Arena supported streetside charging in NSW

[moa999]

Another small trial

$871k to Intellihub as part of a $2m project to install 50 steetside power pole chargers in 9 council areas.
Only 7.4kW (so single phase 32A)
Nine local councils taking part in the scheme are Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick, Lake Macquarie, Ryde, Singleton, Parramatta, Northern Beaches and Inner West.

Some possible testing of V2G.

Won't start for 6 months and run for 12-18 months with different pricing trialled.

Intellihub Street Power Pole EV Charger with Grid Integration

This project aims to develop a technical, regulatory and commercial blueprint for industry, councils and network providers to roll out on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging using existing power pole infrastructure.

arena.gov.au

https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/motoring-news/ev-chargers-to-be-deployed-on-power-poles/news-story/082af9e3ad7a88797a094a99f44652a4

 

[moa999]

Interestingly it's the many of the same councils that have also allowed Jolt to convert the AusGrid boxes.

 

[Vostok]

Another small trial

$871k to Intellihub as part of a $2m project to install 50 steetside power pole chargers in 9 council areas.
Only 7.4kW (so single phase 32A)
Nine local councils taking part in the scheme are Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick, Lake Macquarie, Ryde, Singleton, Parramatta, Northern Beaches and Inner West.

This is very exciting... I would like to think my advocacy on this very issue (AC chargers mounted on timber power poles with power fed from above) to the NSW Net Zero Transport Team last December has worked its way through the various committees and in turn to ARENA but regardless I know a number of people who would love to buy an EV but feel they can't because they don't have off-street parking. So this is what they have been waiting for!

I see a number of Model 3s in my suburb that live on the street, because a pretty small number of houses here have off-street parking. So some people have sufficient commitment to live 100% off public chargers, but pole-mounted AC will make life so much easier for them.

The hardware supplier will be Schneider. Intellihub are providing the overall management and data intelligence, the customer engagement platform will be provided by EVSE and the virtual power plant and distributed energy solutions will be managed by AutoGrid. After completion of the trial, assuming it is successful, local councils would become the commercial managers and be responsible for network growth in their respective areas.

Intellihub EV Streetside Charging Project - Intellihub

Local street side power poles will be turned into electric vehicle (EV) charging stations under an Australian first trial being rolled out across the Sydney and Hunter regions of NSW.

www.intellihub.com.au

 

[moa999]

Schneider hardware has a good rep, but it certainly looks a little large on those poles.

The select installs of EO Minis and JetCharge units on metal smart poles is a lot neater looking, but obviously harder to do with the classic wooden pole.

 

[Vostok]

Schneider hardware has a good rep, but it certainly looks a little large on those poles.

I wonder whether the 6 month delay to the start of the trial is to allow time for a smaller or adapted enclosure to be produced that is better suited to timber power poles? With only 50 units planned in the trial, it could be a bespoke exercise with a view to ramping up production if the trial is successful.

 

[Chuq]

I wonder whether the 6 month delay to the start of the trial is to allow time for a smaller or adapted enclosure to be produced that is better suited to timber power poles?

I'm really hoping so... but this article says the units will be "EVLink Smart Wallbox by Schneider Electric"

Street-side EV charging is coming to an Aussie power pole near you - techAU

Looking for the latest news, reviews, and insights on technology in Australia? Look no further than our tech website! From the newest gadgets to the latest software releases, we've got you covered with up-to-date information and expert analysis. Stay ahead of the curve and explore the world of...

techau.com.au

 

[Onshore]

$2m project to install 50 steetside power pole chargers in 9 council areas.

Only 7.4kW (so single phase 32A)

I guess the obvious question is why it is working out to $40,000 per unit???

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

I guess the obvious question is why it is working out to $40,000 per unit???

They’re buying the wrong units. Something cheaper is possible.

Coil a cable onto a cheap overhead unit and unroll the cable when you log on with your phone. Buy and install them by the tens of thousands and do a massive rollout as a production line with dedicated crews going street to street.

These pole-mounted EV chargers let down their joules

Up to 70 percent cheaper to deploy.

www.theverge.com

Stuff this piecemeal BS with overpriced units that’ll probably fail in a few months. A couple of units per LGA won’t give people confidence they can buy that EV.

Campbell Street Parking/Charging | PlugShare

 

[moa999]

Unfortunately most of the costs will be in project management and install costs. If it expands it probably scales a bit, though agree it does sound high per unit.

Nowhere near as simple as your home charger install.

The units probably $2k.
(Although V2G CHAdeMO units a lot more)
Then you need a few people and office space to manage approvals with councils, grid operator, power company, the installers etc (thats a few hundred k)
Presumably it's connecting straight to the power grid, so you'll also need a meter box on the pole, NEM meter and all the install of that (probably another $2k).
Then the install probably needs a lift at every site to reach the power cables, and sparkies with special licences.

 

[Vostok]

I guess the obvious question is why it is working out to $40,000 per unit???

Because there is a lot more to this than just the capital cost of the units. They are trying to spin up an entirely new ecosystem here, with a whole end-to-end process to be developed in terms of installation practices, unit management and maintenance, customer App and back-end data collection, management, billing, customer care, data analysis and reporting for the trial, etc.

Even by reusing some existing capabilities, that still costs money because people’s time and intelligence to do these things costs money.

Over time of course, most of those start-up costs do not scale much with an increased network size, and the cost per incremental network unit will drop quite a lot.

People used to ridicule Tesla on the basis that dividing Tesla’s cumulative costs by the number of cars they had actually made proved that EVs were horrendously expensive and would never be successful. Same error here to just divide $2M by 50 and say it’s expensive.

 

[Vostok]

They’re buying the wrong units. Something cheaper is possible.

See my post above.

Stuff this piecemeal BS with overpriced units that’ll probably fail in a few months. A couple of units per LGA won’t give people confidence they can buy that EV.

It’s a trial. No business is going to roll out an entirely new solution like this on a massive scale if the economics don’t fundamentally work.

 

[Onshore]

Because there is a lot more to this than just the capital cost of the units. They are trying to spin up an entirely new ecosystem here, with a whole end-to-end process to be developed in terms of installation practices, unit management and maintenance, customer App and back-end data collection, management, billing, customer care, data analysis and reporting for the trial, etc.

I get that there are fixed startup costs, but it still seems to be ridiculously high.

A power pole install should be one of the cheapest forms of EVSE, since there is no trenching, excavation, bollard installations etc, and the power source is literally right there.

Even at $4K for the hardware and another $6K installation costs per site, which would cover a cherry picker, 2 sparkles, traffic controller (if needed).

Say there are $250K project management costs, that's another $5k per site. That gets us to $15k per installed unit.

For the app and data they really should use an established off the shelf solution.

Best thing the govt could do now is to pass some legislation to remove red tape around EVSE installations, similar to the NBN legislation. As long as an install complies with published standards, then deal the local councils out of the process. This will save immense amounts of time and money.

 

[moa999]

Agree cutting the red tape would help.
Some of Jolt's council applications run to 50pgs.

 

[Onshore]

Some of Jolt's council applications run to 50pgs.

Imagine all of the NBN infrastructure had to go thorough councils...

It would only be about 10% complete.

Side note: Siemens field crews in the UK can do 20 lamp post EVSE installs per day

 

[positiv]

I get that there are fixed startup costs, but it still seems to be ridiculously high.

A power pole install should be one of the cheapest forms of EVSE, since there is no trenching, excavation, bollard installations etc, and the power source is literally right there.

Even at $4K for the hardware and another $6K installation costs per site, which would cover a cherry picker, 2 sparkles, traffic controller (if needed).

Say there are $250K project management costs, that's another $5k per site. That gets us to $15k per installed unit.

I agree. The $40k per charger is incomprehensible. Street side charging would never be viable at those costs.

I’d really like to see a cost breakdown to see where the money is going.

 

[Vostok]

I get that there are fixed startup costs, but it still seems to be ridiculously high.

I think you grossly underestimate what is required to fully implement something like this that provides a working, end-to-end, customer usable solution. Some cost components of which I mentioned.

I would expect at scale this solution will be the cheapest possible public EVSE solution for the reasons stated. Which is why I am a big fan of this and urged the NSW Net Zero Transport Team to work on it (this type of solution had never occurred to them).

But even to work out exactly how to build it (and that is way more than just strapping a Schneider to a pole and running a wire) in order to make it cheap at scale costs money - which is part of the point of the trial.

 

[doggy1]

If I had a Barrel sounding name, I could probably get one of these installed right outside my house!

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

None of this requires reinventing the wheel!

 

[cafz]

Presumably it's connecting straight to the power grid, so you'll also need a meter box on the pole, NEM meter and all the install of that (probably another $2k).

I reckon each one will need a earth stake or matt as well.

Probably though there's some civils involved which is a whole separate truck roll: marked space, traffic signage, probably protective bollards near the pole.