Which state is best prepared for electric vehicles?

Australia has been relatively slow to build a widescale network of public charging stations that encourages a greater uptake of electric vehicles.

According to the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC), there are currently more than 3000 public charging stations operating around the country, with less than one in six being DC fast, rapid or ultra-rapid chargers.

But the recently elected Labor government has outlined plans to significantly improve Australia’s charging network over the next five years as part of its National Electric Vehicle Strategy.

A discussion paper is set to be tabled for consultation later this year among government, relevant industries and the private sector on the development of a national EV charging network, with charging stations located at an average interval of 150km on major Australian roads.

On top of the government investment, there are also a number of private enterprise initiatives that will further improve the availability of electric vehicle charging.

Both Ampol and BP have announced plans to introduce electric vehicle charging stations at service stations across Australia, with the former already operating five pilot sites as part of a trial before it expands the rollout to more than 120 sites by the end of next year.

So, what does the EV charging road map look like state-by-state today and what will it look in the future?

According to a report by Statista in 2021, New South Wales has the most EV public charging stations in the country with 1017 currently in operation, including 181 fast-charging DC stations.

It is also the state with the highest number of electric vehicles on the road, with more than 5000 according to the latest registration data.

The NSW state government had already earmarked $149 million to fund the installation of more ultra-rapid 350kW DC charging stations across the state, with $20 million allocated specifically for chargers at regional businesses and tourist locations.

Earlier this year, it announced an additional $38 million towards its Electric Vehicle Strategy in the 2022-23 budget, with a further $18 million in grants to fund new fast-charging stations as well as expand the number of outlets at existing stations in high-density urban areas from four to at least eight charging points.

The remaining $20 million has been split between co-funding 500 kerbside residential charging points in areas where private off-street parking is limited and co-funding 125 charging stations in medium and large apartment buildings with more than 100 parking spaces.

In Victoria, the state has a higher percentage of DC outlets than NSW with 115 of its 722 public charging stations offering rapid charging capacity.

However, it has almost as many EVs on the road – approximately 4600 according to the latest data – which means owners can face more bottlenecks and longer wait times.

But the state government plans to address that with $100 million to support its Zero Emissions Vehicle Roadmap that includes an additional $19 million to accelerate the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across regional Victoria, with 141 fast charging stations located in 116 ‘high-use’ areas and tourist hot spots.

Queensland was an early investor in charging infrastructure, helping to develop the Electric Super Highway that allowed EV owners to travel the entire distance of its eastern seaboard.

According to Statista, the state has 486 public charging stations operating, of which just 84 offer DC high-speed charging. And there are currently more than 2500 EVs registered in the state.

However, the state government recently announced funding for what it dubs Phase 3 of its Electric Super Highway plan that will see the installation of an additional 24 charging stations, including inland regional locations.

In Western Australia, the state presently has 305 public charging stations, including 33 DC fast-charging outlets, with a total EV population of just over 1000 vehicles.

Despite the vast distances between country towns in WA, the state government has announced $21 million in funding to develop the world’s longest electric vehicle charging highway.

This will see the installation of 49 charging station across the state that will allow EV users to travel from Perth to Kununurra in the Kimberleys, along the south-west coast to Esperance and east into the Goldfields to Kalgoorlie.

South Australians have taken to electric vehicles more than any other state. According to a report by Zutobi, the state has one of the highest uptakes of EVs as a percentage of total vehicle sales, with 61 EVs for every 10,000 new cars sold in 2019.

With more than 2000 EVs on the road, SA only has 283 public charging stations and just 27 DC fast-charging outlets.

In order to address this and foster the shift to EVs, the government has provided the RAA with a $12.35 million grant to build and operate a network that will consist of more than 530 chargers across 140 stations in 50 rural, regional and metropolitan locations.

Not surprisingly, Tasmania is greening its roads at a rapid rate too and has the highest number of charging points per electric vehicle in the country.

With 100 public charging stations, including 18 DC fast charging outlets, and approximately 250 EVs on the road, owners are more likely to find a vacant charger than anywhere else in Australia.

And that is only going to get better, as the NRMA recently boosted its funding to Electric Highway Tasmania – a privately-owned group run by electric vehicle advocates – to expand its reach from the existing six sites to 27 sites by mid-2023.

That means EV owners, even in the most remote locations, should be no further than 100km away from a charging station.

As the smallest geographical region, the ACT is pretty well covered with 58 public charging stations and 10 DC charging outlets.

But EVs are becoming quite popular in our national capital, with Canberrans buying the highest proportion of electric cars in the country, at 83 for every 10,000 new vehicle registrations in 2019.

With the federal government planning to transition the majority of its commonwealth vehicle fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2025, the ACT government announced earlier this year it has issued $1.4 million in grants to providers that will deliver an additional 77 charging stations by the end of 2023.

The target is to have at least 180 public charging stations in operation by 2025.

The Northern Territory has its own unique challenges and, not surprisingly, has the least developed EV charging network in Australia.

According to Statista, there are just 31 public EV charging stations in the Top End and only two DC fast-charging outlets. But that’s not so bad when you consider there are currently only around 50 electric vehicles registered in the state.

Because of its small EV population, rather than investing heavily in public infrastructure the NT government is helping EV owners to adopt EV charging at home by subsidising the installation of wallbox chargers.

Because cars with internal combustion engines are suited to different fuels – regular, super and premium unleaded or diesel – there is a variety of fuel hoses at the bowser.

With battery-powered cars, there is only one source of power: electricity.

However, that doesn’t mean that all EVs are built the same when it comes to how they can be charged.

At the moment, there are a number of different plug types that connect a charger to the vehicle, and there is no official standard for either – yet.

Early-model EVs such as the original Nissan LEAF and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV have a Type 1 (J1772) connector that only allows for AC charging up to 7.2kW, and there are very few charging stations with this plug type across the country.

The most common are Type 2 CCS and CHAdeMo connectors and Tesla’s proprietary Supercharger network.

The Type 2 CCS plug is widely used by European car-makers and features a seven-pin top connector for AC charging with a separate two-pin port for DC charging, while the CHAdeMO connector is predominantly used by Japanese manufacturers and exclusively for DC charging with bidirectional capabilities, which means it can feed electricity from the battery back into the grid.

Tesla has developed a variation of the Type 2 CCS plug that means its vehicles can be charged from any relevant public charging station but locks other models out from its dedicated Superchargers.

The majority of 50kW+ DC chargers already in operation around Australia feature both Type 2 CCS and CHAdeMo connectors, but newer stations are moving to just offering Type 2 CCS plugs as there are only a handful of vehicles from Japan that utilise the latter.

You can check the location and connector type for all charging stations using the community-based smartphone app Plugshare.