How Vicinity created an EV charging network from scratch

Electric vehicles and public chargers are not new to Australia having first launched around 15 years ago, albeit in very low volumes. But, times are changing.

In recent years, thanks to government incentives, lower EV purchase costs, increased vehicle range and a growing public charging infrastructure, EV ownership has taken off.

In 2024 alone, Australians bought more than 91,000 EVs, up from 87,000 the previous year and representing over 9.5% of total vehicle sales.

With so many EVs on Australian roads, charging infrastructure is becoming ever-more important however with charging times ranging from 30-minutes to a number of hours, destination charging points located in places with amenities are proving increasingly attractive.

Top of the pile for destination charging – shopping centres. But how does a shopping centre establish a network from scratch? Will people take to it? How do they select the right locations? And why does it make sense?

We talk to Vicinity’s Head of Product Delivery and Energy, Jason Temby and National Renewables and Product Delivery Manager, Mark Brown to understand how their team has managed to build a network boasting over 100 charging ports in just two years and what’s next.

Jason, Mark, electric vehicles are big business now but it’s not something new to you and the team. When did you first explore the idea of installing chargers at Vicinity assets?

JT: Vicinity is focused on regularly exploring innovations to enhance customer experience and deliver property excellence. Over the years through our integrated energy strategy we have investigated several technologies, including solar systems, solar glass, and battery solutions. Electric vehicle (EV) charging was also a priority starting in 2020, with the thinking that as EV sales increase, there would be a growing need for charging infrastructure beyond homes, making destination charging relevant.

The approach via our integrated energy strategy involves exploring, testing, learning, and embedding successful solutions that benefit the business and stakeholders. Over time, EV chargers have transitioned from early adoption to a more mature solution, similar to the projection of our solar program. There are now over 100 EV charging ports across our centres, with plans for further expansion. We first pursued EV chargers seriously in 2020, driven by positive market trends in both local and international EV adoption. To gain insights, we worked with a range of EV charging market experts, to assess the potential role shopping centres could play in the charging ecosystem.

Vicinity’s EV strategy centres on providing amenities that compliments visitation to our centres. This led to selecting destination chargers, as customers would typically charge their vehicles while enjoying other services at the centre, rather than just making a quick stop like at a fuel station

When you say destination charging might makes sense, what do you mean?

JT: While many Australians have off-road parking and can install a charger at home a significant number don't especially in inner-city areas. For these drivers until solutions like on-street parking, charge cable gullies, or similar options are implemented they’ll need to rely on public charging infrastructure.

Charging times can vary by vehicle but even in the best-case scenario getting 80% charge in 30 minutes is still too long to spend at a public charging station or fuel station. However, if you could charge while doing everyday tasks like grocery shopping, watching a movie, or having lunch, it becomes incredibly convenient. That’s the essence of destination charging – it’s designed to seamlessly fit into your routine, much like charging your phone.

So, you’ve identified a potential opportunity, what was the next step and how did you select the first centre to receive charging?

MB: The first step in our strategy was identifying which centres were best positioned to meet customer charging needs. To do this we mapped EV sales zones against our centre locations prioritising areas with higher EV adoption to help gauge the potential success of the project. At the same time, we researched charging infrastructure models from overseas to find the most suitable solution. Given the newness of the technology and the presence of emerging businesses that might not endure we were careful to choose long-term stable partners. These partners also had access to government support, which made the program more feasible, as the full costs were uncertain.

The next step was to assess where chargers could be placed in each centre's car park and whether the existing electrical infrastructure could support them or needed upgrades. Our first installation of DC chargers was at Victoria Gardens in Melbourne, followed by The Glen. Once we saw strong uptake, we focused on the 'hot zones' with high EV sales mapping the number of EVs by postcode and prioritising areas accordingly. We worked on expanding in a ranked order allowing for future expansion knowing that EV adoption would continue to grow.

Additionally, we had some bespoke AC chargers at centres from previous local projects that had fallen into disrepair. We repaired and standardised those to integrate them into our new network

And once the first one was in place, what were you hoping to see to tell you it had been successful, and you could look at a broader rollout?

 Our primary metrics were the number of charges and duration of charges, and customer feedback.

We were optimistic at the start but not overly so as we had challenges to overcome due to lower EV ownership and, when comparing to overseas, Aussie homes tend to be bigger and have off street parking which facilitates home charging more.

But the numbers started strong – the first-year usage delivered what we were expecting for year three – and the feedback we received on charging apps and via centre feedback had been overwhelmingly positive. The convenience of charging while shopping, getting a coffee and lunch proved a concept people really embraced.

These numbers were really encouraging and gave us confidence to expand the network to other centres, working down our list in order of opportunity.

How did you then go on the select the next centres – what makes a centre a good candidate for EV chargers?

There are four main elements that we look for that would suggest a centre is a good candidate for EV charging stations.

1. Target centres in areas with higher electric vehicle sales so we know there is a market.

2. The retail mix of a centre is important. We look for those with retailers that encourage repeat and prolonged visits. Non-discretionary retail like supermarkets are a great example as people need to go grocery shopping each week.

3. Local housing make up is another factor. So, if there are more apartments or homes without off-street parking, it might be a good area as those drivers will need to charge and can’t do it at home.

4. Road networks pay a part in that if the centre is close to a freeway or arterial road, it’s easier to access.

What that meant for the next phase of rollout was to go to centres like The Glen and Chadstone, both aligning with all of the key metrics.

What’s next for the network, do you see any opportunity to extend usage to commercial customers?

MB: Through our partnership with ENGIE, we’ll continue to grow the network over the next year or two. We’re also in the process of reviewing all chargers to ensure they’re in good order and we have the right charging speeds at the right centres. The other element we’re constantly reviewing is usage and behaviours and how we can support and manage user behaviour.

With regards to expansion, we want to look at how we might service commercial vehicles using our chargers. This might be putting chargers in loading docks so electric delivery trucks can be charged while unloading – many retailers and delivery business are growing their EV fleets but do not have destination places to charge them.

Similarly, our chargers are also not used at night so we’re looking into how we can potentially generate 24 hr usage by supporting electric truck and bus fleets that need to be charged overnight and do not currently have a reliable solution to support this.

The success of the charger installation has been clear. How can other assets enjoy similar success in their projects?

JT: First thing first, keep customers front of mind. Anything we do has a clear customer focus and tries to help enhance their experience or solve a problem for them. The installation of chargers has been successful because we wanted to deliver property excellence by helping solve a problem for our customers.

The other thing is to make sure you stay relevant. Products are always evolving so it can never be a set and forget situation; you have to constantly check you have the right product at the right location. Specifically for EV chargers, ‘up time’ is critical. You need to make sure chargers are reliable and work continuously - if they have high down time, they’re unreliable and will not only deter people from using them and visiting the centre, it also impacts your reputation.