The AEVA Conference Committee is delighted to announce that the 2025 AEVA National Conference will be opened by Glen Morris.
Glen is the General Manager of the Smart Energy Lab, a cutting-edge facility that serves as a hub for renewable energy innovation, training, and testing. Throughout his career, Glen has delivered groundbreaking energy projects, including utility-scale systems for Melbourne Water, large off-grid rural homesteads, and island microgrids. His work exemplifies a commitment to sustainable energy solutions that meet the complex demands of diverse environments.
In opening our Conference, Glen will give his perspective on how electric vehicles will make a substantial contribution to the transition to renewable energy.
Keynote speaker
Our keynote speaker will be Mark Rainford, an automotive market expert who has lived in China for eight years. Mark will share his insights on the automobile industry trends in China and what they could mean for the rest of the world.
In other presentations at the Conference:
EV market trends
- Bryce Gaton, who has been presenting on the EV sector since 2008, will describe the new cohort of EV buyers and reveal why they are different
- Nathan Gore-Brown, who has extensive experience in the automotive and EV industries, will analyse the future for light commercial EVs, one of the most challenging market segments.
Experiences and attitudes of EV owners
- Ann Hoban and Richard Scherer will present the results of the survey of AEVA members, conducted in September 2025
- Heidi Richards will present the results of her survey of the experiences of EV owners with insuring their vehicles
- Bisma Khalid, a PhD researcher specializing in transport modelling and behavioural analysis, will present the results of her surveys of EV and non-EV owners.
Industry
- Rob Horton from Smartrak, a company that helps organisations to manage their vehicle fleets, will describe solutions for efficient management of EVs in complex fleets.
- Brendon Green from Pickles Auctions will describe how battery health testing is creating more confidence in the used EV market – a critical issue for EV uptake in Australia
Charging and V2G issues
- Peter Campbell, who has extensive experience as an EV owner and on strata management bodies, will discuss the “right to charge” of EV owners living in apartments
- Bryce Gaton will discuss the various charging models for home, apartment and on-street, and the “personal versus public” debate over the provision of EV chargers
- Ashley Mead, an AEVA member and community consultant in Cowra, NSW, will advocate government action to incentivise the purchase of bidirectional EVs
Vehicle emissions
- Robin Smit, the founder of Transport Energy/Emission Research (TER), will discuss the impact of driver profiles, fuel types and freeway or urban conditions on vehicle emissions
- Ben Elliston, who has a research background in modelling of energy systems, will discuss Australia’s growing problem with the CO2 emissions of plug-in hybrids.
Aviation vs rail
Chris Jones, AEVA President (2021-2025), TAFE lecturer and electric motorbike enthusiast, will advocate for Government action to raise revenue for high-speed rail in Australia by increasing taxes on the lightly taxed aviation sector.
Autonomous vehicles
- Leigh-Chantelle Koch, PhD researcher specialising in cyberpsychology, will present the results of her research with survey participants, revealing how current EV experiences serve as a crucial testing ground for future Autonomous Vehicle acceptance.
- Kent Fitch, an IT specialist in simulation, search systems and AI models, will present a detailed simulation of transport patterns in Canberra, modelling the replacement of most private and public transport with a single shared autonomous electric vehicle fleet service.
Conference registration
The Conference will be held at the Footscray Park campus of Victoria University.
The full Conference program may be found here.
Registration costs $220 including GST ($165 for AEVA members) and you can register to attend here. Catering for lunch, morning tea and afternoon tea is included in this price.
Please consider attending this interesting and informative event.
Warwick Cathro
National Secretary, AEVA