A slow rollout of fast charging stations could hold Victorians back from shifting to electric vehicles, with some early adopters finding infrastructure has not kept pace with the growing fleet of battery-powered cars.
Carloop data shows Victoria trailing behind NSW, with 225 fast chargers currently installed across 99 sites, compared to 326 bays at 157 sites in NSW.Victoria has a pipeline of 80 more fast charging bays which it is yet to install, out of a total of 141 being funded with the state government’s $5 million Destination Charging Across Victoria program.
A growing number of companies, including petrol station chains BP and Ampol, are building commercial charging networks, but government-funded schemes are driving the rollout during the early stages of the EV shift. The Brighton East resident frequently goes on long road trips in his EV around Victoria without any issue, because he carefully plans his route past multiple recharging stations, in case the first charger isn’t working.
A spokesperson for the Andrews government said its $100 million EV road map was accelerating EV adoption through subsidies for people buying new cars and by backing new charging infrastructure. The most powerful DC fast chargers can add 100 kilometres of range to an EV battery in around three minutes, while a 50kW unit would take around 24 minutes.