AGL Energy, one of Australia’s most established energy providers, has successfully launched a pioneering kerbside EV charging network in partnership with AMPECO, a leading charging platform provider. This strategic collaboration is rapidly addressing a critical barrier to electric vehicle (EV) adoption faced by apartment dwellers and residents without dedicated off-street parking, a group comprising approximately 30% of Australian households.
AGL’s innovative Kerbside Charging Program establishes the company as a market leader in urban electrification, utilizing the AMPECO platform to achieve unprecedented speed and scale in high-density residential areas across inner Sydney.
Strategic Shift: From Charging Revenue to Customer Electrification
AGL’s entry into the EV charging market represents a significant paradigm shift, positioning the charging solution not as a primary revenue generator but as a strategic tool for customer conversion within its broader energy services ecosystem. The company views every new EV driver as a high-value consumer for its full suite of solutions, which includes solar installations, battery storage, and virtual power plant (VPP) services.
“We have a very strong desire, appetite and incentive really to support our customers through this electrification journey and the transition. The goal really is for people to become converts into EVs. We want more EV evangelists. We want more EV drivers,” commented Shiv Nandwani, eMobility Product Owner at AGL Energy.
Operating through its Electrification and Innovation Team, AGL directly supports the national energy transition, which is targeting 12 gigawatts of new renewable generation by 2035.
Rapid Deployment and Enterprise-Grade Requirements
The rapid deployment of the kerbside EV charging network was crucial to meeting strict government funding requirements and establishing immediate market presence. The partnership enabled AGL to accelerate its rollout from zero sites to over 150 charging stations in a six-month span.
AMPECO’s platform architecture and dedicated support proved instrumental in achieving this ambitious goal, while simultaneously ensuring essential compliance standards, including meeting the government-mandated 99% network uptime and providing comprehensive data sharing capabilities vital for future grid capacity planning.
Mr. Nandwani affirmed the speed of the deployment: “We went from zero sites to 150+ sites in a 6-month span, thanks to AMPECO’s platform infrastructure and team support. We’ve basically taken Sydney from barely having any AC chargers for people who live in apartments to now a significant number of residential streets in inner Sydney having an AGL EV charger.”
Innovation in Grid Management and Seamless Customer Experience
The partnership has delivered a unique solution for managing energy demand without imposing volatile pricing on consumers. AMPECO’s advanced platform allows AGL to implement dynamic load management and real-time throughput control across the entire charging fleet.
This capability enables the energy company to manage grid demand based on wholesale energy market conditions, avoiding the need to raise prices via traditional peak/off-peak tariffs, thus keeping customer charging costs consistent.
“Instead of raising prices for our customers via peak and off-peak tariffs, our preference would be to try to keep that price as consistent as possible. AMPECO supports us with live management of the fleet output, and that supports grid stability, sustainability, but also margin,” stated Mr. Nandwani.
Key to this success is the white-label mobile application and the platform’s advanced API integration, which ensures a seamless customer experience linked directly with AGL’s broader enterprise systems and energy services.
Accelerating Australia’s Renewable Transition
This collaboration represents a significant milestone in Australia’s journey toward mass electrification. The platform’s open API architecture supports AGL’s long-term vision of integrating EV charging with residential energy plans and future VPP solutions, offering the scalability and robust security required by an established enterprise.
The successful implementation establishes AGL as a pioneer in urban charging innovation, demonstrating a model that effectively transforms accessibility for apartment dwellers and reinforces the mission of accelerating Australia’s transition to renewable energy.
Orlin Radev, CEO at AMPECO, praised the deployment, stating: “We are proud to support AGL’s pioneering vision for urban EV charging in Australia. Their innovative approach to kerbside charging exemplifies the forward-thinking implementation our platform was designed to enable.”
