The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has committed $2.4 million in funding to EVX Australia Pty Ltd (EVX) for 250 public kerbside electric vehicle (EV) chargers in over 60 local government areas across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

By employing existing power poles in urban and residential areas, charging will be more accessible to more people wanting to embrace EVs but are struggling to find the infrastructure to do so.

ARENA chief executive Darren Miller says that kerbside pole charging provides the best solution to increase public EV chargers.

“Not all EV owners have the ability to charge their vehicle at home or at work, which is why we’re excited to partner with EVX on this rollout that employs kerbside charging poles, providing a great opportunity to pair with EV charging,” he says.

The EV charges were developed by EVX and use AC power with smart charging capability to result in a low impact on the local electricity grid.

AVX chief executive Andrew Foster says that this is essential.

“We are so excited about this partnership with ARENA is off the ground,” he says.

“The project will make EV charging more accessible for both residents and visitors to those regions, whilst also crucially allowing us to further test, adapt and develop the way we roll out this community charging infrastructure into the future.”

EVX, supported by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS will lead the coordination of real-time reporting and will work with Ausgrid and Essential Energy on the development of flexible tariff structures.

Also supporting the rollout are Endeavour Energy SA Power Networks, Ausnet and CitiPower, Powercor and United Energy (CCPCUE), with Flow Power being the energy retailer for all 250 sites.

The project is to accelerate the development, manufacturing and installation of the chargers and allow EVX and EV charging app Wevolt to develop open-access interface between utility systems and the public charging network.