Rob Lawrence is taking his decade-plus experience in the domestic market to the commercial arena by installing electric vehicle (EV) recharging stations across Perth.

His company, Eco-NRG, supplies and installs the stations at business premises, including in carparks, allowing customers to recharge EVs while they browse inside or hold meetings.

“It’s a way of getting into an up-and-coming market and sort of developing something that’s going to be sustainable,” Lawrence says

“Domestic charging stations are going to be your standalone charging station at someone’s house — plug in your car and away you go.

“A commercial station essentially has a pay system, so you’d pay for this service at, I’d say, a parking station or outside a local business. And this is what we essentially want to do is set up commercial stations across WA — to basically build the infrastructure.”

The value of membership

It’s the value of CCIWA’s network that drew Lawrence to become a member of the organisation earlier this year.

“We really want to try to grow our business in electrical vehicle charging stations and electrical vehicles, and this just seemed like a really good way to sort of meet a lot of people in a more professional field.

“I think we can meet a lot of professional businesses through CCIWA and this is going to give us some great exposure as well.”

EV uptake thus far in Australia is lower than other developed countries, but net zero carbon emissions are becoming an increasing priority and the number of EVs available grows in number while they fall in relative price.

And as more charging infrastructure like ECO-NRG's installations is rolled out, they’re expected to move from niche appeal to a mass market.

“The demand is going to be there for it eventually, so there’s a low demand at the moment but compared to a lot of other countries, say Norway — Norway has about an 80 per cent adaption rate of electrical vehicles whereas WA has about two per cent, so we have a long way to go. But I guess once the demand’s there we should find it easier,” Lawrence said.

“We are starting to advertise now and we are seeing more and more people asking for this service, and it does come down to solar.

“People who are getting a lot of solar are now looking to get battery systems and also an electrical vehicle. So all in all, you should be able to run your entire home essentially without a power bill or fuel bill going forward.”

To be part of WA’s peak business organisation, get in touch via 1300 422 492 or membership@cciwa.com.