The rollout of electric vehicle charging stations across the state has fallen behind schedule, but industry voices say Tasmania is still well placed to lead the country in EV tourism infrastructure.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As part of the state government's push to drive electric vehicle uptake, $700,000 in grants was provided to build 20 new permanent fast-charging stations at the end of last year.
Although Tasmania has seen a recent uptake in electric vehicle sales, delays from COVID and difficulties in sourcing components due to global supply chain issues have pushed back projected installation dates.
State infrastructure punching above its weight
National vice-president of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association Clive Attwater said despite the slow rollout, the state had the best EV network in the country for the average distance between charging stations.
The average distance between EV chargers currently sits at about 85 kilometres, with the longest distance being about 170 kilometres between Burnie and Queenstown.
"We'll soon have a situation where the longest distance between chargers is around about 80 kilometres, and the average distance will be around about 45 kilometres," he said
"Nowhere else in Australia is even close to that".
The NSW governments recently announced a $20 million rollout of 3500 EV chargers along its east coast in an effort to create the country's largest charging network.
But Mr Attwater said relative to other states, Tasmania's small geography and population meant the installation of chargers could be "well aimed" and coordinated in a way other state's couldn't achieve without spending large amounts of money.
And he said Tasmania's current infrastructure was already attracting interstate tourists.
"It varies by season, but very roughly, just under 40 per cent of all of the charge events in our network come from interstate vehicles," he said.
READ MORE: Launceston landfill cell wins Earth Award
"There are some sites where that number is as high as 70 percent".
Accommodation businesses to play key role
For Glamorgan Spring Bay Council the installation of a government-funded charger in Bicheno has been marred by trouble navigating deed conditions, power supply issues and suitability of location.
But general manager Greg Ingham said EV infrastructure was needed as part of the region's tourism strategy.
"Clearly they will become a large portion of the road traffic over time beginning from now," Mr Ingham said.
"With hire car companies adopting electric vehicles where they can, the tourism market will push for chargers in the near future and we will need them to entice the traveler to stay overnight and longer, but compared to the mainland our roll out of EV chargers is slow."
He said accommodation providers were needed to build the network, and could install low-cost charging options that customers could use overnight for an extra fee, which would provide a "point of difference" to entice more tourism to regional Tasmania.
Mr Attwater said if about 20 per cent of Tasmania's accommodation providers installed overnight EV chargers it would considerably strengthen the tourism sector and give businesses an incentive to go green.
"We advertise Tasmania as a clean green state. If EV cars come down here, then we really ought to be catering for them and making it as easy and smooth as possible".
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner
