BY MEIZHU PAN

Australia’s transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is lagging behind the rest of the world, yet research shows there is rising consumer demand for change.

Consumers are frustrated by inadequate EV charging infrastructure in the country, according to Andrew Jaspan, founding editor and director of 360info, an open-access information agency tackling the world’s biggest challenges such as climate change.

“My partner and I are both very concerned about climate change issues and using fossil fuels as in petrol,” said Professor Jaspan, who owns an electric car in Victoria.

“I’m glad to have zero emission from the car and I’m not going to the petrol station anymore,” he said.

The Electric Vehicle Council’s 2022 yearly report showed new EV purchases in Australia increased by 86 per cent last year.

But the report also showed Australia is lagging behind the world in terms of EV registrations. Globally, the average number of registered EVs is 12 to 14 per cent, whereas Australia's is 3.8 per cent.

Professor Jaspan said consumers seek better infrastructure for charging EVs in regional Australia.

“Everyone wants to move to electric cars, but they are just waiting when to actually buy the car,” Prof Jaspan said.

“One of my closest friends wants to buy an electric car but he says he's putting off buying it until there is better infrastructure for charging in the country.”

Prof Jaspan is also disappointed with EV charging infrastructures in the country, and suffers range anxiety for driving long distances.

The furthest he has travelled is to his holiday house, which is 130 kilometres from home, he said.

The battery capacity was able to take him there and back without charging, but he still made sure to charge up his car once he got there.

“I know how quickly the battery will run flat,” he said. “There are very few places to be able to plug in.”

The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) said in 2022 there were about 3,000 public charging stations across Australia, with 450 in Victoria.

The number is not enough to cover a nation of 7.7 million square kilometres.

The upsurge in EV cars on the road has increased demand for EV chargers, especially in rural areas, and creates challenges for EV holidaymakers who want to travel interstate.

Last December, the Wodonga Tesla company recorded an overwhelming demand for its chargers, with EV drivers being forced to wait for 90 minutes to get back on the road.

Around the same time, Evie Networks’ 100 chargers between Townsville and Tasmania also reached record demand for charging.

Long queues at car charging stations will only get worse as more EVs hit Australian roads in the near future, according to Syed Ali, a research fellow at RMIT University’s EV Living Lab.

“The whole trend is moving towards to zero emissions, including cars, buses and trucks,” Dr Ali said.

Dr Ali said charger manufacturers in Australia are highly reliant on international manufacturers to bring the chips to make the chargers and this leads to the shortage.

“We are not locally creating all the things and because of COVID, there is a huge gap in importing and exporting things and therefore impacting on the manufacturing process,” he said.

“They are making chargers not only for Australia but also for other countries too.”

The Victorian Government is spending $19 million to accelerate the rollout of EV charging infrastructure across regional Victoria and support the charging of EV fleets, according to Victoria’s Zero Emissions Vehicle Roadmap.

Dr Ali said that the number of chargers will increase if we have more local charger manufacturers in Australia.

“If the government makes favourable policies, more companies will be willing to have a start in EV chargers or EVs in general,” he said.

“Manufacturing can be done by our engineers if they get the right training, or we can have more engineers from overseas with the right skills and the chargers should be prepared locally here.”

According to the same roadmap, Victoria aims to ensure half of all light vehicle sales are zero-emissions vehicles by 2030, to achieve the target of net-zero emissions by 2045.

Dr Ali said it is important for the government, including city councils, to educate the public about EVs, especially those who are not aware of the impacts of climate change.

“The most important thing is firstly changing people’s minds, as many people still don’t know about EVs, and they have a fear,” he said.

“There should be more seminars, more webinars or events in order to increase the awareness about EVs and their importance and benefits to the common public.”

Professor Jaspan, like Dr Ali, says the path ahead for Australia's transition to EVs is long.

“I think I would continue buying electric cars in the future only because I know that technology will respond to the strong demand moving to electric cars.”