Does Australia have sufficient EV charging stations?

More EV charging stations would encourage EV uptake in Australia, Savvy reports.

The Australian car loan firm has completed an Australian Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Points Report 2022 which explains that Australia has about 3000 public EV charging points (2531 standard AC, 470 DC fast chargers) to cover 7.692 million square kilometres – and that more can be done to improve the situation.

“Considering that demand from consumers for EVs is ever increasing and the Australian Government is now backing further charging infrastructure, we wanted to know if we currently have enough charging points to satisfy the need. Also, if lack of them puts potential EV buyers off,” Savvy explains.

A 2021 Savvy survey found 17% of respondents were most concerned about charging station availability when making an EV purchase, proving charging point accessibility could be a large restraint to EV market growth in Australia.

EV sales in Australia represent about 0.78% of new cars, compared to Norway at 75% and the world average of 4.2%, Savvy says, adding that the EV community plays the leading role in mapping charging points, most located in New South Wales.

It points out an Electric Vehicle Council report estimated more than 3000 public chargers are available in Australia, with 470 superchargers and about 40 Tesla destination chargers.

Savvy says these figures “aren’t huge” considering the potential growth in EVs’ popularity.

”By the end of 2022, it is estimated that there will be 58 EV models for sale on the Australian market, a rise of 53% from 31 models in 2021.”

Installations of public chargers increased by 23% (DC) and 24% (AC) from 2020-21 and at present, for every public charger, there are 7.21 EVs in Australia, Savvy adds.

It believes the biggest hindrance to Australia’s EV market growth overall is the lack of EV charging stations.

Savvy says the Australian Government has now embraced EVs, and is enabling their future use by the release of its Low Emissions Technology Statement 2021, where it specified ‘Enabling Infrastructure’ as a key category.

“The plan is to invest in infrastructure that will allow the widespread delivery of low emission energy to the commercial and residential sectors,” Savvy adds.

“One of the two key priorities launched at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland was to include more battery charging stations for EVs to ‘support consumer choice’.”

Savvy sees a turnaround after prime minister Scott Morrison famously said in 2019 in criticising Labor policies that an EV would “end the weekend” by not towing boats or getting Australians to their favourite camping spot with the family.

Morrison later explained his comments were about “Labor’s bad policy” and not against EVs.

His government’s Future Fuels Fund was part of the 2020-2021 Federal Budget aiming to “address barriers to the roll-out of new vehicle technologies”, managed through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

Its plan is to develop $500 million of charging infrastructure by co-investing with the private sector, with a new round of funding to be announced early this year.

“Despite the overall criticisms of the government’s net-zero target shortcomings by 2050, most Australian states and territories have their own aggressive targets,” Savvy says.

“We can’t have more EVs on the road until we have more charging stations and we can’t have more charging stations unless we have more EVs.

“Therefore we are reliant on government policies and funding and the growth that private providers can foresee and are therefore willing to invest upon to fix the problem.”

Savvy suggests it should be obligatory to install a charger at home.

“Public charging stations pose a different challenge as they, unfortunately, aren’t always easy to find and their distribution depends upon the population, state, territory, local council implementation policy and willingness of private providers.”

A free app for iOS, Android and the internet called PlugShare allows users to find charging stations in Australia and worldwide, map new ones and share their EV activity with other fans, it adds.

“There are around 300,000 monthly active users who can even plan their trips (thus find charging stations on the way) and pay directly for their charging use through the platform.

“Hopefully soon Google Maps will roll out their EV charging station finder that has been released in the United Kingdom and the United States.

“For the interim, planning your trips and becoming friendly with the EV community to keep abreast of new developments and installations seem to be the keys to the problem.”

Although EVs have huge potential to combat climate change, the availability of charging points in Australia is limited, particularly if you live in a sparsely populated area, Savvy managing director Bill Tsouvalas says.

“It has been overheard many times that ‘Your next car will probably be an electric one’ and this may well be true,” he adds.

“Obviously, there are many points that need to be addressed for the average consumer to take the first step (notably availability and price), but with more charging points available Australia-wide, it will make this first step less scary and much, much easier.”