Aussie company on a fast charge for EVs

AN Australian company that has built an international network specialising in roadside battery replacement for 70 automobile clubs in nine countries is getting set to introduce emergency electric vehicle charging for stranded EV drivers around the world from April next year.

Club Assist, which is 80 per owned by Australian motoring organisations such as the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), New South Wales’ NRMA and Queensland’s RACQ, is also dabbling with fast-charge stations in a move that could pit the organisation against global providers such as Better Place.

The Melbourne-based company is installing Australia’s first fast-charge station at the Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) head office in Adelaide, where it will be used to charge Mitsubishi i-MiEV company fleet and customers cars once it is commissioned in about three weeks.

Club Assist’s next station is expected to be installed in Sydney for the NRMA, which is trialling an i-MiEV electric car as part of Mitsubishi’s Australian field trials. Club Assist is in negotiations to install a third station in Brisbane for the RACQ.

The RACV, which invested $2 million in Better Place’s Australian infrastructure rollout earlier this year, is getting a fast-charge station from Better Place under a Victorian government EV trial of about 300 vehicles.

From top: Club Assist's logo, Club Assist's roadside battery service for the RACV and a Club Assist roadside serviceman delivers a battery in the US.

Club Assist CEO Stuart Davies, who founded the company as a battery shop with his brother Brett in Dandenong, Victoria, in 1977 before starting the emergency roadside battery fitting service for the RACV in 1992, told GoAuto that Club Assist’s priority was developing technology to supply emergency roadside charging for EVs that run out of power.

He said the company saw the service as an extension of its current main business – supplying emergency replacement batteries for cars of motoring club members.

This year, Club Assist has fitted about 2.2 million batteries to stranded conventional cars on behalf of motoring clubs from Norway to the United States, where Club Assist operates in all 50 states for auto clubs affiliated with the giant American Automobile Association (AAA).

Club Assist has been working with American fast-charging equipment supplier, Aker Wade Power Technologies, which has a Mitsubishi i-MiEV at its US laboratories in Virginia for testing purposes.

The fast-charging station at Mitsubishi’s HQ is an Aker Wade DC Fast Charge unit, which the American company also supplies to major emerging fast-charge networks such as Coulomb Technologies’ ChargePoint – the company that installed Australia’s first roadside charging points in Sydney this year as part of an EV trial in that city.

Mr Davies said Club Assist had been trialling its mobile fast-charge system, which he hoped would be introduced by April.

He said the service, which he likened to a roadside assist van delivering a few litres of petrol to a stranded car, would be rolled out internationally, including Australia.

“Say we are in Chicago and someone runs out of fuel - we don’t go out there and fill the whole tank,” Mr Davies said. “We fill them up just enough to get them to the next petrol station.

“It will be the same with EVs. Say they need to drive 3km. We will be giving them enough to drive 6km and get them to a place where they can get a longer fast charge.

“We are really applying that fuel-can system in an electric vehicle scenario.” Mr Davies said the trick to mobile charging was the ability to charge quickly and safely, with special fast-charge equipment that could withstand the rigours of life on the road.

He said equipment that was being trialled that could give an EV a burst of high-voltage electricity via a fast-charge unit to have the driver on his their in a matter of minutes.

“It is in the trial state,” he said. “We expect the target date (for rollout) to be April next year.

“Potentially, we will have a battery bank with the fast charger dumping it down.” Mr Davies said the system would help to alleviate “range anxiety” – the phenomenon of potential EV owners concerned about limited range and what to do if they run out of power.

“People know and understand a breakdown in a current vehicle,” he said. “You talk to anyone about electric vehicles and it’s ‘how far can I drive’ and ‘what happens when I run out of power’.

“That’s where we are trying to play a key role. I suppose the priority for us is the mobile charging because we see that as a core or the DNA of our business – assisting motoring clubs.” But Mr Davies did not rule out expanding into fixed charging stations like that now being installed at Mitsubishi’s HQ, and going into competition with global fast-charge companies such as Better Place.

“We are basically in discussion and it is not a set platform at the moment, but that is what we are actually identifying, based on demand,” he said.

“I suppose our reach is a little different to some of the typical integrators out there. We are looking at the total solution, through not only keeping them (EVs) charged but taking care of them if they do break down.” Mr Davies was coy about the prospect of going into competition with providers such as Better Place.

“Ultimately, by installing one charge station we are in competition with them (Better Place and ChargePoint), but we might end up partnering with them by providing mobile charge solutions for people using their network as it evolves,” he said.

“I don’t think we are a competitor by design but I guess they might view us as one if we are out their dabbling in their core product.” The RACV – a major shareholder in Club Assist – also has a $2 million stake in Better Place.

Announced on March 21 this year, the investment was part of a $25 million fund raising by San Francisco-based Better Place for its Australian infrastructure rollout that is expected to start next year in Canberra.

Other investors include Lend Lease and Canberra-based energy provider ActewAGL.

RACV general manager public policy Brian Negus told GoAuto the RACV’s support for the Better Place rollout and its shareholding in Club Assist did not represent a potential conflict of interest.

“The way I see it is that Club Assist will do this (install more charge points) on a tendered basis – they will request proposals from the various players, and that is entirely appropriate,” he said.

“If Better Place or ChargePoint win it, then that’s a commercial deal.

“I don’t think there is any conflict of interest in terms of our being a major player in Club Assist and an investor in Better Place. They are both elements of the business we do.

“Our investment in Better Place is part of our commitment to greener motoring and our investment in Club Assist is in sync with our assistance to the motoring public, but it also is a commercial deal.”