RACE for 2030 is the cooperative research centre for the energy and carbon transformation. With up to $350M of resources to invest in innovation through a matched industry funding of electric vehicles by optimising customers’ transport and power use and accelerating their integration with Australia’s electricity grid. In collaboration across industry, government and once in a generation technological transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles.
All RACE for Electric Vehicles proposals are focused on collaboration between industry and government to design research outcomes which will deliver maximum value.
If you would like to learn more, get involved, or contribute to any of the below proposals, please get in touch. New proposals or ideas for research are also highly encouraged and RACE for 2030 can provide support to develop your ideas into valuable applied research projects that can benefit your business and drive innovation in the wider EV industry
Pilot demonstration of V2G interoperability (15118-20) across multiple automakers and Australian electricity distributors.
commercialisation
One year competitive solution design and pitch fest aimed at developing new solutions and commercial prototypes for industry challenges.
Optimising charging infrastructure for transport and delivery services.
System planning approach to the optimal deployment of public transport and delivery service charging infrastructure, identifying optimal land use and business models..
Urban Nexus: The merging of power and transportation networks
Cross-sectoral collaboration to identify how future emobility trends, Government targets and regulation, and developing technologies will shape future transport patterns and planning needs.
Roadmap to reliable EV charging
Current measures of charge station reliability do not reflect the complex factors behind faults and malfunctions. Collaborate with EVSE providers to define key performance criteria for public EV charging..
Optimising the new vehicle efficiency standard
Work with automotive dealers to model optimal, highest value pathways for deployment of electric vehicle models in Australia.
Advancing EV integration with international partners
Collaborate with international research partner laboratories to test new EV models to Australian grid code standards.
Modelling distribution networks capacity for EVSE
Developing tools and platforms to visualise distribution networks capacity for EV charging, supporting DNSP, EVSE and installer communications.
Learning at the EV Point of Sale
Exploring effectiveness of the point of sale as an opportunity for consumer and dealership education & engagement on electric vehicles and energy
EVs represent a significant shift in how and where energy will be demanded and stored. Bidirectional charging and Vehicle-to-Grid services provide an opportunity to provide additional services to the electricity system, and revenue generation for consumers.
This theme supports the integration of EVs to the grid and explores how smarter charging can support individuals and fleets, and how wide-spread EV integration could impact power system dynamics.
The EV transition creates new opportunities for how society can optimally utilise EVs as a mobile distributed energy resource (DER) across electricity and transportation networks.
Research on optimal planning of Charging infrastructure in integrated Transport Networks and Demand Networks is still in early stages, and this theme aims to move beyond simple representations of charging demand to undertake more detailed modelling accounting for the intrinsic uncertainty and impacts on commercial viability.
To accelerate the integration of EVs into our transportation system, support will be required to facilitate the shifts in infrastructure, manufacturing, software provision, regulation, networks, markets and customer experience that will be affected by the EV transition.
This theme aims to empower these sectors and explore how our supporting systems and infrastructure will need to change during the EV transition.
We are currently in one of the most significant periods in Australia’s EV transition” (Electric Vehicle Council, 2024)
In 2024 the Federal Government passed legislation to introduce a New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) for light vehicles, which is to be implemented from 2025. 2024 also saw Energy Ministers publish the National Consumer Energy Resources (CER) Roadmap, the Federal Governments release of a Net Zero Transport Roadmap, and a House of Representatives inquiry into the EV transition. The level of interest in EV policy and strategy in Australia has never been higher, with branches of both Federal and State Government approaching critical junctures in their forward strategic planning where they must consider the interrelation between decarbonisation and electrification targets, immediate energy and transport sector needs, and longer-term strategic objectives to transition to a decarbonised and sustainable energy future.
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Projected Vehicle Types in National Fleet 2025 - 2050
Projected Vehicle Types in Australia’s National Fleet 2025 to 2050 (data plotted from Electric vehicle projections report 2023, CSIRO 2025)
Still displaying exponential growth, Australian EV sales have grown in the last two years from 2% to almost 9% of new vehicle sales. Forward projections based off sales growth and modelling of anticipated impact of the NVES upon new vehicle supply predicts that this could be as high as 30-50% by 2030, with total Australian fleet share of over 20M vehicles predicted to be 10% EVs in the 2030s and reaching parity with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in the 2040s (Electric vehicle projections CSIRO 2023). The majority of sales in the last three years have been dominated by two automotive brands, and EV registrations are still predominantly in urban postcodes. As EV adoption in Australia approaches 1% of total vehicle registrations in 2025 (over 3% if counting PHEV & Hybrid) there are now increasing signs of adoption outside early innovator consumers (Electric Vehicle Index, AAA 2024).
As Australian EV registrations pass 3% of all vehicles, focus shifts to the transition from customers being innovators to early adopters
Planning for the connection and integration of EVs takes place across a number of different forums and Government working groups. Core to this planning is the consideration of EVs as not just a method of transport but as a mobile consumer energy resource - “battery on wheels” - that should be optimised across both transportation and energy networks to minimise expenditure and maximise efficiencies across both systems. RACE for 2030 is actively engaged across all levels of Government and associated organisations and regularly works with these stakeholders and consumer/industry representative bodies in the development of innovative and impactful research projects.
The RACE for EVs research program contributes to national working groups across these stakeholder groups, providing thought leadership for the industry and presenting research proposals and project updates at key forums and industry conferences. These working groups continue to evolve as the transition to EVs progresses and include:
• Task 53, an International Energy Agency (IEA) initiative to facilitate interoperability between electric vehicles and charging infrastructure
• DEIP Interoperability Working Group - Electric Vehicles
• National electric vehicle action plan working group
• Consumer energy resources roadmap working group
• State government energy stakeholder working groups
• State working groups on EV infrastructure guidelines
Within Australia’s ecosystem of EV stakeholders there are certain actors which are showing an eagerness to pave the way for enhanced EV to grid integration. These actors are key to driving the transition to EVs and over the lifetime of the RACE for 2030 CRC key partnerships with these business’ are being developed to maximise the impact and applicability of the research program for industry stakeholders and end users.
Actors within the EV to Grid ecosystem and their level of influence (adapted from EV to Grid Ecosystem Mapping, Evenergi 2022)
If you are interested in joining over 120 industry partners in the RACE for 2030, please get in contact. There are multiple benefits to working with a cooperative research centre to leverage your R&D investment into larger projects that can collaborate across industry, government and academic partners to deliver innovative research solutions. There is also support provided through the Federal Governments Research and Development Tax Incentive program for businesses undertaking research and development projects. RACE for 2030 is also open to international partnership where there is demonstrable benefit to Australia.
The National Roadmap for Bidirectional EV Charging was commissioned by the RACE for 2030 and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to identify the critical path to achieving commercial adoption of bidirectional EV charging in Australia. The roadmap provides guidance to industry and government who will have a key role in developing policy settings and strategy to realise the benefits of bidirectional charging.
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The growth of V2G customers under alternative uptake scenarios (National Roadmap for Bidirectional EV Charging, enX 2025)
Bidirectional EV charging (commonly called V2G or vehicle-to-grid) allows for EV batteries to be used for purposes including solar-self-consumption, back-up power and supporting the grid. With the right policy settings, hundreds of thousands of Australian households could be using this technology to reduce their power bills by 2030, and millions by 2040
The roadmap recommends 18 actions for inclusion in a national strategy for bidirectional EV charging to be developed by Australian government. The most urgent areas for actions are: 1) National policy commitment, 2) Time-limited installation rebates, 3) National Electricity Rule changes to enable dynamic tariffs and national consistency for networks, 4) Clear direction on interoperability standards, and 5) Clarity on national smart grid architecture requirements
The RACE for EVs program is developing proposals for large scale testing of bidirectional interoperability and developing international partnerships to facilitate testing of EVs to Australian standards through the IEAs Task 53.
The roadmap, background report and detailed modelling can be accessed on the RACE for EVs Program Page or ARENA Knowledge Hub.
The aim of this project is to identify and analyse commercial radio’s role in Australia’s response to climate change and its net zero targets.
Working with content directors, producers and presenters across states and regional areas, we will develop content that resonates with commercial radio audiences and with people who are vulnerable to misinformation and resistant to the renewables roll out and shift to EVs.
The efficacy and impact of the content will be evaluated through a rigorous research program using content analysis, surveys, focus groups and interviews with audience members, producers and presenters.
This project aims to explore the issues and challenges that will face all Australian consumers during the EV transition by understanding their lived experience.
Over 100 in-person, qualitative ethnographic interviews with consumers will be conducted across a range of demographics and states alongside a national survey to go beyond existing consumer sentiment research and tell us how and why EV consumer behaviours are formed in Australia.
Outputs, including research insights, policy recommendations, and support in the crafting of customer messaging will be co-designed with consumers and industry to put end users at the heart of the process.
The Strategic EV Integration (SEVI) project is a three-year, industry-led research initiative focused on exploring promising use cases for the integration of electric vehicles (EVs), associated technologies, and business models across Australia.
Central to this project is the emphasis on co-design and collaborative implementation with partners and stakeholders, guided by research plans co-designed with industry.
These plans lay the groundwork for the implementation and assessment of research within select demonstration projects in New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia
Current RACE for Electric Vehicle projects welcome collaboration and input from interested industry stakeholders and researchers working on similar areas. All projects maintain an industry reference group to incorporate wider sector specific insights and can be flexible to scope adjustments and supplementary research tasks if funding is available and the projects timeline allows.
This project identified the critical path roadmap to achieving commercial adoption of bidirectional EV charging (“bidi”) charging in Australia. It will help to inform the next series of investment and policy decisions by the private and public sectors to commercialise V2G in Australia.
This project focused on the embedded under-utilised capacity in existing transformers. The project investigated whether transformers can be momentarily loaded higher than their initial nameplate rating to allow for greater EV charging without substantially increasing transformer temperature.
This project explored the barriers and opportunities of vehicle-to-everything (V2X), developing recommendations to implementation through technical solutions and partnership demonstrations. It was formative in the development of research objectives and industry partnerships taken into the subsequent Australian Strategic Electric Vehicle Integration project.
This project recommended tax changes that can accelerate business fleets uptake of electric vehicles through home charging of business fleet vehicles at employees’ residence. FBT changes were proposed by the research and government adopted an approach consistent with these recommendations in 2023.
This project undertook comprehensive literature review and barrier analysis to compile research opportunities that can address barriers to the successful integration of EVs. Priority opportunities identified included collating industry data, business model design & tariff structures, consumer charging behaviour, impacts of EVs on urban design, and the design of communication standards and protocols for EVSE.
RACE for 2030 has robust partnerships with leading Australian research institutions, providing extensive access to cuttingedge testing facilities and expert knowledge.
Through collaborations with research partners RACE for 2030 can leverage sophisticated laboratory equipment and specialized research infrastructure in our projects with the following institutions.
These partnerships enable comprehensive testing of renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency solutions, and grid integration systems. The combined expertise of academic researchers and industry professionals creates a powerful knowledge network, accelerating the development and validation of clean energy innovations.
RACE for 2030 also maintains active partnerships with international research institutions who contribute their expert insights to Australian projects and can be approached for involvement in local research.
• Electric Power Engineering Centre (NZ)
• Electric Power Research Institute (USA)
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (USA)
• Rocky Mountain Institute (USA)
• UCLA (USA)
• Wuppertal Institute (GER)
This collaborative approach ensures research outcomes are both academically rigorous and commercially relevant.
