Electric vehicle infrastructure unveiled in Glebe

The Sydney suburb of Glebe will today open the state's first public charging station for electric vehicles.

Installed by Visionstream, and managed by ChargePoint, the charging station is the first in a proposed car sharing scheme network known as GoGet.

The GoGet fleet currently boasts just one Toyota Prius Hybrid, the vehicle specially modified to operate on electric-only power for a range of up to 30-kilometres. Taking three hours to charge, the vehicle will draw power sourced from 100 per cent renewable sources, courtesy of utility company Origin.

Car share schemes like GoGet provide a network of vehicles which members can book to use for short periods of time with associated costs (including fuel, insurance and maintenance) usually included in the operator's fee.

"There are about 3000 individual members of car share companies within the City of Sydney area, the majority with GoGet, including 500 small businesses," explains GoGet co-founder, Bruce Jeffreys.

"The City provides 120 dedicated on-street car share spaces, four times more than any other Australian city. Worldwide, car share membership has risen from around 50,000 users in 1997 to 550,000 in 2009."

Go Get will rent plug-in electric hybrid vehicles at the same rate as conventionally-powered cars, and although the EV side of the fleet is in its infancy, Mr Jeffreys says he's keen to include more electric-powered vehicle as demand -- and more public charging stations -- allow.

However when it comes to bragging rights on "who's first", the Victorian town of Bendigo holds the title; in 2008 the rural town's Good Loaf Cafe installed its own public charging station.

Proprietor Laurie Whelan, a long-time devotee of renewable energy, said he took the initiative to install the charging point while fitting out the premises.

"We saw having a charging point as just one way of future-proofing the business as well as adding to our environmental credentials... and I think electric vehicles will be around in increasing numbers in the next few years, so I was keen to cater for them as well here at the bakery", Whelan said.

While hardly as technologically advanced as Glebe's public metre, the bakery's charging point allows EV-savvy cafe patrons an opportunity to top-up their vehicle's battery while enjoying a coffee and a pastry.  And while rural Bendigo may seem an unlikely location for the modern metre, electric vehicle manufacturer Blade Electric Vehicles is located just a stone's throw away in neighbouring Harcourt.

Blade first entered the electric-vehicle field when its Hyundai Getz-based Electron was introduced in November 2008.

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