Ergon Energy’s electric vehicle (EV) trial at Mt Low is providing a real life picture of what Townsville could look like if EV sales suddenly took off.

Ergon Energy’s electric vehicle (EV) trial at Mt Low is providing a real life picture of what Townsville could look like if EV sales suddenly took off.

For the past eight months, five households have each been loaned a Mitsubishi i-MiEV to use just as they would their normal car.

Ergon Energy is carrying out the trial to better understand how motorists use and charge EVs to see how their possible large-scale uptake could affect the network.

The trial has found each household drives their EV about 360km a week, recharging about two to three hours a night at a total cost of around $13 in electricity a week.

“Our participants love driving the EVs and find them so simple and easy to charge,” said Glenn Walden, Group Manager Emerging Opportunities and Technology Development.

“We thought motorists might be put off by them because of their limited range of 100km, but that hasn’t been the case at all.”

Mr Walden said the trial is giving network planners a real insight into motorists’ charging habits.

“One of the key findings is that the charging options need to be as flexible as possible, otherwise motorists won’t use them,” Mr Walden said.

“Our participants most commonly use the EVs during the day and charge late at night when they go to bed, which is great for the network too as it helps to take pressure off the grid during the morning and early evening peaks.”

Mt Low was selected for the trial because it contains a mix of old and new network infrastructure providing researchers with a realistic example of “the average network”.

“By keeping the vehicles together in the same area, we can build a picture of how a high concentration of EVs might affect the network,” Mr Walden said.

“Over the next few months we will be simulating what it might be like if 60 per cent of the neighbourhood had an EV plugged in at the same time.”

“We will be doing this by using a combination of EVs and hi-tech lithium-ion batteries to simulate the same draw on the network as 20 EVs would belonging to 36 neighbouring homes.”

“The EV trial will also examine a wide range of charging options and incentives to encourage customers to charge off peak, while allowing the customers to still grab a top up if needed.”

Later this year the EV trial will move closer to Townsville city to better understand how people may use EVs in a more urbanised area.

Ergon Energy has started discussions with residents living in a defined area to canvas interest from customers who want to take part in the next phase of the trial.

The EV trial is part of Ergon Energy’s Townsville: An Energy Sense Community program, which aims to reduce the growth in capital investment projects and provide a smarter more secure network for the future.

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