Australian drivers are three years away from taking long road trips in electric vehicles without having to plan around charging stations, according to a national motoring group.
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NRMA energy and infrastructure chief executive Carly Irving-Dolan made the prediction at the All-Energy Conference in Melbourne on Wednesday, warning the country was "not quite" prepared to power up electric vehicles right across Australia.
The three-year timeline could also be extended by equipment delays, she warned, with current wait times as long as 40 weeks for EV-charging hardware.
The NRMA's prediction comes one day after the federal government set aside $39.8 million over five years for more electric vehicle charging stations as part of a national network, and days after NSW and Victorian political parties committed more funding to EV chargers.
Ms Irving-Dolan said Australians needed a "connected highway" of electric vehicle charging stations to be confident in using the next-generation cars, rather than having to meticulously map out long trips.
"There's not enough (chargers) at the moment for you to just go free. You need to really plan where you want to go and even that is a problem because you may turn up and it might not work or you turn up and there's queuing," she said.
"We want to get to the point where you can feel confident, as a consumer, or to let your 18-year-old who's just learnt to drive into an EV and know they're going to be able to get to where they need to get to fully charged."
NRMA has installed 60 electric vehicle charging stations so far, she said, and planned to install more across Australia as a "backbone" over the next three years.
"Our view is by the end of our year three, we will have 120 sites that are 150km (apart), if not shorter, so you can get right around (the country) and down," she said.
"I can't do it without stock so that is why we're working with world vendors right now to work out what is our plan in terms of technology."
The federal budget this week committed $39.8 million from its Driving the Nation Fund to co-fund 117 electric vehicle fast-charging stations along highways.
The NSW government and Victorian opposition parties also pledged to fund another 1100 electric charging vehicle bays.
ERM climate change and corporate sustainability partner James Tilbury said the popularity of electric vehicles in Australia would depend heavily on having plenty of public EV chargers, with research showing it was consumers' biggest concern after prices.
While Australians would charge their vehicles at home "much more than average", Mr Tilbury told the conference that destination charging was crucial.
"You do need public chargers," he said. "You need them for range anxiety and other factors."
Australia had 2147 electric vehicle charging locations by June 2022, a rise of 15 per cent over the past year according to the EV Council.
Australian Associated Press
