Ohmie chief executive Kyle Bolto said two EVs are now in use for residents of the new EQ Tower in Melbourne, and more buildings are being signed up.

Ohmie Go supplies the infrastructure and vehicles through a partnership with Australian EV charging company JetCharge and with Hyundai Motor Co Australia.

Hyundai offers two full-electric models in Australia, the Kona Electric small SUV and Ioniq Electric small car.

Ohmie GO team

Ohmie Go is the vehicle mobility arm of Ohmie Home that supplies residential smart energy concepts.

Mr Bolto told GoAutoNews Premium that the concept is new to Australia but there were examples in Europe and the US.

“We started out with the idea of supplying (newly built) residential apartments with the infrastructure and vehicles for residents,” he said.

“What we have since found is that there is demand for retrofitting the system in existing residential apartments.

“We are also getting a lot of interest from commercial building owners. These owners want vehicles based in the building and available to staff during the day. The vehicles can also be used by employees on weekends.

“The fact that the cars are on-site, in the building, means the staff are secure – they don’t have to be on the street, especially after hours, getting into a car – and they don’t have to use their own vehicles which may usually be difficult or expensive to park.

“The on-site cars also means the business doesn’t have to use Uber or taxis for its staff to get around. We were pleasantly surprised with the businesses that have come forward and discussed this with us.”

Mr Bolto said Ohmie has stirred a lot of interest and now has future projects under development.

“Half of those enquiries are to retrofit an existing building,” he said.

“We are also looking at projects in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.”

Ohmie bought two Hyundai Kona Electrics for the first apartment complex but Mr Bolto said that it will also look at supplying EVs from Nissan, which has just launched the new-generation Leaf, as well as Tesla Motors, depending on demand and requests from building owners.

“Different cars will suit different needs and different situations. So in this regard we are brand agnostic,” he said.

The vehicles are available for rent by residents by the hour or by the day via a smartphone app. The rates are yet to be fixed but expected to be about $15 an hour inclusive of all costs except for tolls, camera and parking fines. Future plans may include other EVs such as scooters and motorbikes.

“Ohmie is looking to raise capital to grow, so while we are ambitious we are still only a small start-up company with five employees,” Mr Bolto said.

The business, previously known as Symbiot Technology, has raised $1 million with initial investors including Artesian Venture Partners and the EnergyLab Angel Syndicate.

By Neil Dowling