Just six months since opening its first fast charger site under the AmpCharge brand, petrol retailing giant Ampol has quietly increased prices for Australian EV drivers by 15%.
This week, Ampol has started to charge EV drivers $0.69/kWh which is up from $0.60/kWh. This has been shared on the charging station go-to site PlugShare under the AmpCharge sites.
The AmpCharge Support team left a note saying:
“We’ve now increased our AmpCharge EV charging rate to $0.69/kWh for pay-as-you-go. Ampol aims to offer great value, high quality products to our customers. In order to continue doing so, and after a review of our wholesale energy costs, we’ve needed to revise the pricing structure to reflect market conditions and rising energy costs.”
This makes it one of the most expensive charging networks in the country. At the same time, it’s one of the least extensive fast-charging networks with only five sites across Australia. Current sites include:
- Ampol Carseldine, Queensland
- Ampol Northmead, NSW
- Ampol Alexandria, NSW
- Ampol Foodary Altona North, Victoria
- Ampol Foodary Belmont, WA
The response to the price rise has not been so great so far with one EV driver sharing their thoughts on social media, including the challenges faced when using Ampol’s AmpCharge network:
“Ampol have increased their amp charge rate to 0.69c/kWh. Up from 0.60c[/kWh]. Pretty steep increase given they max out at about 77kW on 400V cars due to the ridiculously low amp rating. On top of the frustration of only 1 CCS2 cable. I would suggest avoiding unless you’re desperate.”
For a short period of time, the chargers were free as they were rolling out, before going to $0.60/kWh. This pricing at that time was similar to all of the Evie Networks and Chargefox 350kW sites.
The only catch is that the chargers are claimed to be 180 kW units but for the majority of the electric vehicle fleets across Australia that are capable of charging at high speeds, namely Tesla vehicles, it delivers less than 80 kW of charging speeds.
One recent EV driver of the network said: “First time was 80 now it’s 55. Did it just got really expensive and charged slower than before?”
A small number of Hyundai, Kia and Porsche vehicles can double that speed at AmpCharge chargers but even then, more affordable options are available.
When the network was launched, I mentioned that the reliability and footprint of the AmpCharge network will be the key and lead to higher utilisation by EV owners across Australia.
Reliability is one of the most valued metrics for EV owners and the comparably small AmpCharge network has been fairly reliable.
It’s still had its challenges as described by one user on PlugShare at a recent charge session at the Victorian AmpCharge site: “Took a couple of attempts to get the charging to start. This included closing the app and restarting it.”
To set these sites up, Ampol received funding of $7.05 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to help with its plans to roll out 120 sites in total by late 2023.
As of February 2023, five sites or 4% of these locations have been commissioned for EV drivers to use on their journeys.
With Tesla starting to open their extensive and reliable network to non-Tesla EVs, more options are starting to become available to EV drivers.
By including a Tesla membership, many of the sites come under what the AmpCharge sites are now offering with more charging bays for EV owners to choose from, further reducing range or charger anxiety.
The competition in the fast-charging space is just beginning. Not much has changed in six months into what EV owners expect from a national fast-charging network.
Reliability, footprint and price will still be the key and from the looks of things in 2023, the Tesla app for fast charging may find it on more EV drivers’ phones than some others.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.