Chip oil saves the day – yet again – for off-grid fast EV charging, and a new remote network

Fast DC off grid charging hasn’t got off to a good start in parts of rural Western Australia. The three sites on the Eyre Highway which are linked with roadhouse power continue to be plagued with technical issues causing both intermittent and complete failure, full site blackouts and slow charging. There are similar issues at a number of roadhouse sites on the northern coastal route.

The WA EV network is promoted as a major international tourist attraction but has sites and sections which are unreliable and simply not fit for purpose.

Over the border, the NRMA off grid charger at Nullarbor is completely out of service and the newer NRMA charger at Border Village is working so far but has quite variable output for no apparent reason. All these charger issues are well documented on Plugshare.

On top of this, the WA Government has to this point resisted calls for electrification of Great Northern Highway, the main and shortest route between Perth and the Pilbara. How hard can it be to install and maintain reliable off grid charging?

Enter eLumina, a battery and EV charger company with a manufacturing and development centre based on the Gold Coast. The company is dedicated to promoting clean, sustainable transportation and energy storage, particularly in regional, remote and rural areas where EV transport and charging is challenging.

I was fortunate to interview the CEO Lisa Marsh in early December, and to relate the following story.

In the process of looking for opportunities to expand into WA, Lisa inevitably bumped into the usual suspects in the WA EV scene.

She was introduced to Jon Edwards (inventor of the Biofil chip oil charger) and Harald Murphy who has done extensive work promoting the Great Northern route and documenting the state of chargers in WA. It quickly became apparent that eLumina’s EV charging solution and Great Northern Highway were a good fit.

By using Harald’s network of contacts Lisa initially called the various roadhouses and communities on the route, but hit lukewarm responses – “just another organisation promising but not delivering” and “you have no idea what it’s like out here from your comfy office”.

Not to be put off, she took off on her own and visited or stayed at each proposed site on the route, meeting the somewhat surprised locals and listening to their concerns.

So it turns out that disposal of waste cooking oil is a significant expense for these communities, and the potential to solve this was perhaps the turning point in gaining acceptance. Using this oil to power Biofil generators at two sites where power was either inaccessible or very constrained solves the problem and potentially introduces a community income stream.

The proposed chargers are the eLumina D1 with an integral 194kWh LFP battery and two CCS2 charge cables, capable of providing 160kW to one cable, or 80 and 120 to each simultaneously.

The units can be moved by forklift and AC trickle charged at as little as 10kW from the roadhouse, PV array or from the Biofil generator up to a maximum input capacity of 40kW. Solar PV is converted to AC to maximise tracking and panel output.

The solution is  suited for relatively low volume use, but offers charging speeds and reliability that far exceed those that are currently on offer.

Jon Edwards has installed one at his premises in the southern suburbs of Perth where it is the only public fast charger available. It dispensed 8.48 MWh of charging in October with minimal downtime – that is around seven customers every day, each drawing 40kWh. Ironically the RAC EV breakdown vans are regulars after RAC decided to pull the plug on their own charging network.

eLumina applied in 2024 for a WA Chargeup grant to the maximum allowable five sites but was advised that six sites would be approved so that the chargers would cover the entire route with acceptable distances between sites. The grant covers 50% of most of the costs and is funded by the Government of Western Australia through Energy Policy WA.

Whatever Lisa said appears to have galvanised some of the sites. Cue LGA has already commenced bitumenising the likely charger location. The current plan is to have the units installed in early 2026. She hopes to negotiate longer term contracts with the sites, planning for expansion to bigger charging units with an intent to support electric heavy trucking. 

This is no pipe dream. Last week I observed a Zeekr 7X EV with a cold battery pulling 237kW from an eLumina DS 400 unit. This is a fully off grid 350kWh 1C battery and EV charger unit in a standard 20 foot container that can be delivered anywhere by truck in Australia and be up and running in seven days.

Being 1C means the battery  can charge an EV at up to 400kW. The unit can be paired with a solar PV array, either by containerised rollout or mounted on preformed concrete blocks in cyclone prone areas.

Diesel or Biofil backup is also available with a maximum input charge of 70kW AC.  This solution gets around the problem other operators have of providing a stable generator output to the EV charger – it’s a simpler DC battery to DC charger voltage match.

For proof of concept, eLumina are running a trial with McColl’s trucking out of Shepparton Victoria, moving grain for Graincorp using Windrose prime mover  electric trucks.

The rollout next year on Great Northern Highway will have Jon Edwards’ Hyundai Mighty which did the first lap of Australia in an electric truck as support vehicle. 

While a number of organisations struggle with installation and reliable maintenance of chargers, I have a few ideas about where installing a number of eLumina modules might put a rocket up the incumbents. It’s time to see who is serious about the EV transition.

You can hear more about Lisa Marsh’s fascinating story in the latest edition of The Driven podcast: The Driven Podcast: Chip fat and remote EV charging

Disclaimer:

This project was funded by the Government of Western Australia (Energy Policy WA).

The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Western Australia or Energy Policy WA.