BYD Australia to offer EV rescue charging service

As Australian BYD importer EV Direct ramps up deliveries of the Atto 3 and prepares the decks for a brace of future Chinese EVs, its CEO Luke Todd has revealed details of a new business that might help some BYD owners who find themselves in a bind.

EV2U will reportedly comprise a fleet of vans that can add a small amount of charge to an EV that’s run out of charge, enabling the driver to reach a nearby recharging point without the need to tow the vehicle.

Revealed via a social media post, EV2U is so new that it doesn’t even have an online presence outside of its Australian Business Number allocation form.

Responding to a video of a BYD test vehicle being run down to a state of zero charge, Todd said that an EV2U van could have been sent out and “topped you up” with 10km range.

“We will roll the EV2U mobile chargers out nationally during 2023 to minimise range anxiety and improve overall usability of EVs,” said Todd in the post.

No other details, including pricing or location, were offered.

Charging accessibility and range anxiety are still key drivers in the uptake of EVs Down Under, though research conducted by carsales shows that the majority of EV owners will incorporate home charging into their routines, rather than relying on destination charging to replenish their vehicles.

JetCharge CEO Tim Washington told carsales that more than 80 per cent of EV owners only visit a public charging station once a week.

“There’s no such thing as a [charging] rollout,” Tim said. “Ninety per cent of charging happens in private, not at charging stations.

“That is incredibly exciting for people who never want to go to a petrol station again, but it is threatening and daunting to companies like oil companies and even like JetCharge who feel the pressure to keep up.”

He confirmed that people thinking about an EV purchase won’t be stymied by a lack of public charging infrastructure.

“They don’t have to wait – they can charge at home right now,” he said.

EV2U won’t be the first mobile EV charging rescue service on the road; the NSW-based NRMA has a small number of its roadside assistance vehicles fitted with a mobile EV charger to add range to a depleted electric car battery, while Victoria’s RACV has also commenced a small-scale trial of a similar device.

In fact, the NRMA debuted the first such EV rescue system in Australia back in 2011, with a generator mounted to a trailer that could be used to add spark to an EV that had run out of electrons.

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