Queensland electricity retailer Energex has forecast increased growth in the takeup of EVs.

“It is anticipated that EV uptake will increase materially over time in response to government policies, increased industry maturity, greater variety of vehicle types on offer and falling EV costs,” Energex reported earlier this month.

“It is expected that most of the EV growth will be in the (south-east Queensland) region.”

Using data from the CSIRO, Ausgrid estimates NSW alone will need 38,000 electric vehicle chargers to support one million electric vehicles on Australian roads by 2030.

To scale up the number of chargers, Ausgrid has proposed the NSW government install more AC chargers on power poles. A similar proposal has been made in Victoria.

The pole-mounted devices could be rolled out at scale and maintained by Ausgrid, Black said, and electricity retailers or charging providers could bill motorists for the power they delivered.

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He said the move would require legal changes but could deliver competition and “price parity” with home charging.

“We’ve got hundreds of chargers but we need thousands of them if we really want to remove the barriers for people purchasing electric vehicles,” he said.

The International Energy Agency’s 2024 Global EV Outlook report found Australia had one public charger for every 68 electric vehicles while the European Union had one charger for every 14 cars.

The number of electric vehicle charging locations in Australia increased from 558 in June 2023 to 1059 in 2024, the Electric Vehicle Council found, while the number of high-speed public charging points jumped by 90 per cent to more than 1800.

AAP