MG Motor has committed to providing 3,000 EV charging stations to Australia, not for free, but at a severely discounted rate.
MG, the English car manufacturer owned by a China-based Saic Motor, will deliver up to 3,000 EV chargers to successful hotels and leisure facilities (they will need to apply for the chargers), at a cost of $330. The $330 is considered by MG as an admin fee. MG said this is a saving of up to $1,660 off the RRP of the single EV charging unit. Not bad.
The chargers are available in 7kW single-phase and 11Kw three-phase configurations. The MG ChargeHub typically retails at $1,990 and $2,090 respectively. The chargers are also Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) compliant so may be installed with third-party software to provide operators the option to charge guests for charging.
They’re a funky looking thing, though keep in mind that an 11kW charging speed isn’t fast at all. for example, according to Home Charging Station’s EV charging speed calculator, an 11kW charge from 20 per cent (targeting 80 per cent) on the smallest battery Tesla Model 3 (57.5kWh) would take 3 hours and 29 minutes to fully recharge. But, if you park your car and go for a nap in your hotel room, you should be full by the time you wake up.
Today’s announcement all sprouts from an announcement MG made back in May for NSW businesses looking to install a charging station. It followed the NSW government who, a week prior, announced a plan to roll out a bunch of electric car chargers in wine country.
The idea was simple: eligible regional wineries, cafes, motels and attractions would be able to apply for assistance if they wanted to install an electric vehicle charger. The government would handle 75 per cent of the cost of a charger, 75 per cent of the cost of the installation and 50 per cent of the cost of a two-year charging software subscription (which charging stations often require for their systems to work).
Such packages include up to $40,000 in grants, but don’t cover the full costs — the private business would need to handle the cost to some extent.
The idea from MG is pretty smart: they’ll cover the cost of the unit if you use their charging station.
“We want to grow local economies and support small businesses in areas impacted by COVID, bushfires and floods and that’s why we’re filling the gap in cost for our MG EV ChargeHub in conjunction with the NSW government grant,” MG Motor Australia and New Zealand CEO Peter Ciao said previously.
“When we launched the MG ZS EV in late 2020, we offered the model at a price that delivered great value to customers. This has, in turn, changed the conversation about pricing of electric vehicles in Australia.”
“We have achieved our ambition of delivering value and driving discussion. Now, we take the next step by supplying charging hardware that can be used by many electric vehicle owners in Australia,” he added.
Basically, if a regional NSW business wants to buy a charging station with a 75 per cent government grant, MG will cover the rest.
If you didn’t know, MG offers the cheapest electric car in Australia at the moment, the MG ZS EV (which it’s upgrading with two new models).
If you’re interested in buying an electric vehicle, here’s what’s available in Australia.
If you’d like to apply for a charger through MG, you’ll want to head over here.
This article has been updated since it was first published.