Australian start-up allows EV drivers to charge their vehicles with renewable energy

More and more Australians will be buying an electric vehicle in the years ahead and a company called IonBlue has now made it possible to ensure the electricity to power these EVs is sourced from renewable energy.

In 2021, there were 24,078 EVs sold in Australia with demand set to increase by 200 per cent in 2022 thanks, in part, to state government incentive schemes.

Electric vehicles have zero emissions, but they require power to recharge the onboard battery.

And not everyone who owns, or will own, an EV has solar panels and batteries to harvest the renewable energy to charge them.

Most of the charging occurs at night in the owner’s driveway with the power coming from the electricity grid which contributes to carbon emissions.

Australian start-up IonBlue provides a service that will allow EV owners to charge their vehicles with renewable carbon neutral energy.

“Our goal is to spread awareness regarding how we currently use electric vehicles, and how we can improve this use to better support the renewable energy industry,” says Mathew Gaal, IonBlue founder.

“Although EVs are a great technological advancement, generally, their environmental footprint, taking into account the vehicles end-to-end lifecycle and charging mechanisms, is not significantly better than that of a traditional combustion engine vehicle.

“We want to change that.

“Our environmental subscription service is easy to use, low effort and low cost.

“Something that can support the renewable energy industry while also educating the public.

“We are all for people buying electric vehicles, we just want to ensure that they are being used in the most environmentally friendly way possible.”

Part of IonBlue’s service is to provide Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) which are purchased as part of a customer’s subscription to offset the amount of power your vehicle requires.

The RECs are sourced from the Molong Renewable Energy Generator in regional NSW which is registered with the Clean Energy Regulator.

Molong is a 30MWac Solar Farm in central west NSW north-west of Orange which, once completed, will produce enough energy to power about 8,500 average NSW homes.

RECs come in whole units where a megawatt hour is equal to 1,000KWh of clean energy.

IonBlue provides plans starting at $5 a month ($60 annually) through to $35 a month ($420 annually) to cover the varying needs of EV drivers and the type and number of vehicles they own.

The company has a database of all EVs on the market and has already calculated the amount and cost energy needed per kilometre.

Based on annual travel and location, IonBlue can calculate the grid electricity you will consume each year in megawatt hours of electricity created from the accredited renewable energy sources like wind or solar.

“Because of Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels to power our electricity system, EVs are still significant contributors to climate change from the indirect carbon emissions their energy demand creates,” says Gaal.

“A large EV passenger car in Australia will create as much as 60 per cent of the carbon emissions of a similar-sized vehicle with a combustion engine. Ion Blue is here to change that.”

Customers can get started by creating an account with IonBlue and letting them know what model EV you’re driving to find the plan that’s right for you.

www.ionblue.com.au