A Tesla driver’s road trip to regional Victoria turned into a major ordeal after a charging hiccup.
Melbourne man Ryan Cowan was holidaying with his family in Daylesford when he needed to charge his Tesla Model Y.
He went to a charging station on Victoria Street, but the charger just ‘refused to work.’
‘This is the second time the same one was a problem for us, and we didn’t have enough battery to make it to the closest supercharger,’ Mr Cowan said.
He had to return to their accommodation – which did not have EV charging infrastructure – and use an extension cord to charge the family car.
‘We used an extension cord at our accommodation to charge the cars overnight, but this reduced it down to 5amps, which was painfully slow,’ Mr Cowan said.
‘So, yeah, next time, we will be making sure our accommodation has chargers installed.’
Petrol and diesel car owners were quick to call out Mr Cowan.
‘That why I love my V8 landcruiser. Drive to fuel station. Fill and go.’
A second added: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever had a petrol bowser not working.
A third declared: ‘Simple solution, get a car that is not electric.’
Others claimed Australia does not yet have the infrastructure for electric vehicles.
‘The reality of is that we just don’t have the infrastructure for EV cars. Private entities will build it up and charge through the nose to use it,’ one person wrote.
‘Imagine buying an electric car when the infrastructure can’t handle it yet,’ a second person commented.
‘Barely over an hour from the CBD and issues with finding fuel/electricity. I love electric cars but the infrastructure here is not ready for growing EV market,’ a third chimed.
‘The current infrastructure for road trips is not great but day-to-day living with an EV Car is absolutely amazing,’ a fourth added.
Another EV owner wrote: ‘I keep getting burnt by chargers as well! They are constantly out of order!’
Electric vehicle charging sites will double in Australia again over the coming year, according to a new report, on top of record-breaking growth over the past 12 months.
The analysis, released by consulting firm Next System on Tuesday, found car-charging sites surged by 90 per cent in Australia during 2023.
It also found that even though Tesla dominated electric vehicle sales it was Chargefox that provided the greatest share of charging sites.
The findings come after record sales of electric vehicles, and despite concerns from some potential buyers that Australia’s charging network was not large enough to support the technology.
The Public Fast Charger Network Report found Australia had seen another 397 car-charging sites and 755 new charging points built during 2023, but predicted that number would rise significantly higher in 2024.
Next System founder Daniel Bleakley said the analysis showed charging stations were already planned for another 470 locations throughout Australia and a total of 900 new charging sites could be expected during the year.
‘After a slow start, growth in Australia’s public EV fast charger network is clearly accelerating,’ Mr Bleakley said.
‘Lack of public fast-charging infrastructure is often quoted to be a major barrier to electric vehicle uptake in Australia, however our report shows the EV-charging network is actually now growing faster than the Australian EV fleet.’
The report found local firm Chargefox had installed the greatest number of electric chargers in Australia, operating more than one in three charging sites, followed by Evie Networks with 23 per cent of the market, and Tesla with 10 per cent.
Jolt and NRMA followed in fourth and fifth spot, while electric car charging stations from traditional petrol retailers BP and Ampol claimed sixth and seventh positions as their national rollout ramped up.
US automaker Tesla offered the greatest power through its electric chargers, however, with its Supercharger network representing almost half of Australia’s charging network’s capacity, according to the report.
The findings come after Australians purchased more than 87,000 electric cars in 2023, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, representing more than seven per cent of all new vehicles and more than double the number sold in 2022.
The availability of public charging stations was one of the biggest concerns for motorists who were weighing up whether to purchase an electric vehicle, according to a Pureprofile survey of more than 2000 Australians late last year, second only to their purchase price.
