Victoria’s EV charger grants are a win for cupcakes and wine

The Victorian government has invested $6.55 million in EV charger projects to help businesses transition and build out the state’s public charging network. And in some delicious news, a cupcake store and winery have been successful recipients.

Both grant projects are part of the Labor government’s larger $100 million Zero Emissions Vehicle Roadmap and have resulted in 46 businesses getting funding. And that’s great considering that last year Victoria passed a tariff that taxes EV drivers 2.5 cents per kilometre travelled and 2 cents for PHEV vehicles.

Two magnum EV chargers for the Victorian wine industry

A total of $5 million has gone towards the Destination Charging Across Victoria program (DCAV). The aim of this project is to establish a fast-charging EV network across key tourist destinations in Victoria.

From this, 32 grants have been approved for 141 fast-charging stations across the state.

Tahbilk Winery, located around an hour and 40 minutes outside of Melbourne, received $9000 from the DCAV program. It has used this to build two 22kW chargers as part of its carbon-neutral mission, which it has been actively engaged with for over 30 years.

“We have 300kW of solar on the roof here, which provides about 35% of the winery’s annual energy needs. So some of that energy will be helping to charge people’s cars and then whatever other energy comes from a grid,” Lachie Thomas, environment and vineyard research analyst at Tahbilk, told SmartCompany.

“We offset emissions here in two ways. We buy a small amount of carbon credits, but the majority of our emissions footprint we’re able to cover by capturing carbon in our own soils through revegetation projects on the properties. The carbon being captured from those projects every year is nearly very close to offsetting the entire footprint of the business.”

Thomas says that the business wanted to give its customers the opportunity to support environmental changes in technology, as well as support customers who had bought electric vehicles.

Range anxiety is also still an issue for Australians buying electric vehicles. Being 120km from the Melbourne CBD, the new charges offer respite that’s also good for business. And according to Tahbilk data, the average time its customers are charging for is two hours and 20 minutes.

“Whether it’s a cellar door tasting, which can easily take 45 minutes, the restaurant or even the wetland trails we have to walk around — there’s plenty to do,” Thomas said.

“It’s not too difficult for people to get here but it’s really nice having that reassurance that they can plug in when they’re here for two hours and easily have enough charge to get back home.”

Tasty EV upgrade for a cupcake delivery fleet

A further $1.55 million in funding has gone towards the EV Charging for Business Fleets (EVCBF) program. The aim of the program was to help build charging infrastructure for businesses in Victoria, which also included investing in EV fleets, installing charging technology, reducing emissions and more.

A total of 14 grants were approved, which will result in 58 private charging stations rolling out by September 2023.

Installed chargers are between 7 and 60 kilowatts, depending on factors such as the size of the fleet, frequency of use and location.

Cake Creations by Kate is the recipient of one of these grants to the tune of $10,835. The business was started in 2015 by Katelyn Matheson right after she finished high school. Seven years on, the business not only has a flagship store but delivers within a 50km radius of its Point Cook facility.

Speaking to SmartCompany, Matheson says the grant will be used to build a 30kW charger for Hyundai electric delivery vans the business plans on purchasing in 2023.

“We were hopeful that we’d get the grant would have put [a charger] into our new warehouse, so we can try reduce our carbon emissions into the future,” Matheson said.

“It’s always difficult in manufacturing, so anything that you can do to help is always great. We have a 30kW solar panel system on our roof, so it’s fantastic that it can just plug straight in and convert that power straight into a van battery.”

Matheson also cited driver safety as another key reason for the upgrade

“Electric vehicles have the newest technology so that ups our safety on the roads and improves our workplace.”