A public fast EV charger in Hobart Place, Civic. Photo: James Coleman.
Canberra has scored a “satisfactory” result for the state of our public EV chargers in the first audit conducted by EV drivers.
Members of the ACT branch of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA ACT) were sent out in teams last Friday morning (11 April) to inspect all of the ACT’s publicly available DC fast-charging stations.
They assessed the physical condition of the charger and cable, whether it was in service, and whether the charging apps – such as PlugShare – were giving correct information about each one.
A total of 102 plugs (86 common CCS2 connectors and 16 older CHAdeMO connectors) across 26 sites were included.
Five plugs were found to be out of service, but at all of these sites, other plugs were available, meaning no site was completely unusable.
Other findings from the audit included a display on a charger that was difficult to read in daylight, several instances of poor directional signage to guide drivers, and a handful of “minor errors” in the charging apps that assist drivers.
Users need to download the EVIE app to use this charger. Photo: James Coleman.
AEVA ACT spokesperson Dr Peter Campbell described this as a “satisfactory” result.
“I think things are going pretty well. We did find a couple of dead plugs, and signage could be a little better in places to make it a bit easier to find as you turn into a car park, but generally, the situation’s pretty good.”
He said it’s unclear how the ACT compared to other jurisdictions like NSW and Victoria because of their larger areas, but AEVA’s goal is to make sure ours at least are “kept in good operational order”.
“The idea is to keep track of it, so if someone says, ‘Oh, these chargers are always broken’, we can say, ‘Actually, no, they’re not’, or alternatively, if we found that’s true – they’re being badly maintained or they’re all dead – we can jump up and down on that, too,” he said.
The next audit is earmarked for before the Christmas period, with the possibility of another between now and then.
“While many local EV drivers only use public charging on trips away from Canberra, those without home charging rely on it heavily, as do visitors to Canberra”, said Dr Campbell.
“Speaking personally, I never use a charger in the ACT … but there are some other categories like if you’re an Uber driver, you might pull into a fast charger a couple of times a day, or if you’re in an apartment, you might be using them like a petrol bowser.”
AEVA would also like to see more slower AC chargers installed across the ACT to make it cheaper for EV owners who aren’t able to charge at home.
A streetlight EV charger was installed along Eastlake Parade in Kingston as part of a trial. Photo: James Coleman.
“DC fast chargers are really expensive, and not every location needs that level of charging – you’re paying for speed you don’t necessarily need,” Dr Campbell said.
“For similar money, you could put in many tens of slower AC chargers down one line of a car park, so that, if you’re in a nearby apartment, you could just leave your car to trickle charge all night, or alternatively, if it’s a park-and-ride site, you could leave your car to trickle charge all day while you’re at work.”
As of this month, the ACT has a total of 249 public charging bays powered by 183 stations, just above the ACT Government’s original target of 180 stations by 2025.
