Australia’s EV adoption appears to be taking off, with recent months seeing EV sales making up more than 10% of the market, meaning that we are starting to head towards the early mainstream.
To help accelerate that, more needs to be done in solving problems for drivers who may not have access to off-street parking to charge an EV. This means adding more kerb-side and more pole-mounted charging across our cities, which have traditionally been slower AC chargers.
Last week, I had the chance to see a DC solution that could help improve this with a 50 kW pole-mounted charger that’s in the works.
Delta, a Taiwanese charging company, has demonstrated this charger, which aims to deliver true fast-charging directly to the kerb, while relying on existing assets.
Unlike traditional DC charging sites that need quite a bit of civil construction work, extensive permits, as well as space, this pole-mounted unit looks to be designed to bolt onto or stand alongside existing power poles.
This use of existing power poles is key, as it bypasses the need to dig up roads, allowing for faster and cheaper deployment, ensuring the prices to charge at these sites can also be kept low.
On top of that, it would have minimal disruption to the community and other road users, while allowing communities to use the asset fairly quickly after deployment.
The unit I saw in Melbourne was a steel-cased Delta DC model, which, according to the company, is specifically engineered for harsher outdoor environments.
Another thing that stuck out was the use of smaller screens, which would help with reducing the impact of vandalism, as well as a credit card reader, offering more options to drivers rather than relying on just apps.
Looking at the charging itself, the pole-mounted charger can do split-load charging, meaning it can deliver up to 50 kW of DC charge to a single car, or split the power when two cars are charging using its CCS2 plugs.
The difference between slow AC and fast DC kerbside charging provides multiple options to drivers living in the inner parts of our cities.
That means even cars with slower 6.6 kW AC on-board chargers, which have generally been the more affordable models, will soon be able to charge at a minimum peak speed of over 40 kW at the kerb, shaving time for many.
According to Delta, this RapidPost 50 unit can deliver a charge time of 47 minutes when charging a typical EV from 20-80%.
In a real-world high-density setting, a 50 kW DC charger will really shift the destination charge setting into a quick-shop or coffee-stop one, helping deliver cleaner energy more quickly.
This level of speed is what finally makes EV ownership practical and convenient for residents without dedicated off-street parking.
For high-density residential areas, this tech solves a massive accessibility problem. By providing charging confidence to the inner-city residents, Australia can accelerate EV adoption and catch up to global EV uptake rates.
Pole-mounted fast DC charging is a great step forward in delivering critical charging infrastructure to a broader community.
If this takes off, it will reduce cost, time to deploy and most importantly, bring the convenience of rapid top-ups to the suburbs and city streets that need it most, helping support the next stage of early mainstream EV adoption.
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.