Australian petrol retailing and refining giant Ampol has doubled the number of EV chargers in its forecourts in the past year, and more than doubled its charging times, but it is still making a loss and doesn’t expect to break even on the EV business for another two years.
Ampol enjoyed a bumper profit in the latest half, more than tripling its pre-tax operating earnings to $1.4 billion in the June half, profiting from the dislocation and high prices caused by the US war on Iran and the ensuring closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the chaos in global fuel markets.
At least those paying premium prices at the bowser can rest assured that their money is now safely in the bank accounts of Ampol shareholders, who were rewarded with an astonishing four-fold increase in dividend payments to $1.85 a share.
Most of the windfall gains came from Ampol’s Lytton refinery, which as the company noted “benefitted from tight regional supply …. can generate significant cash flow when conditions are favourable.” Sounds like some electricity generators we know.
Ampol says it nearly doubled the number of EV charging bays in Australia from the same period last year to 356. It hosted 229,000 charging stations (up 116 per cent) and supplied 6,923 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity to those EV customers, who averaged about 30 kWh per charge.
Still, the Energy Solutions business, as it is called, continued to lose money, although its $15.6 million loss on an Ebit basis in the first half were described as a significant improvement on the same period last year. It hopes to break even towards the end of 2028.
“The impact and uncertainty caused by the Middle East conflict is likely to have contributed to an acceleration in EV new car sales as a percentage of total sales, with EV sales exceeding 20 per cent in each of May, June and July 2026,” it notes.
You can see The Driven’s detailed monthly sales data here: Australian electric vehicle sales by month in 2026 – by model and by brand
“We are positive about the potential for EV charging demand to and by the availability of more affordable Chinese vehicles. The company says it spent $10 million on new fast-charging stations in the latest period.
“This is an encouraging trend for Energy Solutions that is likely to continue to be supportive of the growth in charging sessions and energy sold in the Ampol public network,” the company added.
CFO Greg Barnes later clarified in an earnings call with analysts that the “break-even” point for EV charging relates only to the charging activities themselves, and wholesale energy management.
“We definitely see upside on Ampol EV sites over time. That dwell time drives more customer in store,” Barnes said, but added that these benefits are accounted for separately.
This is not the reason why Ampol thinks people should invests in the company. “Elevated refining margins as Middle East and Russian refinery run rates are at historical lows (and) product inventory levels are at or near historical lows for gasoline and diesel,” it says. Happy days for the fossil fuel industry.
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