GM Holden Setting Up for Volt Charging

GM Holden and infrastructure-provider ChargePoint Australia unveil the first electric-vehicle charging station for Volt drivers outside the General Motors subsidiary’s headquarters in Port Melbourne, Victoria.

The charging station, powered by government-certified 100% green electricity, will be available to Holden Volt drivers when the extended-range EV goes on sale in Australia later this year.

ChargePoint also has installed six green-energy charging stations at GM Holden’s engineering and design headquarters and at its Proving Ground in Lang Lang for use by employees driving Volt evaluation vehicles and working on the program.

GM Holden Executive Director-Engineering Greg Tyus, whose team is responsible for preparing the Volt for Australia, says the EREV will change the way Australians think about the auto maker and sustainable transport.

“Our engineering team is doing the final validation work around the launch of Volt in Australia,” Tyus says in a statement. “We’re looking forward to announcing more details to customers soon.”

Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet says the development of low- and zero-emission cars and renewable energy-based charging infrastructure shows the industry is innovating to meet consumer demand for cleaner motoring.

“To tackle climate change, we need cleaner technologies and energy sources that will reduce the amount of carbon pollution we release into the atmosphere,” Combet says in a statement.

But The Age newspaper says Combet had to defend the government against claims an impending carbon tax would raise electricity rates and derail the launch of new EVs.

Combet says at current prices it would cost about A$2.50 ($2.47) to fully charge the Volt for what GM claims is its maximum all-electric range of 50 miles (80 km), and this cost won’t change significantly under new electricity pricing.

“'It's a modest rise in electricity prices,” he tells reporters, “although I understand people's concerns about that, but the important thing is that we begin to change our energy-generation system towards a greater contribution by renewable energy.”