Australians are familiar with holiday frustrations: queues at theme parks, traffic jams at the beach, competition for Boxing Day bargains. But this year, some discovered a new source of stress: delays when charging their electric cars.
Queues at some charging stations in the week after Christmas saw drivers forced to wait up to 90 minutes to get back on the road.
The scenes played out in regional areas between capital cities as electric vehicle owners set off on big road trips – some for the first time.
But, experts say, the queues might ultimately benefit the industry and future electric vehicle owners.
They provided the first “real-world data” into charging hotspots and the upgrades needed to ensure Australia’s electric transport future.
It highlighted the work still needed to be done before electric cars are widely adopted.
The Evie Networks chief executive, Chris Mills, is one of those upbeat about the thoroughly modern traffic jam. His company, which aims to build Australia’s largest fast-charging electric vehicle network, broke records in December.
“This year was the first year where there were enough electric cars on the road for anyone to have experienced congestion,” he says.
“Don’t get me wrong – I am not minimising the frustration people felt – but this will be the first year where we have enough data that we can plan for this next year.”
Mills says the company’s network of 100 chargers between Townsville and Tasmania saw “the four biggest days [of charging] in recorded history” – with demand peaking on 29 December.
“It’s good to see that electric drivers were getting out there on their holidays and feeling confident they could drive around rather than only using their vehicles in capital cities and then jumping in a petrol car,” he says.
“The mentality is changing. People are feeling more confident about doing that and that comes from the expansion of networks around the country.”
The record-breaking behaviour was more than just proof electric cars were popular, Mills says. It also provided valuable insight into where more facilities were needed.
Traffic information delivers only limited clues as to which charging points will be popular.
For example, an Evie charging station at Coomera in Queensland – a short distance from Australia’s most popular highway – has so far recorded only modest use.
“This will allow us to do congestion modelling with real-life data to tell us where we should upgrade sites rather than just guessing,” Mills says.
The Tesla Owners Club of Australia national president, Peter Thorne, says getting the locations of chargers right was imperative in Australia where demand for electric cars is rising.
Providers “have the opportunity to step up and get charging right now,” Thorne says.
“It’s really only in the last year that EVs have started to take a good hold in Australia and the infrastructure is going to have to catch up with that.”
More than 33,000 electric vehicles were sold in Australia in 2022, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries – almost double the number sold in 2021.
Thorne says many car-charging sites have been underused so far because drivers have charged their vehicles at home or at their holiday destination. Many drivers now want to take their cars further.
“The biggest request from our members at the moment is for Tesla Superchargers to start reaching some remote areas and to get off the well-beaten track and really start to widen the scope of EVs,” he says. “We do need more chargers out there.”
Climate Council advocacy head, Dr Jennifer Rayner, says electric vehicle charging points are most needed in regional and rural areas of Australia.
These locations, particularly along highways, would be in high demand during holiday periods, she says, but may not be busy enough during the rest of the year to suit commercial providers.
“The federal government has a big role to play in making sure [EV charging] is consistently available where people need it,” Rayner says.
“That should mean really popular highways that people are using during the summer season. That’s where there’s going to be peak demand.”
State governments, including those in Queensland and New South Wales, have issued grants to deploy electric vehicle chargers in regional locations, and the issue of funding more charging stations was discussed in the National Electric Vehicle Strategy consultation paper last year.
Patrick Finnegan, the director of independent charging station operator Charge Star, says government funding is needed to ensure chargers are located in holiday hotspots and are properly maintained.
“It’s difficult to get the utilisation required to get a payback on that initial investment,” he says.
The most efficient way to roll out electric vehicle charging would be through existing petrol stations, where power, lighting, retail stores and bathrooms are already secured, Finnigan says.
“We’ve already got locations along the freeway at petrol stations. All you’ve got to do is set up a grants program, lay out the criteria for it, and let people apply.
“It’s the cheapest way of doing it because a lot of petrol station sites have excess power for a car wash, which normally takes 50 kilowatts. The infrastructure is already there.”
Whatever approach governments and providers choose, a larger network will take time to be established.
Electric vehicle charging stations typically take 18 months to plan and install and Mills warns EV drivers will need to make allowances on road trips in 2023.
“You’ll probably see another spike in demand in January and another spike at Easter, and in NSW we’ll see another spike for the Queen’s birthday in June,” he says.
But, along with the growing number of electric vehicles, the number of chargers is set to grow in Australia.
Energy giants BP and Ampol have announced plans to roll out charging networks in and Ausgrid will install up to 30,000 pole-mounted chargers by 2029. Tesla has closed submissions for more local Supercharger locations and Evie Networks plans to add up to 120 charging sites during 2023.
“While the number of electric cars will double, the number of sites will also probably double and we’ll have much better data enabling us to plan for upgrades,” Mills says.