Buying an EV used to come down to one question: Can I afford it?
Now motorists need to ask … where do I live?
New data suggests your postcode could affect everything from charging convenience to cost and overall ownership experience.
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ROLLiN Insurance has ranked Australia’s capital cities on EV friendliness based on charger availability, charging costs, EV ownership rates and EV growth since 2021 – and it turns out bigger cities weren’t automatically better.
Canberra took out the top spot, followed by Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane.
Melbourne landed in sixth place despite being one of the country’s largest cities, with less than half the charger availability of Canberra.
Hobart and Darwin rounded out the bottom of the rankings.
The results come as demand for EVs keeps growing, but industry says infrastructure needs to keep pace.
The Electric Vehicle Council Head of Legal, Policy and Advocacy Aman Gaur said the increase in demand highlighted an urgent need for a co-ordinated national EV infrastructure plan.
“Some of the areas that require priority attention include access to charging in regional corridors during peak holiday periods, access to charging in apartment buildings and kerbsides, dedicated charging points for EV trucks and heavy vehicles, and infrastructure rollout in some outer-suburban areas,” he said.
“They need to be managed in a co-ordinated way to ensure consumers have the confidence to go electric,” he added.
EV DRIVERS PAY MORE DEPENDING ON WHERE THEY LIVE
It’s not just charging access separating Australia’s EV winners and losers.
Some drivers are paying more than three times as much to power up, depending on where they live.
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At a local level, ROLLiN’s data found Sydney-Ryde had the cheapest charging prices nationally at around $0.22/kWh, while Sydney-South West and Adelaide-Central and Hills also ranked among the cheapest areas at under $0.40/kWh.
For drivers with a mid-sized 60kWh EV, that could mean paying as little as about $13 for a full charge in some parts of the country.
By comparison, Darwin recorded the highest average charging costs among Australia’s capital cities at $0.77/kWh, meaning the same charge could cost drivers about $46.
THE EV SPREAD
And as drivers look for ways to save money, there are signs the face of EV ownership is changing too.
Separate figures show some of the strongest EV uptake is now happening in outer suburban growth areas, including Tarneit and Point Cook in Victoria, Marsden Park and Kellyville in New South Wales, and Springfield Lakes in Queensland.
The National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association (NALSPA) said the data suggests the EV market may be expanding well beyond its original audience.
“The wealthy inner-city EV driver is a tired trope … RedBridge research shows the people who are relying on the EV Discount the most are blue-collar workers, outer suburban families, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and people who are financially stretched,” NALSPA CEO Rohan Martin said.
The Electric Car Discount helps eligible buyers reduce the cost of an EV through tax savings linked to salary packaging.
“It stretches those savings further by reducing the amount of tax an employee pays and wiping GST on the car and running costs,” said Mr Martin.
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The Albanese Government recently confirmed it would keep the discount in full for another year before phased changes begin from April 2027.
For many families trying to cut costs, right now the discount appears to be helping get them behind the wheel of an EV. What happens when those incentives begin changing could be the next test.
Mr Gaur said the priority should be simple – “keep expanding charging where people live, work and travel, so that every Australian driver has a realistic pathway to owning and driving an EV that will save them around $3,000 per year.”
