Kerbside charging
Australia faces a significant challenge in supporting the growth of EVs due to an insufficient public charging infrastructure, with a ratio of 45 EVs per public charger - one of the highest in the world.
Ausgrid is partnering with industry, government, and regulators to trial new ways to provide more localised kerbside electric vehicle (EV) charging, utilising our existing kiosks and power poles.
We estimate that approximately 800,000 customers in our network area have limited opportunities to charge their vehicles at home. This could be due to a lack of off-street parking, high costs, rental agreements, or strata restrictions. All of these factors highlight the importance of public EV charging solutions like kerbside charging in supporting the transition to the electrification of transport.
Leveraging existing assets for a faster, fairer and more seamless solution
Ausgrid has over 440,000 power poles across its network. To create accessible charging access, we estimate that 11,000 kerbside chargers are needed in our network. Pole and substation mounted EV systems avoid the need to dig up the road, helping to deliver public EV charging faster, at lower cost, with less disruption to the community and less clutter on the footpath.
This innovative approach can really support our community by providing access to EV charging infrastructure in residential areas.
EVCI Community Survey
Understanding consumer sentiment towards electric vehicle uptake if there were more public chargers.
Of the 704 online respondents (representing 99% statistical significance), 68% of respondents said increased availability of public EV charging in their neighbourhood would make them more likely to buy an EV in the future, highlighting charger availability as a critical driver of adoption.
Outside of public charging, other top criteria which people said would influence their future EV adoption choices were key to cost of living elements - government subsidies for EV purchases (73%) and cost of petrol/diesel (62%)
The 68% of respondents can be broken down as follows:
72%
of Metro Sydney residents
79%
of flat/apartment dwellers
68%
of renters
92%
of plug-in hybrid owners
61%
of older demographics (55+)
Outside of public charging, other top criteria which people said would influence their future EV adoption choices were key to cost of living elements - government subsidies for EV purchases (73%) and cost of petrol/diesel (62%).
"This would change the future of driving. It's also necessary that all kerbside charging equipment are well maintained and prevented from vandalisation."
"Reliable, accessible kerbside EV chargers would make owning another EV more practical for me, especially since I don't have off-street parking. A fair roll-out would strongly influence my decision to switch."