ANZU: Taking Chargers From Hard-To-Find Novelties To Ubiquitous Infrastructure In Oz
A new startup, founded by Matthew Henley, ANZU charging aims to put affordable AC chargers everywhere. It is named after an ancient Sumerian mythical creature and a dinosaur. You can’t get cooler than that.
Matthew has spent many years driving all sorts of cars. His job was to find out what breaks so that he could write reports on second-hand cars. He has always been a car guy. He has owned many cars over the years, from his first EF Falcon to his last petrol car, the twin turbo BMW M135i. He now drives a Tesla Model S and says he’ll never go back.
Matthew has spent the past 12 months getting set up and dealing with red tape issues around importation. ANZU is compliant with Australian standards and is registered as a responsible supplier of electrical equipment. It has been a time consuming and sometimes frustrating process finding the right products and reports, resulting in a few false starts. He’s ready to go now, with a range of chargers and cables. Apple, Tesla, and Amazon all started in the garage, and ANZU is doing so as well. He expects demand to continue for many years, as there is lots of growth potential due to many public AC chargers requiring bring-your-own (BYO) cables and wall chargers being the most efficient and safest way to charge at home.
When asked why we shouldn’t just use the 10 amp cable charger provided with the vehicle, it should be considered that Australian wiring standards (AS 3000) state that a socket used for EV charging should be a dedicated 20 amp socket to prevent potential circuit overloading when using the 10 amp charging cables. They are also 2–7 times slower, which may result in a car failing to reach full charge overnight, but make a great backup for emergency use.
ANZU’s focus is on destination chargers — somewhere you stay for a few hours or more, like the beach, the movies, restaurants, theme parks, and hotels. He is currently in negotiations for the pilot site at a dedicated staff car park. Around a dozen employees drive EVs to work — Teslas, Mitsubishi PHEVs, and Ioniqs — this charging station would improve employee options for charging whilst permitting those without home charging access to these great vehicles or other EVs.
The advantage of ANZU’s public chargers is that they have a universal connection & BYO cable permitting both Type 2 (the BEV standard in Australia) as well as Type 1 (commonly seen on PHEVs such as the Outlander) charging.
Pending the successful trial, Matthew will be aggressively looking for more hosts from mid-2022 in South East Queensland and further away down the track. Hotels that now may have one destination charger will soon need two, then ten, as EVs take over. We need affordable ways to provide this service. Using an AC system also makes upgrading power systems more affordable, reduces grid strain, and reduces the need for idle fees.
So, the following answer to the question “How long does it take to charge your car?” will become more common: About 3 seconds. Just plug it in and … go surfing/ have a beer/watch TV or whatever your heart desires.
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