Milk, eggs and a fully charged EV: Supermarkets turn to solar canopies and public charging

Supermarkets are muscling in on public electric vehicle (EV) charging as the “servo of the future”, and may turn out to be the best bet for many nervous new owners worried about where to charge. 

Australia’s supermarket duopoly is built on the idea of a consistent customer experience – which is exactly what all EV owners are looking for from a public charger, says Will Beaumont, the CEO of solar canopy specialist Canyon Solar.

“You look at Woolies, they’re all about the consistent user experience. I go there, I can buy my milk, I can buy my eggs, and I know that they’ve got stock most of the time, and I’m going to be able to get the things that I need,” he told The Driven at the All Energy conference last week.

“The number one determiner of where people charge is convenience. And for most people that are publicly charging, the supermarket is one of the most convenient places to charge.”

The issue that supermarkets and shopping centres wanting to offer this service have to solve, however, is ensuring people always get a consistent charge speed, no matter whether there’s one person charging or 10.

Providing that consistency is key to maintaining a reputation for reliability, Beaumont says.

Canyon builds solar carpark canopies and has partnered with Kempower to deliver EV chargers underneath. 

The business case for supermarkets is to have a charger that can charge an EV battery to 80 per cent in 40-60 minutes, about the time it takes a person to do their groceries or perhaps a little more, to keep them in store to spend a bit more – and keep them locked into the company’s loyalty scheme.

Woolworths already has a loyalty deal with Chargefox while Coles Express owner Viva Energy has long promised an EV charging loyalty tie-up with the brand. 

The supermarket can use its existing carpark infrastructure and deliver additional revenue from electricity sales. 

Kempower business development manager Steve McLennan says the going rate for DC fast chargers around Australia is about 80c per kilowatt hour (kWh) – although rates do vary between providers – but supermarkets can offer lower rates to be more attractive for grocery shoppers.

“You’re attracting people to charge there, and you’re making some revenue on that, but then you’re attracting new customers to your store as well,” he told The Driven next to one of the company’s slim multi-plug chargers on the All Energy exhibition floor. 

“Globally, what Kempower is seeing is a trend towards retailers generally for DC charging, and away from dedicated charging hubs. So we’re seeing that in Europe already, and we think Australia will follow the same trend.”

But while carpark redevelopments, like the one in Melbourne suburb Brunswick which is slowly unfurling after months of Christmas-like parking jams, may be in the offing for shopping centres, it’s still early days for those looking at adding solar to their charging offer. 

Beaumont says Woolworths has shown what is possible after Canyon installed solar canopies at four of the company’s sites with more to come this financial year.

Now he’s fielding more interest from other supermarkets in particular for both solar canopies and a charger combination.

“Woolworths was the first mover. They’ve shown that it works, it makes sense. And off the back of that, we’re doing a lot more projects,” he says. 

“It’s incentivised the rest of the industry to stand up and take notice and go, Well, you know, we should be looking at this as well. It obviously stacks up.”

He says the concept is hitting a commercial tipping point, however, as a solar canopy costing $9,000 per car space is beginning to be competitive with shade cloth costing $4,500 per car space. 

What makes a product twice the price competitive is not only the extra longevity, but the add-ons a retailer can bolt on such as charging, advertising and loyalty benefits.