Australian petrol retailing giant Ampol has rolled out the first of its ‘at-destination’ AmpCharge electric vehicle (EV) charging bays as it seeks to expand its future business away from its petrol forecourts and its network of convenience stores.
The six new EV charging bays were opened at the East Village Shopping Centre which is operated by Australian property group Mirvac.
This marks the beginning of Ampol’s planned rollout – through its AMPChanrge business – to its third-party portfolio sites which aims to provide customers with EV charging access at convenient locations across the country.
“Having just unveiled our 100th AmpCharge public charger bay, we recognise our electric vehicle charging ecosystem has the potential to play a critical role in supporting customers reduce their transport emissions,” said Brent Merrick, Ampol executive general manager for commercial fuels and energy.
Ampol currently operates AmpCharge branded EV charging stations in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia, with 82 charging bays installed across 36 sites by the end of 2023.
Ampol also secured $100 million from the Australian federal government to help roll out a further 200 EV fast charging bays by 2025.
This funding – along with a deal with shopping centre owner Stockland announced in April to locate more than 100 EV charging bays – will hopefully help Ampol to accelerate the rollout of its AmpCharge EV chargers which have been beset by delays.
“Despite our best efforts the pace of the rollout was impacted by the time taken to obtain approval to make the electrical connection across numerous network service providers and other development approvals including working with third party landowners,” the company wrote in its 2023 annual report.
“This meant that only 82 bays were able to go live during 2023 with many more in various stages of completion. We continue to manage the approvals processes as we continue to expand the EV charging network during 2024.”
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.