Jonathan Parker is the CEO of Thundergrid, a Landis+Gyr company driving smart EV charging infrastructure across New Zealand (and recently Australia). With a background in energy innovation and grid integration, he leads initiatives to help businesses gain the most from electrification. Jonathan brings deep insight into scalable, sustainable EV charging networks tailored for modern power systems.
Thundergrid is now taking its knowledge and skills into Australia to help tackle electrification challenges locally. We asked Jonathan some questions regarding how he sees EVCI developing in NZ vs Australia.
FuturePlace: Jonathan, how would you describe the current state of EV charging infrastructure development in New Zealand compared to Australia?
Jonathan Parker: In some respects, New Zealand has been ahead of Australia in terms of EV infrastructure deployments in both the public and private spaces as it has a healthy influx of used EVs from Japan coupled with a clear directive from government to electrify their fleet to save costs and emissions. Wind the clock forward and now Australia is rapidly accelerating beyond New Zealand.
Australia also has the advantage of more sophisticated charging technology to choose from and is in a good place to introduce contactless payments to improve accessibility. The Australian government has also taken a leading position to drive the change with greater commitment. Australia is in a great place to boost its energy security and reduce transport costs for consumers, so I’d say Australia is now taking a leading position which is very exciting!
FuturePlace: What are the common challenges you see for business looking to electrify their fleet and facilities, and would Australian business face the same or different challenges?
Jonathan Parker: The challenges are largely the same even for Australian businesses as they look to electrify their fleet and facilities. One key challenge was always funding. The cost of buying EVs and funding infrastructure was always the main barrier to many businesses. However, with greater support for the Australian government, good tax incentives, and increasing competition/choice, we are seeing the price barrier reduce significantly. We are now able to supply a commercial grade EV charger for almost 30% cheaper than the year before, which is amazing.
The other common barrier is the availability of electrical capacity. Many commercial sites can be power constrained and could struggle to charge an electric fleet. At Thundergrid, we have been advising customers ways to maximize connections without the need for expensive power upgrades since we started in 2017, so we solve these issues daily in both New Zealand and Australia. We have worked with many airports, for example that can often have power constraints as new building developments on their sites take up more and more electrical capacity.
A further barrier that we always come across is how do you give an employee an EV to take home, how do they charge it safely and who pays for the power, what’s the agreement? We have had proven solutions in NZ for the last 3 years and manage many commercial EV chargers installed in domestic settings. It’s not just the types of EV chargers. Businesses need to take into consideration all the above key drivers to ensure sustainable fleet electrification. It is the reason why Thundergrid was founded to offer end-to-end solutions and services to help businesses transition.
FuturePlace: What solutions have worked in NZ, and would they work in Australia?
Jonathan Parker: Our wiring rules are the same. The energy grid challenges are the same – we want to ease pressure off the grid to enable reliable and efficient supply of power. New Zealand and Australia are almost identical in needs and situations when it comes to electrification with some small key differences: Australia has a larger penetration of solar, so commissioning EV charging systems to optimize the use of free solar energy is a higher requirement in Australia. We have so far found the solutions delivered in New Zealand, in terms of energy storage, dynamic load management are very appropriate for Australian needs.
FuturePlace: Where do you see the greatest opportunities for innovation in EVCI across Australasia?
Jonathan Parker: I believe the greatest opportunity always comes from collaboration. Some of the best outcomes can be secured by partners and competitors working together to ensure EV charging becomes simple, stable and easy for users.Integrating back-office systems to support roaming, contactless payments and customizing solutions to better meet the needs of stakeholders will become a tide that raises all boats. Ensuring hardware is open protocol means charging can complement the long-term needs of the facility or building and leads to increased competition, potentially benefitting consumers with affordable charging and opens the door for further innovation.
FuturePlace: Where is NZ at regarding the development of V2G services for the public and fleets?
Jonathan Parker: There’s lots of hype around V2G now, and we understand why; It’s a pivotal technology that could see the scaling of virtual power plants that can enhance and support the grid. V2G can potentially enable fleet owners to obtain revenue from energy trading and offers resilience in a black-out. Using your EVs as batteries on wheels offers a huge upside to land and fleet owners. We are watching the development of this technology in EVs and chargers closely.
In New Zealand, some bi-directional chargers are being experimented. However, many of these rely on older Japanese EV’s and CHAdeMO connectors which offer a very small level of energy storage. The cost of bi-directional DC chargers coupled with the small batteries does not yet financially stack up. So, the adoption in New Zealand did not go beyond the lab. That said, with bi-directional, more common Combined Charging Systems connectors (CCS) connections are on the horizon resulting in many main brands of EV makers allowing two- way energy flow. When such market change takes place, we will to see V2G up in the next 2-5 years. As a result, it will enable access to larger batteries which will make the energy management space extremely exciting. At this stage it would be more about selecting the right EV as the starting point by asking if the car supports ‘vehicle to everything’ (V2X).
Jonathan Parker
CEO, Thundergrid
Jonathan will be speaking at our upcoming EV Infrastructure Summit in Sydney on 17-18 June.
