Australian council approves trial of kerbside EV charging equipment

There are many reasons why running a lead over a footpath to charge an electric vehicle at the kerb is a bad idea. First up – it poses a significant electrical hazard, secondly it’s a trip-hazard and last (but not least) in many jurisdictions of Australia providing power to others outside of a property boundary is illegal.

However, a new solution has been developed that addresses these issues. Called Kerb Charge, it is a pop-up, individualised kerbside EV charging outlet that is supplied from a home’s electricity supply.

Developed in Melbourne with a patent pending – it has been a three year journey by its inventors to get to the point of being approved for use by Energy Safe Victoria (ESV), and for the first city council (Port Phillip Council in inner Melbourne) to facilitate trials of the unit through the introduction of a new ‘Kerb Charging Permit’.

The Kerb Charge is designed to provide personal EV charging access at the kerbside without the need to run an extension lead over the footpath. Instead, a dedicated charging lead is allowed to be run under the footpath in a conduit from a pop-up charging outlet to the house where the EVSE (EV supply equipment) itself sits.

As such, the lead inside the Kerb Charge is only electrically live when the car is charging and is protected by both the DC safety protection built into EVSEs as well as the safety switch in the home. The Kerb Charge box itself is also designed to be flood-proof, meaning the connections remain dry even when lowered into the ground.

The key point of the Kerb Charge is for personal use by the residents of the house and charging by non-residents is not permitted. As such, it makes personal ownership of an EV just that much easier for inner city home dwellers. (Provided of course they can park in front of their home).

With the approvals from ESV in place, Port Phillip Council at its most recent meeting approved the introduction of a ‘Kerb Charging Permit’ for both residents and businesses with no off-street parking to install EV chargers on council land. As a result, the first trial Kerb Charge units will be installed over the coming months.

It is interesting to note that even with negligible publicity, interest in on-street EV charging in that Local Government Area is already high – with a reported 27 expressions of interest for an installation already received.

For further information and to register interest – see https://www.kerbcharge.com.au/