Australian electric vehicle owners have access to almost 2400 public charging locations.
A new report from the Australian Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) reveals the number of public charge stations Down Under leapt from 1614 to 2392 during 2022.
The number of individual plugs on offer across those stations jumped from 3413 to 4943.
A fraction of those stations feature the most convenient DC ultra-rapid units capable of charging at 100kW or more, however. There are just 99 ultra-fast stations in Australia, along with 365 capable of between 24 and 99kW charging.
The remaining 1928 are limited to 24kW or less.
New South Wales is the state with the most chargers, with a grand total of 715 (37 above 100kW, 112 between 24 and 99kW, and 566 below 24kW) public EV locations.
A breakdown of the nation’s EV charge network is below:
The EVC report is calling for a focus to be placed on rolling out the fastest EV chargers “in regional areas at reasonable spacing, so that drivers are able to recharge when making long trips, and in urban areas to cater for drivers who are unable to charge at home”.
Public charging in Australia is operated by a number of companies, including dedicated providers such as ChargeFox and Evie, and new players such as fuel retailers Ampol and BP. Even Tesla now offers charging for all EV owners… in some locations.
Most have expansion plans, as electric vehicle sales grow in Australia. Along with fuel stations, public EV chargers are coming to burger restaurants, bottle shops, shopping centres and even old-fashioned power poles.
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Ora Good Cat -
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Audi e-tron GT RS -
Demand for these charge stations is only going to increase through 2023.
EVs represented close to 6.0 per cent of all new cars delivered in January 2023, and the Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling passenger car for the month.
A glut of new models are on track to touch down locally this year, ranging from affordable Chinese cars such as the GWM Ora Good Cat to high-end German metal.
