Ashurst advises AGL NEXT on Electric Vehicle charging trial funded by ARENA

The trial aims to test the impacts of various EV charging methods on the grid across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. The EVs will form part of AGL's Virtual Power Plant. Two hundred customers will receive free smart chargers (remotely monitored for optimal charging times).  Another fifty participants will test Vehicle to Grid chargers– an Australian first for EVs to power houses and export excess energy to the grid.  It will also be the first time smart charging has been deployed in Australia via vehicle software for another fifty customers, potentially removing the need for additional smart charging hardware in the future.

JET Charge, Chargefox and Flexcharging are project partners in the trial. Distribution networks United Energy, Jemena, Ausnet Services, Ausgrid, Energy Queensland, Endeavour Energy, and SA Power Networks will also be involved.  AGL aims to accelerate the commercialisation of the orchestration of EV charging, by examining the key sources of uncertainty and investment risk such as the commercial model, technology approaches, customer behaviour and market structure.

The Ashurst team supported AGL on all legal aspects of the trial, led by partner Paul Newman and counsel Cassandra Wee (Energy & resources).  The Ashurst team also comprised partner Alyssa Phillips (Competition & Consumer Law), senior associates Chris Hall (Energy & resources), Geoff McGrath (Digital economy transactions) and associate Madeleine Hay (Energy & Resources).

For further information, see the following media releases:

• AGL and ARENA launch $8 million trial to test impacts of electric vehicles
• Test driving electric vehicle home charging technologies
• AGL Smart Charging Trial