$10 million of EV Charging Station Grants Available for Regional NSW Sites

Applications for round 2 of NSW’s Electric Vehicle Destination Charging Grant are currently open, with a total of $10 million available to applicable regional NSW venues. 

Successful applicants will be awarded 75% of the funding required for the purchase and installation of up to four eligible EV charging stations, along with 75% towards the optional purchase of an annual EV charger software subscription. 

“It's just the perfect opportunity,” said Mike Archer, owner/winemaker at Dawning Day Winery, in a NSW Government promotional video recounting his experience of the program. 

“The EV customers that were coming in were definitely our target market: that early adopter, innovator mindset, where they're happy to try something different.”

With more and more drivers switching to EVs, having an on-site charging station is a proven method to attract new visitors to your site. These visitors are also much more likely to remain for an extended period of time, usually signifying an increase in profits. This is in addition to the added profit that sites will earn from the charging stations themselves.  

“One of the pleasant surprises that we have had here since installing the EV charger was that people come to charge their car, they were not necessarily looking to attend the winery or do a wine tasting, but it's just the perfect opportunity to come in and relax by the fire and for the most part, these people also walked away with a number of bottles of wine to take to their destination,” said Mike. 

Given the long distances between key urban areas in Australia, EV drivers are frequently finding that they have to plan their trips around available charging stations. This means that having your site listed on online charging maps and being discussed in EV forums is likely to bring in a swathe of new customers, giving your business an edge over competitors. 

“Being where we are positioned in between Sydney and Canberra, it's a pretty ideal spot for those that are travelling between the two capitals.”

To be eligible, applicants must reside within an approved NSW LGA (now including Newcastle and Wollongong), be a recognised destination site, be listed on the ATDW, and currently have less than 4 on-site EV chargers. More specifics are available on the NSW Government’s grant information page. 

A free NSW Wine information session, hosted in conjunction with Transport for NSW, will also take place at 11am on the 6th of February. 

Round 2 of NSW’s EV Destination Charging Station grants close on the 3rd of May. Thus far, 167 sites and 464 charging plugs have been successfully funded by the program.

“For anyone thinking about applying for the EV grant from the New South Wales Government, I'd strongly recommend it. It's certainly helped our business attract more of the customer base that we're looking for.”