This week, Melbourne-based EV charging company JET Charge, launched a new $24.9 million Charging as a Service Project, offering a new way for fleet operators to pay for EV charging infrastructure.
This will allow businesses to access EV charging nationally, with a new business model supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). ARENA is providing $12 million from the Driving the Nation Fund to support the delivery of the project.
Under the Charging as a Service (CaaS) model, JET Charge will install and maintain EV chargers at the customer’s site. Fleet operators will pay JET Charge a subscription fee for the service, similar to how consumers pay for streaming services.
The project is planned to run for 3 years and is expected to see enough charging infrastructure to support 3,100 new EVs.
With charging infrastructure being one of the largest barriers to entry for EV adoption, it is expected that this project will help accelerate that adoption.
Transport accounts for nearly 1/5th of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, which means it needs to be addressed to reach our state and national goals of reaching net-zero emissions.
Fleets account for roughly half of new vehicle sales, and they provide a valuable opportunity to reduce emissions on Australia’s roads. For small fleet operators, the upfront costs and ongoing complexity of installing and maintaining charging infrastructure are significant barriers to electrifying transport.
The CaaS model will allow small businesses to fully outsource their charging needs to JET Charge through a monthly bundled payment. JET Charge can aggregate demand from fleets to access economies of scale and provide a lower cost of charging to its customers.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the project is an exciting opportunity that will make EV charging more accessible to businesses and their fleets.
We know that access to charging infrastructure is a barrier for fleet users looking to switch to EVs, so it’s exciting to see JET Charge developing a new way to make charging more accessible.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller
Not only will this project put over 3,000 new electric vehicles on the road, but it will also help prove the charging as a service model and hopefully lead to services like this rolling out across Australia.
I am extremely excited to be working with ARENA in launching this game-changing model for Australian fleets. We know that fleets are looking for a way to electrify, and that infrastructure is a key barrier. Our CaaS project will not only increase affordability but also demonstrate what running private charging networks will look like at scale.
JET Charge CEO Tim Washington
Since 2015, ARENA has invested over $150 million to zero-emissions vehicles, including public charging, vehicle-to-grid trials, innovation in charging, hydrogen refuelling and fleet decarbonisation.
The Driving the Nation Program is an ARENA funding program developed to enable the demonstration and deployment of net zero emissions vehicle technologies.
For more information on JET Charge’s project, visit https://jetcharge.com.au/fleet/
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the government was backing innovation to decarbonise transport while helping businesses save on running costs.
Businesses can save a lot on running costs by switching their fleets to electric and we are seeing plenty of enthusiasm from fleet users to offer cleaner cheaper to run cars to their employees and cut down on fuel costs
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen
It’s great news that a local business in Port Melbourne will be spearheading the move to more accessible clean energy. Electric vehicles are the future of transport in Australia, and I welcome JET Charge’s initiative in establishing Charge as a Service, which will assist more Australians to switch to EVs.
Federal MP Josh Burns.
Fleets account for 50% of new vehicle sales in Australia. Greater uptake among fleets will help grow a second-hand market and help get more Australians behind the wheel of an EV.
After a decade of policy inaction, including a ridiculous scare campaign about EVs ‘ending the weekend’ EV’s have now jumped from 2% of new car sales in May 2022 to almost 9% today.
With a petrol vehicle costing around $2,400 per year to drive on average and an EV costing around $400 a year to drive, increasing the availability and affordability of EV’s can save households thousands.
