Page 4068 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 December 2021
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We know having a good network of charging stations is critical for people’s confidence in taking up electric vehicles, particularly for those who do not have the ability to charge at home. The document will present that information. I think it will be very beneficial for the development of the public charging infrastructure sector in the ACT. (Time expired.)
MS CLAY: Minister, what feedback have you heard from those who live in apartments about the barriers for EV charging at home?
MR RATTENBURY: There is a range of barriers because it can be difficult to get agreement from the whole body corporate to put the charging infrastructure in. The government has, of course, made changes to the unit titles legislation to make it easier for owners to get approval from a body corporate for sustainability infrastructure, but that can be a challenge for people. There is an expense, obviously, particularly where you have to retrofit an apartment building that is not currently capable. That is one of the reasons under the EV action plan there is a commitment to ensure that all future apartment buildings are charging ready.
That does not mean putting a charging point at every parking spot in a building, but it does mean things like putting in the conduit and cabling so it is much easier to fit those things later. They are the primary areas of feedback. Of course, there are not many publicly available charging stations in the ACT at the moment. That is why we have a commitment from the government to install 50 as part of the release that we will go to market with in the near future.
MR DAVIS: Minister, are you aware of what better practice or even best practice look like for those who choose to live in apartments overseas but also own electronic vehicles to charge?
MR RATTENBURY: I thank Mr Davis for the question. We are looking overseas because Australia has been relatively slow on the uptake of EVs for a range of reasons. Norway are the recognised global leader on EV uptake and research shows that EV owners living in apartment buildings to a larger degree charge at public stations and use fast charging more frequently. We are looking at the way Norway has focused on rolling out charging stations and particularly meeting the needs of EV owners who live in apartments.
The data and the research from Norway particularly shows that people who have a detached dwelling do not use public charging stations nearly as much, certainly not in their home cities. They will use them much more when they are travelling, but when they are at home they will predominantly charge at their home because, of course, with a range of anywhere between 150 and 500 kilometres on a vehicle, most people do not drive that far in a day so they are quite capable of simply plugging in at home. Many only need to charge once a week.
Norway has faced the same questions we are now facing, and so we are looking at them as a leader as well as other European countries that have had to deal with some of these issues and try and make it easier for EV owners who live in apartments.
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