The red tape choking electric car uptake: how Australia can tackle declining sales of EVs such as the Tesla Model Y, BYD Seal and Kia EV6

Car industry bodies and electric car charging providers are calling for regulatory reform to encourage greater kerbside charging infrastructure and counter stagnating demand for electric cars.

According to data from the EV Council and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, 3832 EVs were purchased nationally last month, the worst sales result since October 2022 and a 21.6 per cent decline on January 2024’s figures.

A report released by Energy Networks Australia (ENA) found that there is just one public charging site for every 68 EVs in Australia compared to the global average of one charging site for every 11 EVs. 

The report cited a lack of charging infrastructure and range anxiety as two of the main concerns of prospective buyers when considering an EV.

Stavros Yallouridis, CEO of The Motor Traders’ Association of NSW, said that it was critical the government tackled concerns around EV charging infrastructure promptly so that it could meet its target of having 3.8 million EVs on the road by 2030.

"What's clear from this data is that the barrier to EV adoption isn't just the purchase price anymore – it's the whole ownership experience,” said Yallourdis.

“The roll-out of charging sites must accelerate to alleviate consumer concerns and support the government’s EV adoption targets.”

The ENA report recommended upscaling the country’s kerbside charging infrastructure by cutting the Australian Energy Regulator’s red tape to remove the requirement that power companies apply for a waiver for each pole-mounted charger unit they install.

“Pole-mounted EV charging should be classified as an energy distribution service and it should be something [energy distributors] are allowed to spend their capital on,” said ENA’s General Manager, Emma Shanks.

By relaxing the regulatory framework, Shanks said energy distribution companies could more readily install EV charging boxes in high-density residential areas such as apartments, townhouses or terraces where home charging is not an option.

They could then be operated by third-party charging companies who would sell their charging services to customers, mirroring the way we pay for electricity or gas.

“Like a distribution service [energy companies] own the poles and wires… and then the customer chooses their retailer,” said Shanks.

“The poles are there, the wires are there, the infrastructure is there, it is literally just a plug-and-place solution.”

Energy distributor Ausgrid is one company that has expressed keen interest in the proposal.

The company currently operates some 440,000 power poles across Australia’s east coast, which Regulatory Policy Manager, Naomi Wynn, said are ready to be made available to charging companies once the regulatory framework is updated.

“We would provide the infrastructure…but in terms of the retail relationship with the customer, in terms of who has the billing to the customer and who the customer chooses as their charging company, that company is totally neutral to us,” said Wynn.

Ausgrid’s units would use single and dual-port AC, or ‘alternating current,’ chargers, which generally provide a maximum power output of 11kW, compared to DC, or 'direct current,' chargers, which can have a maximum output of up to 350kW or more.

The time it takes to charge a Tesla Model Y, Australia’s most popular EV, on an 11kW AC home charger takes between eight and 10 hours, while a ultra-rapid 350kW public fast charger will charge a Model Y from 0 to 80 per cent in as little as 30 minutes.

Despite their relatively slow speed compared to public fast chargers, Wynn said the units would not only increase charging accessibility and foster competition among retailers to drive down costs for consumers, but help meet the demands of prospective buyers ahead of time.

“Why not just use the existing knowledge of a targeted uptake of EVs and say, ‘based on our knowledge of the network, let's use those projections to install X number [of chargers] here, Y number there’, and really proactively meet the needs of the community.”

“It’s not necessarily saying that this would solve the problem, but it certainly goes a long way in having public charging infrastructure readily available.”

Ausgrid believes there needs to be some 11,000 kerbside chargers installed across the country to meet the government's ambitions by 2030.

Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy of Australia, Chris Bowen, was contacted for comment on whether the federal government was considering amending the framework to help boost the number of chargers, although his office did not respond within the requested time frame.

The federal government announced last week that it was committing $2.4 million worth of funding to Australian charging company EVX to supply 250 pole-mounted chargers across 60 local government areas in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

Rod Walker, the Managing Director of Kerbcharge, Australia’s only personal kerbside charging company, is another voice calling for a reform of regulations governing the installation of kerbside chargers.

Unlike Ausgrid’s proposed model, Kerbcharge’s units are privately owned and run from an EV owner’s home under a nature strip or footpath to a flood-proof stainless steel box that houses a fully retractable cable.

Walker said his units are designed to allow for home charging in situations where a resident may have on-street parking but not a garage.

“There’s a natural attraction to the public charge station model in an urban environment, and God knows we need them, but they shouldn’t be seen as the best solution. Home charging is the best solution," said Walker.

“Mine is an AC unit, but bear in mind, mine is attached to your house and its underground. So it's yours. You undo a lock, pull it up, plug it in, leave your car outside the front of your own house and go inside and sleep. Get up the next morning and it's full,” said Walker.

Kerbcharge began with a trial of 10 chargers in the council of Port Phillip in Melbourne in 2022. The council has since approved a further 100 units for development in the council area, although it is the only council in Victoria, and Australia, to have utilised the scheme.

“I’ve got lots of interest from all over Australia, but councils are very reluctant to take a step,” said Walker.

“To be blunt, I don’t think councils have got their heads around the models that have been put to them.”

Victoria’s planning laws currently require councils to approve the use of private kerbside chargers before a resident or charging company can make an application to have one installed.

In New South Wales, an amendment to the state’s planning laws has allowed residents to apply to their council directly without the initiative being approved by council first, but as a Victorian-based company, Walker said he has been forced to work within the local system.

“We haven’t had a problem in two years, they’ve all worked brilliantly; the people that have got them love them," he said.

“I just wish the government would get out of the way. I’m not asking for someone to give us some money, if the councils can just get out of the way and let us do it, then we’ll be good.”

CarsGuide contacted the Victorian government’s Transport and Planning Minister, Sonya Kilkenny, asking whether it was considering amending the state’s planning laws to make it easier for residents to apply to have a private kerbside charger installed.

An update to the article will follow with a response.