Adelaide City Council incentives for electric vehicles, solar and batteries
Fed up with getting stung to park in the city? Drive an electric vehicle and you’ll get paid if Adelaide City Council gets it way. And there’s cash for landlords who rev up the idea.
Instead of paying to park while you’re shopping, watching footy or eating out in the city, how would you like to be paid for the time your car is parked?
Adelaide City Council reckons drivers will like that idea and is putting money on the table for car park owners to make it happen.
Property owners will get up to $30,000 to install a bank of electric vehicle car chargers in city car parks.
The electric vehicles — which typically have much bigger batteries than ones being installed for homes — would feed energy into the grid, earning the driver and car park operator money.
Or, the two-way chargers could top up the vehicle for a fee if needed.
The plan is among a raft of incentives to improve sustainability and put Adelaide even further ahead as the national leader in tackling carbon-dioxide pollution.
“We have led in this space for a long time,” Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said.
“As a city designed for thoughtful innovation, Adelaide is now inviting entrepreneurs and researchers to come and build businesses around electric vehicle-to-grid technologies, that will have global markets.
“If we are really clear and determined to show we can have a low-carbon economy and show that there are business opportunities here, that it’s better for ratepayers, that people can save money, that there’s employment in it — then it’s a triple bottom-line benefit.”
A vehicle-to-grid system would be a first for Australia and complement trials in Japan and European nations.
Adelaide City Council’s 2019-20 Budget of $250 million allocates $1.6 million for climate change initiatives.
A further $450,000 goes to running sustainable events, planning waste strategy and updating green plans in Adelaide’s design.
As well as facilitating electric vehicle uptake, the council’s Sustainability Incentives Scheme offers subsidies of up to $20,000 for solar panels, $5000 for energy storage, $5000 a year for energy efficiency upgrades in common areas of apartment blocks and a range of other measures.
Some previous initiatives are being phased out, including subsidies for batteries in individual residences.
Electric vehicle subsidies start at $250 for an electric bicycle charger to $30,000 if a car park owner installs four fast-charge or two-way chargers plus an energy management system linked into a virtual power plant.
There are 26,600 bays in car parks open to the public, plus car parks reserved for tenants in office and commercial premises and thousands of garages in private residences.
Any of these off-street parking bays are eligible for subsidised chargers.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari urged businesses to get behind the initiative.
“How happy employees will be if you drive to work and then your work pays to fill up your car,” he said.
Assisting home installations was a great incentive, he said, because it would expedite the behaviour change where car owners will simply go home to power up without having to stop at a servo.
Electricity distributor SA Power Networks said it strongly supported the council.
“Our network, including in the CBD, has the capacity to host very high electric vehicle uptake, so long as charging systems are smart and can be managed,” spokesman Paul Roberts said.
“This is exactly what the City of Adelaide is trying to encourage.”
SAPN also welcomed $500 incentives for households to install management systems controlling when hot water systems, pool pumps and underfloor heating so they only draw energy when power is abundant — especially when solar panels are generating excess energy.
Ms Verschoor said she believes in the adage you should clean up your own house first before telling others what to do.
Council is steadily phasing its fleet of vehicles to hybrids and then electric.
She aims to switch the mayoral vehicle from the current Caprice to an electric model when the lease expires.