In Sydney's Inner West council area, 67 per cent of homes have no off-street parking compared with around 30 per cent statewide.
A lack of public charging infrastructure remains a key barrier for many when deciding whether or not to make the leap to an electric car.
Pilot programs have begun rolling out kerbside chargers like the one outside Alexander's house, but they are still in their infancy.
And it's not without its controversies, parking politics for one — with some designated parking for EVs only.
Who gets to own the infrastructure is another — with the large distribution networks vying to be the big players in this rollout.
So could power poles be part of the answer to the transition to electric vehicles?
How do kerbside chargers work?
Power poles are everywhere and provide a ready supply of electricity.
With an EV charger attached, you can pull up to go shopping, visit a friend, or go to work and conveniently charge your car while you're out.
These chargers are designed to work like a home charger would, which means they're not fast, but also not the slowest.
There are different kinds of EV chargers, and charging infrastructure is improving all the time. This year, BYD showcased the fastest charger in the world.
Charging times are based on average rates and can vary depending on how efficient the electric vehicle is. BYD charge time is sourced directly from BYD. ( EV Council/ABC News )
Most EVs should be able to use these kerbside chargers, with charging infrastructure now fairly universal.
The only catch is it's BYO charging cable.
There are a few different designs. Some have two charge points so that cars on either side of the power pole can plug in. While others have just a single charger.
You pay by using an app, with charges ranging from 38 cents a kWh to 50 cents — on average around $12 for a full charge.
An app and a charging cable are all Dani Alexander needs to top up her battery. ( Supplied: Dani Alexander )
As cars, trucks and buses move away from petrol and diesel towards electric, a network of accessible public chargers will be essential, and who controls that infrastructure remains up for grabs.
Imagine owning all the petrol stations across the country.
Home-grown innovation
One of the companies building and installing power pole chargers is EVX, a Sydney-based startup.
They have around 100 charging locations, equating to 200 chargers spread between metropolitan Sydney and the NSW mid-north coast.
Sydney-based start up EVX has jumped on the idea to tap power poles. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
Charging kerbside is as easy and convenient as charging at home, EVX says. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
There are 200 chargers already plugged into power poles. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
Kerbside chargers are an ideal way to top up the battery for inner-city commutes. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
"What we're trying to do is emulate the at-home charging experience for people … both from a cost but also from a convenience point of view," EVX CEO Andrew Forster says.
"People who can't charge at home … can have access to convenience charging in places where the car would have been parked anyway."
Andrew Forster says kerbside charging makes EVs accessible for people without off-street parking. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
For most inner-city drivers, they'll only need to plug in and charge up around once a week, according to Forster.
"The simplest way to explain it is that, over the course of an hour, depending on the car, you're going to get somewhere between 50 and 120km of charge on a unit like this.
"When you think about your average daily commute and the capacity of most EVs, you're going to be doing it once a week."
EVX has been backed by the federal government's Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) with a $2.4 million grant to install 250 chargers across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.
The company has also benefited from grants from the New South Wales government, which is co-funding 500 kerbside chargers through multiple providers.
Big networks step in
Alongside small startups like EVX, big players are looking to be a part of the kerbside charging rollout.
The companies that own the poles and wires, known as Distribution Network Service Providers (DNSPs), believe that if regulations change, they could roll power pole chargers out quickly and at scale.
Leading the charge is Sydney's distribution network, Ausgrid.
Ausgrid is alos running a pilot program. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
The distribution company wants to roll out chargers at scale. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
Ausgrid's Nick Black, demonstrates how kerbside charging points work. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
Already connected to the grid, power poles are an obvious location for public chargers. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
"What we're trying to do is extend the regulation to allow us to own and maintain the hardware just as we own and maintain the power poles and the wires that go to it," Ausgrid's head of electric vehicle charging and infrastructure Nick Black says.
The regulations currently limit the networks to maintaining the energy network's physical infrastructure and prevent them from providing services.
For now, Ausgrid has begun with a pilot program through their commercial arm, PlusES, with plans to install 1,000 kerbside chargers.
But Black says it's too slow.
Nick Black says regulation needs to change to accelerate the uptake of EVs. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
"PlusES has been successful in some government funding that's allowed these chargers to be rolled out, but the scale is not large enough," Black says.
"We really need a step change and the smaller rollouts while we're testing and learning from this … more needs to be done if we really want to accelerate the uptake of EVs, increase the adoption of EVs, we need more of these charges and we need a scaled approach to that."
Who's going to pay for them?
Energy Networks Australia represents theDNSPs and is lobbying for the regulations to change to classify EV charging infrastructure as a "distribution service".
But if the distribution networks were to be in charge of kerbside chargers, there's the question of who pays?
Consumers pay for the upkeep of the energy network through a network service charge on their energy bills.
Power consumers pay for the upkeep of the poles and wires networks. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
Energy Networks Australia CEO Dom van den Berg says who pays for the chargers needs to be fair. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
CEO of Energy Networks Australia Dom van den Berg says the cost of maintaining EV chargers wouldn't necessarily be put onto all energy users.
"There are many ways to fund it, and that's almost the next order," van den Berg says.
"That could be through government kick-starter funding … it could be through user pays, or it could be through all customers paying to recognise that we need more EVs, and this is going to be good for all Australians."
In Victoria, the networks have made an application to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) for a trial that would allow them to install and maintain kerbside chargers.
It's the first application the AER has received from a DNSP to change the rules for EV charging, with the regulator opening it up for public consultation.
The New South Wales government is also considering proposals from Ausgrid and other DNSPs on how best to improve EV charging infrastructure.
Pitfalls ahead
Electrification expert and co-founder of Rewiring Australia Dan Cass says kerbside chargers will be a vital part of the transition to renewable energy, but there are some pitfalls ahead.
"We need to be pretty careful if we're opening up now another huge market, which is the transport energy market," Cass says.
"Adding that to an electricity market that's already really not working for the consumer, we have to make sure we're not repeating the mistakes of the past."
Cass says there is a case for rolling out kerbside chargers at scale, but there also needs to be consideration of equity and competition.
Rewiring Australia co-founder Dan Cass cautions about the huge market that kerbside charging opens up. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
"How can we maximise competition while still delivering this fast and fair, and we think probably there should be contestability for the installation of all of this infrastructure," he says.
"If the networks can make a case that they'll do it faster and cheaper than anyone else, they should have to demonstrate that rigorously."
If the networks do a bad job, consumers will end up copping the bill.
"It is a monopoly and consumers can't opt out," Cass says.
"If it's done inefficiently or expensively or slowly, the consumer has no recourse to move their car to a different area.
"We need to think very carefully before handing out a potentially very large cheque to existing monopolies."
What about parking?
For Dani Alexander and her neighbours, getting a park outside their front door can be a difficult task and the introduction of EV-only parking taking up two vital spots was met with some consternation.
Since buying an EV, Alexander says she's been able to get the "superstar car park all the time", though it does come with a level of guilt attached.
Not all kerbside chargers have designated parking, which means a normal car can still park there.
Dani Alexander's suburb in Sydney's inner west has introduced special car parking spots for EV charging. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
That leads to the chargers being "ICED out", a term that means an internal combustion engine car is taking up the space.
"I think when you look at non-designated parking, there is only one benefit ultimately, and that is a political benefit for councils because it is the path of least resistance," EVX's Forster says.
"If we genuinely want to drive uptake of EVs, people need to see infrastructure that is available that they can also access.
"I think token deployment of stuff that perhaps might be difficult to access for people, non-designated parking, and really relying on the goodwill of people to not park in front of those pieces of infrastructure is not a sustainable way to get past the early adoption stage and into the mass market stage."
Forster says there's been a noticeable difference in usage of EVX chargers before and after the designated parking signs have gone in.
Non-Evs can sometimes take up charging spaces for EVs. ( ABC News: Jess Davis )
"What we're seeing is a really stark difference between the levels of utilisation in the order of 10 times as much usage on spots that are designated," Forster says.
And he believes the EV charging parking spots will be less controversial if people see that they're being used.
"Community acceptance is there because they don't see it as wasted or stolen parking spaces or facilities that have been taken away from them."
But Ausgrid's Nick Black disagrees, with their model looking at only 30 per cent dedicated parking and 70 per cent non-dedicated.
"We could roll a much higher density [of chargers] down the street and therefore you wouldn't need the dedicated parking," Black says.
That reflects the idea that there would be more chargers installed on a street to allow for some parking spots being ICED out.
Balancing the grid
As well as driving the transition to electric vehicle uptake, increasing the availability of kerbside chargers can give people more opportunities to charge their cars during the day when there's an abundance of solar power going into the grid.
"Imagine if you could park your car in the community doing whatever you normally need to do, visiting the doctor, picking up your mum, doing some shopping, going to the gym," Dan Cass says.
"If you could plug your car in then and soak up that excess solar, you're helping the grid."
Dani Alexander also sees the potential of power pole chargers to balance the grid and put downward pressure on electricity prices, if it's done right.
"I think there are fantastic opportunities for EVs to be able to particularly soak up surplus solar that we're not using, to actually lower the cost of energy for everyone," she says.
"For example, we have a 3.8kW [solar] system on our roof. I go to work, my husband goes to work. We are generating power, and it would be fantastic if that could go into these EVs that are charging in the middle of the day."
Unfortunately, Dani Alexander pays a lot more for power to charge her EV than she gets back for the solar power she feeds into the grid. ( Supplied: Dani Alexander )
In a way, Dani Alexander's situation is a good example of the downfalls and opportunities of the energy transition.
At the moment, she is paying 10 times as much for charging her EV outside her house as what she earns from feeding the energy back into the grid.
"We would really love to see if there was a way to reflect our home energy usage, and generation, in the deal that we were getting from that public infrastructure," she says.
As an energy expert, Alexander believes that any public infrastructure needs to ensure everyone can benefit from the distributed power network.
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