The first two charging stations will be installed in Wagga Wagga and Yass this month to complete the rollout of charging stations on both the Sturt and Hume highways. A map showing all of NRMA’s fast charging stations can be found at the NRMA website.
Electric vehicle drivers will be no more than 150 kilometres from a charging station once the regional network is completed by the end of 2020. This will allow people to travel to Broken Hill, Moree and Bourke, and link up to major routes in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Minister Paul Toole says the additional charging stations will open up regional NSW to electric vehicle owners.
“The extended network will help further support the regional tourism economy and promote local investment in regional centres along the Newell, Barrier, New England, and Kamilaroi highways,” Mr Toole says.
Ask Your Mates: Private charging stations on public property
Access to charging stations is an increasingly important issue as electric vehicles become more popular in Australia. IPWEA member Ruth Gaut, Coordinator of Assets and Sustainability at the City of Subiaco, recently posted a query to IPWEA’s Ask Your Mates forum about a request her council has received from a resident who wants to install an electric vehicle charging station on the verge of his property at his own expense.
Gaut’s post triggered an engaging discussion among the Community members. Robert Stevenson, Smart and Sustainable City Manager at the City of Hobart, says his council has received similar enquiries from the public. “Our response has been to suggest the owner finds a way of charging within their property boundary. If they can't do so, then they need to use public charging stations.”
Stevenson says City of Hobart is building several charging stations for public use and is also looking at investing in smart pole infrastructure “so that residents can charge their vehicle and pay any associated costs…without requiring a lead from their house.”
In Los Angeles, where Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Green New Deal aims to have at least 100,000 new electric vehicles in the city by 2025, the City of Los Angeles has installed charging stations directly attached to more than 130 streetlight poles, with hundreds more planned.
Issues raised in the thread’s many comments include safety, public liability, use of public land, standardisation and compatibility of technology, maintenance and appearance. Dr Peter Tawadros, an asset management engineer at the City of Gold Coast, also flagged the issue of security. “The Tesla wall charger that normally comes with the cars has no security features and isn't designed for public use,” he points out.
Ashley Bishop, Asset Management Coordinator at Benalla Rural City Council, proposes “a pit or plug in the ground which requires a code to activate and requires the user to supply their own cable” rather than the rollout of smart poles, a solution that is suitable for use in driveways.
The issue of access to charging stations is a “municipal can of worms”, writes Bishop, that “will no doubt end up with some government policy either at state or federal level.” In the meantime, IPWEA members will continue to share their ideas and insights for the benefit of all.