Car clubs, ARENA get behind solar-powered ultra-fast EV charging network

Australia’s leading automobile clubs and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency have joined forces to help fund a $15 million plan to install an ultra-fast EV charging highway across much of the country.

Melbourne-based ChargeFox will roll out what is being described as Australia’s most comprehensive EV infrastructure to date, with $6 million funding from ARENA, and another $8 million investment from the Australian Motoring Services, Wilson Transformers and founder of CarSales, Greg Roebuck.

Several interstate highways between major Australian cities will benefit from the funding, which will go towards the creation of the country’s first ultra-fast EV charging network powered by renewable energy.

The new interstate EV charging network will be larger than Queensland’s own 18-strong Electric Super Highway, with 21 sites stretching across the country, but will meet up with it to ensure EV drivers can access charging sites all the way from Adelaide to Cairns.

Spaced 200km apart, the charging sites will service the highways between Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Brisbane, with Perth getting its own network extending both north and south of the western capital.

Read the full story on RenewEconomy’s electric vehicle-dedicated site, The Driven…

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Bridie Schmidt is lead reporter for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She specialises in writing about new technology, and has a keen interest in the role that zero emissions transport has to play in sustainability.

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