Holden chooses ChargePoint for Volt refuelling

GM Holden reveals its first official electric vehicle recharging station, courtesy of ChargePoint

Holden today revealed the first tangible evidence of preparations for its inaugural plug-in hybrid model, the upcoming Volt, by officially launching its first electric vehicle (EV) charging point.

Positioned directly in front of Holden’s headquarters in Port Melbourne, the EV recharging station is the equivalent of a petrol bowser for regular cars games , and could become a common sight in supermarket and school carparks in 20 years.

For now, apart from a handful of pre-production Volts driven by Holden staff – who are more likely to use six other EV recharging stations installed by Holden for its own use – the only cars likely to be seen at the high-profile Salmon St charge point are Mitsubishi's pioneering i-MiEV and, from June, Nissan's Leaf.

The i-MiEV became available to Australian individuals last year, priced at $48,800 plus on-road costs, while the Leaf will become available here in June, priced from $51,500 plus ORCs. Holden is yet to announce pricing for its Volt, which will come with the added bonus of a range-extending petrol engine when it arrives in showrooms late this year.

The unveiling of its first charge point is a big deal for Holden, as evidenced by the attendance of federal Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency, Industry and Innovation, Greg Combet.

Local owners of the US-built Volt will have open access to the 3.3kW charging station in Port Melbourne, which is claimed to take about four hours to fully charge the Volt - only a couple of hours quicker than it would take at home with a regular power point. It is certainly not a 'fast charge' station. The electricity comes from Origin Energy's government-certified GreenPower supply, which uses renewable energy from sources such as hyrdo, solar and wind, making for true zero-emissions transport.

Interestingly, Holden's first charge station was installed by ChargePoint, notching up a minor victory for the electric vehicle infrastructure provider as the battle for charging station supremacy heats up.

Holden’s choice of ChargePoint as its first charging station partner is significant, given its indirect relationship with another high-profile provider, Better Place, which has so far been Australia’s highest-profile EV recharging infrastructure provider.

Holden is supplying a number of Commodore vehicles to EV Engineering, a consortium of local companies - including Better Place - that is developing seven plug-in Commodore-based proof-of-concept vehicles with a view towards production.

When customers buy the Holden Volt, they are likely to be directed towards a 'recommended' charge point supplier, but at this stage Holden is still working out the details.

Richard Marshall, GM Holden's Energy and Environment Director, told motoring.com.au a decision is likely to made on a recommended partner soon.

"We probably will end up doing some sort of partnership [with a charge point provider]. We need to make it as simple as possible for customers so that they can have peace of mind when they get the car home that everything's going to work properly," he said.

"We've got a fair bit of time between now and when we launch and there'll be a number of
decisions [made].”

It is understood that Better Place will offer a paid subscription-based service for recharging EVs at its charge hubs, while ChargePoint will employ a pay-as-you-go scheme but also offers a number of free charging stations.

Not unlike the various fuel retailers, such as Shell, BP, Caltex and so on, EV recharging infrastructure providers are jockeying for position in anticipation that in the next few decades electric cars will common place.

Greg Tyus, Holden’s Executive Director Engineering, said that for the time being there's room for more EV charging infrastructure providers in Australia, but that things will change down the track.

"There's room to grow, there's room for everyone at this point in time,” he said. “That could be a problem in 20 or 30 years time as take-up increases."

ChargePoint CEO James Brown, who said his company was very pleased to be chosen as the charge point provider at Holden's HQ, said that refuelling EVs will be more like going to an ATM than a petrol station.

"Charging is going to be like going to an ATM,” he said. “If you need to charge, you don’t care whether it's your home bank or another bank’s ATM. You just want to get your money out and so charging technology and services will be the same as that."