Smart charging technology helping improve EV appeal for Australian drivers

A double-socket electric car charger charging two electric cars

With EV adoption still relatively low in Australia (EVs represented 0.6 percent of sales in 2019 according to the Electric Vehicle Council), one of Australia’s leading energy companies, Origin Energy, is launching an EV smart charging trial to gain insights to grow the EV market in Australia. The trial will provide 150 smart chargers to EV drivers and fleets, funded by a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The smart charging technology is provided by the GreenFlux EV charging platform.

Ricky Fung, Product Development Manager eMobility at Origin Energy:

'It’s great to learn from the experiences and challenges of the GreenFlux team, who come from the Netherlands where there is a high penetration rate of EVs. How does EV adoption impact society and the grid? It’s a look into what the situation in Australia potentially will be like.'

In the EV smart charging trial, the smart chargers are connected to the GreenFlux EV charging platform, which in turn, is connected to Origin’s Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform. Origin is able to control and manage EV charging sessions, and thus reduce peak charging periods.

Ricky Fung: 'GreenFlux provided its smart charging technology to the Electric Nation Project in the UK, and due to the similarities with our trial, it is great that we will be able to leverage the expertise and knowledge of the team in that space.'

The findings will help develop customer offers to improve the appeal of electric vehicles to drivers and will provide insights into the benefits of smart charging for the broader energy market and grid.

More information about the EV smart charging trial can be found on Origin’s website.

This Project received funding from ARENA as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program. The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government, and the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein.

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