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The tide is turning quite rapidly in Australia. New government held an “EV Summit” a few weeks ago outlining their hopes and will release a policy discussion pa

The tide is turning quite rapidly in Australia. New government held an “EV Summit” a few weeks ago outlining their hopes and will release a policy discussion paper late September. We will get to 5% of new car sales as EVs faster than any other OECD country has - just a shame we will be last to do so, haha. I’m not convinced EVs as grid response or virtual powerplants will be as important as people think. No EVs on sale right now can do it except the Nissan LEAF and the hardware required (a rectifier) is not cheap (approx A$10k). I’m also sceptical car owners will get much value out of it. Is it worth the hassle just for a few bucks on your electricity bill every month? Fleets however represent much more of an opportunity. Buses, heavy vehicles (garbage trucks, delivery trucks, etc) and general fleet cars that are idle at night in a depot could be quite lucrative.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago
A lot of the gee-whizz stuff about EVs and grid focuses on the car powering the grid. But most of the benefit comes from opportunistic charging to help renewable rollout. You can look up the details of what a home charger needs to do to get UK government funding support. I'd imagine Australia will follow suit. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-electric-vehicle-smart-charge-points#how-to-comply https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-electric-vehicle-sma...
- decryption 4y ago
  Ahhh, yeah grid demand response appliances are kinda common here (solar inverters and air conditioners). There’s been a few trials and whatnot of smart chargers installed in homes by grid operators: https://arena.gov.au/knowledge-bank/origin-energy-electric-vehicles-smart-charging-trial-lessons-learnt-2/ https://arena.gov.au/knowledge-bank/origin-energy-electric-v... And a grid operator has been experimenting with special tariffs that are “free” during peak solar times: https://reneweconomy.com.au/networks-test-time-of-use-appetite-with-zero-cost-daytime-electricity-offer/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/networks-test-time-of-use-appeti... You’re right - it wouldn’t surprise me if there becomes a standard for EV chargers in Australia that makes it so they have to be centrally controlled to protect the grid/take advantage of excess renewables. Good to do it now before too many homes install EV chargers (probably only 30-40,000 in the country right now).

ZeroGravitas 4y ago

A lot of the gee-whizz stuff about EVs and grid focuses on the car powering the grid. But most of the benefit comes from opportunistic charging to help renewable rollout. You can look up the details of what a home charger needs to do to get UK government funding support. I'd imagine Australia will follow suit. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-electric-vehicle-smart-charge-points#how-to-comply https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-electric-vehicle-sma...

decryption 4y ago
Ahhh, yeah grid demand response appliances are kinda common here (solar inverters and air conditioners). There’s been a few trials and whatnot of smart chargers installed in homes by grid operators: https://arena.gov.au/knowledge-bank/origin-energy-electric-vehicles-smart-charging-trial-lessons-learnt-2/ https://arena.gov.au/knowledge-bank/origin-energy-electric-v... And a grid operator has been experimenting with special tariffs that are “free” during peak solar times: https://reneweconomy.com.au/networks-test-time-of-use-appetite-with-zero-cost-daytime-electricity-offer/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/networks-test-time-of-use-appeti... You’re right - it wouldn’t surprise me if there becomes a standard for EV chargers in Australia that makes it so they have to be centrally controlled to protect the grid/take advantage of excess renewables. Good to do it now before too many homes install EV chargers (probably only 30-40,000 in the country right now).