Barcelona, Spain – March 27, 2021: Image of an electric car charging the battery in a car charging station

BlackRock Real Assets has acquired an equity stake in Australian EV charging provider, JOLT Charge. The investment will support JOLT’s business expansion plans to build out essential infrastructure to enable the transition to EVs in Australia.

As part of the agreement, BlackRock Real Assets will also provide over UD$100 million of capital through business milestones to fund the construction of JOLT’s charging infrastructure, including the rollout of over 5,000 charging stations across Australia.

This is the first investment in the EV charging sector made by BlackRock Real Assets in APAC as part of the deployment of its latest Global Renewable Power strategy, which raised US$4.8 billion at its final close earlier this year.

JOLT aims to solve the major barriers to EV ownership in Australia including access to charging and cost, as well as range anxiety. JOLT currently has operational charging stations in Adelaide and announced earlier this year its partnership with Ausgrid in a world-first initiative to transform existing street-side kiosks into state-of-the-art EV charging stations. EV owners and users will soon be able to enjoy free, fast charging across Sydney with the first stations to be installed in the Hornsby and Northern Beaches council areas.

The need for new EV charging infrastructure is enormous as the global transition to EVs accelerates. Annual passenger EV sales are expected to increase sharply from 3.1 million in 2020 to 14 million by 2025, with global passenger EVs on the road rising from 12 million today to 170 million by 2030, based on Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates.

“The EV charging industry in APAC has tremendous near and long-term growth potential, which creates exciting investment opportunities for BlackRock’s clients,” BlackRock Renewable Power managing director Charlie Reid says.

“We believe the electrification of transport plays a pivotal role in advancing Australia’s energy transition and we look forward to harnessing this through our investment in JOLT.”

BlackRock head of Australasia Andrew Landman says: “This is a great demonstration of BlackRock’s commitment to accelerating climate innovation in Australia. We look forward to supporting JOLT in the build-out of this essential infrastructure that aims to make EVs more accessible to the broader Australian community.”