{"id":506387,"date":"2026-02-27T00:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/506387\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T00:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:05:21","slug":"australian-governments-mull-solutions-to-expand-access-to-private-and-public-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/506387\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian governments mull solutions to expand access to private and public stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Caitlin<\/p>\n

February 27, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

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Electric vehicle owners in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne are resorting to dangling charging cables out windows, stringing them through trees and laying them across footpaths, adding pressure for councils to allow more permanent solutions.<\/p>\n

Merri-bek Council in Melbourne and Inner West Council in Sydney are among councils trialling authorised options to safely allow residents without off-street parking to charge their EVs with their own power rather than relying on the small but growing public charger network.<\/p>\n

\"ElectrificationElectrification and EV advocate Sarah Aubrey is part of the Inner West Council trial using cable covers to charge an EV on the street.Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n

Sam Kelley, who works for the three Sydney eastern suburbs councils of Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick, said he has seen many DIY set-ups and some of them are \u201csuper unsafe\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have people who go out their window and then through a tree, we have some people putting them through their gutters and drain pipes,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cThey are usually using extension cables, and there are some safety hazards to using extension cables for charging your EV.\u201d<\/p>\n

EV sales have already tripled in the past three years, causing emissions in the transport sector to fall<\/a> for the first time since the COVID lockdowns, in what Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said was proof that the government\u2019s \u201ccommonsense\u201d policies were working.<\/p>\n

EV adoption was identified by the Climate Change Authority as essential to achieve Australia\u2019s 2035<\/a> emissions targets, but advocates warn uptake will stall in inner-city areas unless there is a faster rollout of public chargers and options to allow people with street access but no driveway to charge vehicles with their own electricity.<\/p>\n

Energy Consumer Australia\u2019s latest survey in December found that of the households considering buying a new car in the near future, only one in four was considering an EV.<\/p>\n

\"MelissaMelissa Rogerson in Brunswick East is part of a council trial for a boom to safely suspend EV charging cables above the footpath.Jason South<\/p>\n

In the survey of 4000 households, 48 per cent said no charging access at home was why they would not consider buying an EV. This rose to 51 per cent in NSW and was 45 per cent in Victoria. Another 51 per cent of respondents nationally said a lack of public chargers was the main reason.<\/p>\n

The NSW Electric Vehicle Strategy acknowledges that one in three drivers in the state does not have off-street parking, and the government has invested $209 million in grants to ensure EV charging coverage. Victoria\u2019s 2021 road map for zero emissions vehicles included $20 million for EV chargers that are still being rolled out.<\/p>\n

An October 2025 report from the Electric Vehicle Council gave NSW a score of 100 per cent for fast public charging and 75 per cent for other public charging, while Victoria scored 50 per cent for both. Despite this, Victoria had the highest share of EVs in new vehicle sales of any Australian state last year, council figures show.<\/p>\n

Both states have ongoing parliamentary inquiries into EV infrastructure, which each received multiple submissions from households without off-street parking who complained about the cost and accessibility of public chargers. Electricity networks such as Ausgrid are pushing to build more public chargers on power poles directly rather than partnering with EV charging specialists.<\/p>\n

\"KerboKerbo Charge in Britain has a system to create a charging gully across the footpath with a PVC self-closing lid.Kerbo Charge<\/p>\n

Sarah Aubrey, an electrification and EV advocate in Sydney, is part of Inner West Council\u2019s trial allowing home owners with public liability insurance to lay charging cords across the footpath if they cover it with a cable mat for pedestrian safety and display a permit on their fence. About two-thirds of the council\u2019s residents cannot charge at home, she said.<\/p>\n

Aubrey advocates for more permanent solutions such as the \u201ccharging gullies\u201d offered by companies such as Kerbo Charge and Charge Gully in Britain, where the home owner installs a groove in the footpath for the cable with a specialised cover that sits flush with the pavement.<\/p>\n

\"ChargeCharge Gully offers gully charging with a lockable metal cover.Charge Gully<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we need those public chargers, but to give people that chance to be able to charge cheaply from home as well,\u201d Aubrey said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only way you\u2019ll get mass adoption in the inner suburbs of our cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rooftop solar and batteries make charging at home cost-effective for home owners such as Aubrey, but renters can often use a normal power point or a converter to charge slowly, accessing one of the new electricity plans with a window of free daytime power<\/a> or an EV charging plan that costs as little as 8\u00a2 per kilowatt hour between midnight and 6am. By contrast, Aubrey said, the cheapest public charger on a power pole near her home was 38\u00a2 per kilowatt hour, while many other public chargers cost more than 75\u00a2 per kilowatt hour.<\/p>\n

Aubrey added that many women did not feel safe parking their cars at a random pole charger, then walking through a series of back alleys to collect it later that night.<\/p>\n

Inner West Council is preparing a report for other councils to use on cable covers and gully charging options, not just on the technology but also insurance and other business issues.<\/p>\n

In Melbourne, the City of Port Phillip is running a pilot to allow households without off-street parking to install private kerbside electric vehicle chargers, while Merri-bek Council has nine households so far, with more to come, testing a boom that sits in the front garden and swings over the footpath to suspend the cable high enough in the air.<\/p>\n

\"MelissaMelissa Rogerson said being able to charge at home was \u201cessential\u201d to her decision to buy an EV.Jason South<\/p>\n

Melissa Rogerson in Brunswick East bought her EV, a Volkswagen ID.4, in July last year, knowing that the council trial was on its way. She had the boom installed in December at a cost of $2400 for the boom (refundable if the trial does not become permanent), plus $373.50 in council fees and an additional cost for electrical upgrades. Rogerson said she has had only positive feedback from neighbours and passersby so far.<\/p>\n

The car charges between about 10am and 5pm, when they work from home or on weekends. \u201cIt\u2019s not quite free, we have a smallish solar system, but it\u2019s negligible. There is this perception that charging an EV is onerous \u2026 If we\u2019re home, it\u2019s just charging while pottering about the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Rogerson, the ability to charge at home was an \u201cessential\u201d to her decision to buy an EV. She was happy to use the public chargers for a few months, but found it \u201ca little bit fiddly\u201d since the charging providers impose a fee if the car is finished charging but still taking up space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some fast local chargers … but they weren\u2019t just expensive, they were almost too fast,\u201d Rogerson said. \u201cWe\u2019d be halfway through doing our shopping, and it\u2019d be like, \u2018Oh crap, the car\u2019s finished charging, we\u2019ve got to go move it\u2019. It was fine, it was doable, but there was a little bit of effort that went into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BondiBondi resident Vincent Rommelaere charges his electric vehicle at the public chargers at the beach.Sam Mooy<\/p>\n

Energy Consumers Australia consumer advocacy manager Pauline Ferraz said more public chargers were needed for the EV transition to happen and for everyone to be able to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want an equitable public charging network that will suit everyone, regardless of their physical or financial circumstances,\u201d Ferraz said. \u201cRight now, it seems the infrastructure is rolled out in places where the EV uptake has already happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vincent Rommelaere lives in a 1960s apartment block in Bondi. While it has a garage, there are already several special levies on residents for building repairs and upgrades, so EV charging infrastructure is not on the agenda.<\/p>\n

When he bought his BMW iX1, he tried plugging into the normal power point in the garage for trickle charging, which he expected to take a day and a half. It immediately tripped the fuse. Since then, he has taken the car to public chargers at the beach, or his husband has taken it to chargers at the university where he works.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s difficult, it\u2019s just a different approach to owning a car,\u201d Rommelaere said.<\/p>\n

Sam Kelley said the Waverley, Woollahra and Randwick councils had 60 per cent of residents living in apartments, 50 per cent of residents renting, and three times the NSW average of EVs on the road. The area has gone from less than 100 public charging spaces to more than 300 in the past year, he said, and the councils were also working with apartment building managers to install \u201csmart plugs\u201d that allow slow, low-cost charging in the common area with reimbursement to the owners\u2019 corporation for electricity usage, and load balancing to manage electrical demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see the charging world as a bit of a mosaic,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cWe don\u2019t think the answer is entirely all just charging in car parks or all just on poles \u2013 it\u2019s a combination of what\u2019s called home-to-kerb charging or private kerbside charging and public charging.\u201d <\/p>\n

Get to the heart of what\u2019s happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"CaitlinCaitlin Fitzsimmons<\/a> is the environment and climate reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. She was previously the social affairs reporter and the Money editor.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 27, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-506387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}