Jolt to rollout 5,000 free charging stations around Australia

A new round of investment has seen a budding charging network reveal big plans to boost its numbers into the thousands.

Australian charging network Jolt has announced a planned rollout of 5,000 charging stations across Australia.

The announcement follows a $100million investment from BlackRock Real Assets as part of the conglomerate’s wider commitment to renewable energy.

Jolt road side ad — Jolt has announced plans to build 5,000 charging stations across Australia

Jolt differs from other rivals such as Chargefox but offering EV drivers a limited amount of free charging which is paid for by companies who advertise on the adjoining screens.

While the company has yet to expand its plans for explosive growth, it has previously aimed to established chargers in the urban areas of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

The chargers will be ideally be based at locations such as a gym car park that has high visibility for the advertiser and easy accessibility for the user.

It follows an earlier announcement this year from Chargefox who plans to add 5,000 plugs around Australia following a slew of funding announcements from the variants branches of the government.

Jolt road side charger 2 — Jolt offers 7kWh of free charging, enough to add 45km of range to most EV

Earlier this year Jolt partnered with Ausgrid to further its reach by converting the existing green electrical boxes to charging stations.

Jolt currently offers 7kWh of charging for free which can be added in 15 minutes at a rate of 25kW. The supply is slower than some rivals but the free energy is enough for most EVs to travel around 45km.

Users are also able to request more power after the 7kWh is added at a rate of 42 cents per kW, a fee that is slightly more expensive than Chargefox that demands 40 cents per kW without the initial free period.

As electric vehicles slowly become more popular more chargers will be needed

Michael Selden, the head of sales and platforms at Jolt previously Chasing Cars the company was aiming to solve a major hurdle for EV ownership as many drivers aren’t able to charge their car at home.

“In the (Sydney) Inner West 55 per cent of households don’t have access to off-street parking, therefore, they would never consider an EV, so our whole business is about having EV chargers in highly visible locations which will help anyone who’s driving a petrol-based car that is considering an EV to make the switch.”