In early 2021, Macquarie installed three Siemens EV charger stations, providing six charging bays at the West 3 Carpark, adjacent to the Incubator. This installation aimed to accelerate the transition to electric vehicle (EV) adoption while offering the community complimentary EV charging and parking facilities.

The chargers have been extremely popular with the local community, to the point that it can be difficult for staff, students and visitors to gain access. As there has been no fee for charging or parking, vehicles frequently overstay the time required to recharge.

To ease this pressure, a charge of 15c per kWh will be applied from 8am to 5pm, coming into effect from 8am on Monday 21 August. To further encourage turnover of the charging locations, once a vehicle is fully charged, the standard parking rate of $8.40 per hour will be applied. The units will remain free outside these peak hours.

The tariffs, which will be automated via the existing Charge Fox app, will help Macquarie’s research collaboration with Snowy Hydro and Red Energy. This research is examining the economic sustainability of Macquarie’s EV charging stations and EV customers’ behaviour. Charging tariffs will also support the adoption of future EV charging stations at Macquarie.