NRMA gears up to start charging non-members for its EV fast chargers

The free EV fast-charging service provided by motoring group NRMA is expected to come to an end within the next 12 months as the group rolls out new charging infrastructure that includes credit card readers.

The NRMA network has been offering free charging for the lucky electric vehicle first adopters since 2017. It now has one of the most extensive fast charging networks in the country and last month joined with other state-based motoring groups to take full control of Chargefox, the biggest in Australia.

Now it is gearing up for a change in strategy, installing new charging machines from its supplier Tritium that includes a credit card reader. These readers are not being activated yet, but NRMA Group CEO Rohan Lund says they are likely to be in the next 12 months, although there seems to be no fixed date to announce.

“What we will do is for non members we will start to introduce price charging sometime  within the next year,” Lund said in an interview with The Driven podcast last month.

“We will definitely make it very compelling for members. Ultimately, the plan there is that if you’re an NRMA member, whether that’s free or whether that’s at a small cost, that’s something that we will will always maintain for members.”

The NRMA fast charging network as opposed to the ChargeFox network, is growing rapidly, with nearly 50 charging points and more on the way (see the map above).

The original Tritium charging posts, the RT50s, had no means of taking money from customers, but the new RTM75 charging posts are being fitted with credit card readers in preparation for the move.

An NRMA spokesman says 13 RTM75 chargers have been installed at 9 locations – Wallsend, Coonamble, Walgett, Broken Hill, Wilcannia, Cobar, Brewarrina, Bourke, Casino. One has also been installed in Byron Bay to replace a faulty earlier model.

“We’ll be installing further RTM75s at many of our new sites,” the spokesman said.

The RTM75 chargers are  nominally more powerful than the previous chargers, and appear to be able to charge via CCS2 at up to 50kW, and up to 25kW via the Chademo port.

There has been some confusion on the labelling, however, which describes as one charging port as “available” while the other is in use. That is not, in fact, the case, at least for the moment.

“Only one plug can be used at a time,” the spokesperson said. “We’re working with Tritium to update the message on our units to make sure this is clear for drivers.”

The spokesman did say, however, that the RTM75 can be further upgraded to allow 2 vehicles to charge simultaneously.

“We will consider implementing this in our regional chargers if there is a use case that makes sense. Most drivers prefer to charge as quickly as possible (which takes about 40mins) and then continue their journey.”