The number of electric vehicles on the territory's roads is expected to grow to at least 25,000 by 2030, up from roughly 1300 currently. However, the government believes the number of electric vehicles by then could be as high as 42,000.

A new outlook for electric vehicle charging stations has been released in a bid to attract private investment in the sector, with government modelling suggesting the ACT could need up to 1000 public chargers within the next nine years.

There are currently 13 fully publicly accessible vehicle chargers in the ACT, with 37 operational chargers across the territory.

Emissions Reduction Minister Shane Rattenbury said providing access to more chargers in the city would help reduce so-called range anxiety which was often associated with driving an electric vehicle.

"The charging outlook sends a strong signal that the ACT is ready to receive further investment in our charging network to support the transition to electric vehicles. It will inform the delivery of the 50 new public charging stations the ACT government has committed to build across the ACT in 2022," Mr Rattenbury said.

"In particular, the outlook focuses on making sure we meet the charging needs of people living in apartments. While some apartment buildings will be able to accommodate EV charging, others may not. We want to prioritise public charging that provides a convenient solution for people living in apartments, so they can benefit from the transition to electric vehicles too."

The outlook predicts Kingston will have the greatest number of electric vehicles by 2030, with 1120 expected to be registered in the suburb. The areas of South Canberra, the Woden Valley and Gungahlin are expected to have 30 per cent of all electric vehicle registrations in Canberra by 2030.

Civic has been identified as the top priority suburb for charging infrastructure, with almost a third of electric vehicle energy needs in the ACT expected to be drawn from the city centre. More than half of electric vehicle charging needs will be in Civic, Braddon, Belconnen, Phillip and Barton.

The government expects Civic will be home to 200 electric vehicle charging points by 2030.

Potential charger operators have been encouraged to consider if smart technology, solar or batteries could be paired to limit peak demand on the electricity grid.

"Our vision for the future is a charging market where consumers have the best possible public charging experience. Competition will deliver long term benefits, driving efficient prices and high customer satisfaction, and innovation will lead to continuous improvement," the government's charging outlook said.

"Charging will be designed for people, not vehicles - charge-point locations numbers and speed are optimised for consumer habits to make charging as convenient as possible, and users are able to see pricing and availability of chargers before leaving the house."

The number of electric cars registered in Canberra has doubled in a year, with more than 750 added to the territory's roads since January.

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Petrol and diesel vehicles still make up most of the cars being registered in the ACT, but the ACT government is confident a range of incentives for zero-emissions vehicles, including free registration for two years, will boost the sector.

Since the end of October, about 30 electric vehicles have been added to the ACT's roads each week.

There were 1304 zero-emissions vehicles in total registered in the ACT in October, up from 734 at the same point in 2020. Five years ago, there were 190 registered in the ACT.

The government opened up applications for interest-free loans from its sustainable household scheme for electric vehicles last week, adding to other incentives for take-up which include free registration and stamp duty waivers.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said road user fees for electric vehicles would be inevitable in the ACT, but the government needed to continue to encourage zero-emission vehicle take-up in the meantime.

Mr Barr last week said the ACT would likely follow a NSW model that would apply a distance charge of 2.5 cents per kilometre driven on electric vehicles from 2027, but the territory would need to work out the fine detail in the meantime.

"It is inevitable but it's not happening in the next several years, so people need not worry at this point about there being any significant changes," Mr Barr said.

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