Australia’s Nullarbor is a vast region of remote treeless plain stretching 684 miles between southern and western Australia. Due to the lack of fast charging stations, this route is not popular with EV drivers. A charging station that runs on leftover cooking oil is set to change that.
Developed by retired engineer Jon Edwards, a cooking oil-filled rapid charging station was installed at Caiguna Roadhouse in the middle of Nullarbor. The charging station sources discarded cooking oil from restaurants that use deep fryers.
ABC News reported that long-distance EV charging in the Nullarbor region takes between four and six hours as drivers are forced to use outdated AC chargers. However, this time is reduced to minutes at gas stations that use cooking oil. “With this charger, you can grab a burger and a coffee and read a newspaper, and at that point you’re good to go,” Edwards told ABC News.
Motorists in the remote Australian outback use cooking fat to charge their electric vehicles faster pic.twitter.com/F9xFvbnJ4M
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 18, 2022
So you can go anywhere that hot fries are served! https://t.co/5s05uVPtXj
— We need to talk (@PlagueBoth) January 19, 2022
There is a better use of this stuff than ingesting it!
— Michael Williamson (@BeachTruck) January 18, 2022
Brilliant and truly eco-friendly as well as easy and inexpensive scalable #EV #charging https://t.co/pgC5rpHoXx
— Milan Asanovic (@SphereByMilan) January 19, 2022
Australia is moving forward… https://t.co/wJ7x41SV9i
— Rob MacSween 🇦🇺 (@RobMacAUS) January 19, 2022
Fascinating! #EV https://t.co/lNswbGyQEu
— Rishi Suri (@rishi_suri) January 19, 2022
The fast charging option is expected to increase the number of EVs crossing the Nullarbor Plain. As of now, there is low traffic of electric cars on the plains of Nullarbor, which has made it unprofitable for companies to build fast-charging stations.
“The leftover ‘biofuel’ used in the fast charge generator is carbon neutral,” added Edwards. However, the claim that cooking oil fuel is “carbon neutral” is controversial. However, experts believe that cooking oil is less harmful to the environment than other fuels such as diesel.
