Jolt promises 5000 EV charging stations

Owners of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in Australia will soon have access to another 5000 charging stations following a recent $100 million injection from a global asset business.

BlackRock Real Assets today announced a stake in charging network Jolt Charge, including a $100 million capital investment that will be used to fund construction of 5000 new EV charging stations around the country.

Claimed to be the largest corporate investment in Australian EV infrastructure to-date, the Blackrock announcement follows a $25m federal government funding for the construction of 400 new charging stations in July, plus individual electric vehicle incentives from every state and territory in recent months.

In a boon for EV owners, Jolt Charge says it will offer all customers complimentary charging for the first 7kWh every day, saving them up to $1100 annually.

“The 7kWh of free charging equates to roughly 45km of driving range, and Jolt promises all of the power it provides will be renewable,” says Jolt.

No timeline has been provided for the rollout of the 5000 charging stations, but Jolt says the first installations will take place in Hornsby and the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

Jolt installed its 16th 25kW DC fast-charger in Adelaide last week.

“Jolt currently has operational charging stations in Adelaide and announced earlier this year its partnership with Ausgrid in a world-first initiative to transform existing street side kiosks into state-of-the-art EV charging stations,” said Jolt.

When Jolt’s rollout of fast-chargers materialises, it will place the provider second only to Chargefox in terms of numbers of EV charging stations in Australia, after the latter announced an expansion to 5400 charging stations over the next four years.

Last week Evie Networks and Tritium announced a deal to establish more than 300 new public fast-chargers over the next two years across 158 sites in metropolitan and regional Australia.

The Australian-developed Tritium 50kW chargers are being installed by Evie Networks, which also wants to build the nation’s biggest EV fast-charging network.

The first Evie sites will be up and running by Christmas and by the time this expansion is completed the company will have more than 200 public fast-charging sites across the country.

The rollout is being partially funded by an $8.85m grant Evie was awarded from the Future Fuels Fund managed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

All up, ARENA handed out about $24.55m for 19 projects by five different applicants, including Ampol, Engie, Chargefox and Electric Highways Tasmania.

The Ampol project will deliver 121 charging stations to existing petrol/diesel service stations across four regions, while Engie will establish 103 public fast-charging stations, Chargefox 16 and EHT five.

In total, the planned ARENA charging network investment is designed to cover 14 of Australia’s most populous cities and will deliver a total of 403 station locations predominantly centred around capital cities.

Each station will be capable of charging at least two vehicles concurrently at the rate of at least 50kW, adding up to 50km of range to an EV in 10 minutes.

In its press release today, BlackRock said global annual passenger EV sales are expected to increase from 3.1 million in 2020 to 14 million by 2025 and 170 million by 2030, based on Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates.

Just 1769 EVs were sold last year in Australia, where even fewer plug-in hybrid vehicles found homes (1685).

“The EV charging industry in APAC has tremendous near and long-term growth potential, which creates exciting investment opportunities for BlackRock’s clients,” said BlackRock Renewable Power managing director Charlie Reid.

“We believe the electrification of transport plays a pivotal role in advancing Australia’s energy transition and we look forward to harnessing this through our investment in JOLT.”

Jolt CEO and founder Doug McNamee institutional capital will play a critical role in developing the infrastructure required to accelerate EV uptake in Australia.

“We're thrilled to have secured support from BlackRock Real Assets who recognises our vision to help transform the future of transport through electrification,” he said.

“Australia has a critical role to play in advancing towards a net zero emissions future. We’re excited to be leading the way forward by building the vital infrastructure needed to power our roads, address range anxiety and help get more Australians behind the wheel of an EV.”