The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $838,000 in funding to Origin Energy to undertake an EV smart charging trial across the National Electricity Market (NEM).

Origin will provide and install 150 smart chargers across Australia which aims to incentivise new and existing EV owners across residential, commercial and industrial premises. Each charger will be controlled via and integrated into Origin’s existing software platform.

The aim of the trial is to evaluate the benefits of and barriers to controlled smart charging, including improving the understanding of EV driver behaviour, willingness to  accept third party control and what incentives are needed to encourage future participation in charge management programs.

Smart chargers will allow control of EV charging in order to avoid negative impacts on the grid, and maximise the use and value of renewable energy.

ARENA chief executive Darren Miller says the trial will help demonstrate how the Australian electricity grid can successfully integrate higher numbers of EVs while limiting costly network expansion: “As the uptake of EVs increases, it will be important to efficiently manage the charging of vehicles, to avoid potentially costly impacts on peak demand, associated network charges and grid security issues.

“Smart charging enables charging at times when demand is lowest and electricity is cheapest, which reduces the burden on the network and the cost to the customer,” he says.

ARENA is also supporting ActewAGL’s vehicle to grid trial in Canberra with the ACT government and Australian National University.

“It is well known that electricity costs much less than petrol in terms of powering cars and light-duty commercial vehicles. However, EVs provide additional economic opportunities for consumers through the potential of further reduced electricity costs from higher network utilisation and possible revenue generation via technologies such as vehicle-to-grid technology which ARENA is also supporting,” Darren explains.

“ARENA’s portfolio of EV projects is exploring various technology solutions, service providers, end users and geographies, helping to demonstrate and inform the market on how EV charging can be managed at higher levels of uptake, with the lowest cost and greatest benefit to consumers.”