AMPOL KICKS OFF AMPCHARGE EV CHARGING ROLLOUT

Ampol chief executive Matt Halliday says the approaching price parity between electric cars and combustion energy vehicles, along with supply chain issues will be more important for the pace of uptake for electric cars than federal government policy.

Launching the AmpCharge brand for the start of the national rollout of the petrol and diesel supplier’s EV charging systems, Mr Halliday said government policies on EVs would only have an impact round the edges.

Ampol CEO Matt Halliday says AmpCharge EV charging systems will be installed in homes and shopping centres as well as on service station forecourts. 

As a result, whether Labor, which has pledged to reduce taxes on EVs, or the Coalition prevails in the May 21 election would not affect Ampol’s plans.

“It may have some impact, but it’s not going to be material in our view,” Mr Halliday said.

“I actually think the economics and the purchasing intentions are going to be there, it’s going to be making sure that supply chains are capable to deliver.”

Australia is lagging other developed markets in its uptake of EVs, sales of which more than trebled last year to 20,665 but still accounted for only 2 per cent of total new car sales.

While the Electric Vehicle Council says demand for EVs is now outstripping supply, wait times for cars are reaching into many months, or even into years. International supply chain problems have also hit the delivery of EV charging systems and other infrastructure critical for uptake.

Mr Halliday said Ampol’s modelling indicates that price parity between EVs and traditional petrol and diesel vehicles will be reached in the second half of the decade, and earlier, just after 2025, based on the total cost of ownership.

‘Getting ourselves ready’

It expects the rise of EVs to really start to dent petrol and diesel sales after 2030.

“We see it coming, that’s why we’re getting ourselves ready to scale quickly when we need to,” he told The Australian Financial Review.

“But I think supply chains … when you look at what’s happening at the moment … are going to be challenging.”

The current disruptions in global supply chains have prompted Ampol to place orders for EV charging systems for its national rollout with three different hardware suppliers – two international companies and one local operator. Mr Halliday declined to name them.

Ampol will start its national rollout of charging stations, which was announced last year and is supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), with five pilot sites. They include the Sydney suburbs of Alexandria and Northmead, Altona North in Melbourne, the Brisbane suburb of Carseldine, and the Perth suburb of Belmont.

Mr Halliday said the sites, each of which will feature AmpCharge chargers supplied with renewable energy or made carbon-neutral using green certificates, were chosen on criteria including the penetration of EVs by postcode and the capability of the grid in the area.

Each will be capable of delivering charge to a battery electric vehicle at up to 150 kilowatts, with each site able to charge at least two vehicles at once.

The rollout will reach 121 sites by October next year, as part of an agreement with ARENA, which is providing funding through the Future Fuels Fund.

Mr Halliday said he envisaged AmpCharge systems would also be installed in shopping centres and workplaces, through partnerships between Ampol and third parties.

Ampol will also look to bundle EV charging systems or a transport energy offer with a home energy package as part of its strategy to move into electricity retailing.

Mr Halliday said fleet customers would be a key target market in the early stages of the rollout, leveraging off Ampol’s widely used AmpolCard company fuel card and the push by businesses to decarbonise.