Driving the Nation Program

The Program Objectives are to:

• Overcome barriers to accelerate uptake of Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) by fleets.
• Optimise the integration of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) into the grid (including smart chargers) to ensure cost effective outcomes.
• Demonstrate new use cases for ZEVs, and highlight opportunities for ZEVs to provide value.
• Increases skills, capacity and knowledge relevant to ZEV technologies.

The Applicant must:

• at the time of applying and throughout the life of the Project, hold an Australian Business Number (ABN) and
• be either:
  1. an Australian entity incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth);
  2. an Australian State or Territory owned corporation or a subsidiary of an Australian state or territory owned corporation; or
  3. an Australian local government or council or an Australian organisation that is purposed with representing and supporting local governments or councils.

See the guidelines for full details of organisations eligible for DTN support.

The Applicant must be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of ARENA that the Project described in the application:

• Involves a Renewable Energy Technology that has the potential to contribute to the Program Objectives;
• Sources Renewable Energy or Green Certificates to cover the energy usage for ZEVs or uses sustainable biofuels or renewable hydrogen; and
• Includes the demonstration or deployment of equipment and/or technology solutions.

ARENA will not consider support for projects that:

• Have limited replicability, without a pathway for commercial deployment beyond the Project.
• Are using biofuel, hydrogen fuel cell or hybrid internal combustion engine vehicles.
• Predominately scale up or deploy established business models already tested in Australia.

See the guidelines for full details of projects eligible for DTN support.

1. Merit criterion A – Contribution to the Program Objectives

• Overcome Barriers – Identify barriers and providing evidence explaining how the Project will reduce or remove barriers to high levels of ZEV uptake to inform users, industry practices, policy, regulatory or standards
• Optimise grid integration and inform regulation – Demonstrate and build understanding of solutions to optimise the integration of BEVs and/or hydrogen electrolysers into the electricity grid cost effectively.
• Demonstrate new use cases and innovation – Demonstrate new use cases, business models or innovation that can be replicable and provide ongoing value for ZEVs
• Increase skills, capacity and knowledge sharing – Explain how knowledge gained and shared from your Project contributes to new skills, capabilities, understanding and reforms that can accelerate the transition to ZEVs
• Pathway to commercialisation – How well the Project will support the commercialisation of the relevant technologies. How will the Project help unlock future projects with zero government support required.
• Knowledge sharing – How the knowledge generated by the Project would contribute to the Program Objectives. This will include how well tailored the Knowledge Sharing Plan is to the purpose of the Project.

2. Merit criterion B – Applicant capability and capacity

• Capability
  1. Previous experience delivering similar projects, in terms of scale, value, technologies or solution deployed (in Australia or internationally)
  2. Appropriate expertise as relevant to the Project – including management, technical, regulatory, commercial and professional expertise and experience of the key personnel
• Capacity
  1. Access to appropriate resources
  2. Agreements between partner organisations or consortium members

3. Merit criterion C – Project design and methodology

• Project Design
  1. Well-articulated plan for the Project
  2. Proposed hardware and software solution to support Project integration
  3. Compliance with template Funding Agreement
• Project risks
  1. Key risks for the Project being delivered on time and on budget

4. Merit criterion D – Financial viability and co-funding commitment

• Financial viability and cofunding commitment
  1. a detailed budget and/or financial model for the Project
  2. evidence of support by you and any Project Partners, including commitment to provide the specified cash and In-Kind Contributions.
  3. information to confirm that you (and any Project Partners) have the financial capacity to fund your proposed share of the funding or In-Kind Contributions for the duration of the Project.

See the guidelines for full details of the assessment criteria.

Focus Area 1: Supporting Uptake of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) Through Innovation in Public Charging. The program is looking to support the following:

• Demonstration of innovative business models, technologies and solutions that address a barrier to the deployment or use of BEV charging infrastructure.
• Trials and pilots that reduce the cost of deployment or address technical, regulatory or commercial barriers to deployment.
• Trials and pilots that facilitate integration of BEV charging with the grid.
• Where chargers are to be deployed, these should be available to the public.

Focus Area 2: Supporting Uptake of BEVs Through Innovation in Management of Charging. The program is looking to support the following:

• Demonstration of innovative business models, technologies and solutions that facilitate BEV integration through smart or controlled charging (including at work, home or depot).
• Integration of managed charging to optimise the integration of BEVs into the electricity system.
• Small scale demonstrations of smart charger application and control.
• Innovative retail products or software trials that seek to orchestrate charging to align with network requirements, and periods of low wholesale costs and high renewable energy generation.
• Demonstration of increased revenue streams or reduced costs from orchestration of BEV charging.

The following attachments are mandatory:

EOI application:

• Project Plan
• Evidence of support by participating organisations
• Project budget – a detailed Project budget submitted as an excel file and/or Project
• Financial Model (where relevant). Note this is in addition to the simple budget table in the application form.

Full application:

• Evidence of financial capacity
• Compliance Table response to the Funding Agreement
• Risk Management Plan – use your own template or ARENA’s template
• a WHS Management Plan;

See the guidelines for full details of information requirements.

Applications are submitted online via ARENANet.

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