States boost charging networks ahead of 2025 EV influx

State governments are stepping up investment in electric vehicle charging ahead of an expected increase in the number of EVs hitting the road.

NSW is rolling out an extra 671 public chargers, set to be up and running within the next 12 months. The ACT is also funding a further 39 public chargers.

Which is good news for drivers requiring top-up charge on the go – and helps reduce barriers to broader electric vehicle adoption.

“This investment will significantly increase the availability of public charging options and give people confidence their next vehicle purchase can be an EV,” according to NSW energy and climate change minister, Penny Sharpe.

The rollouts come as new laws force manufacturers to start taking carbon emissions more seriously – and bring more EVs to Australia.

Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (covered here) aims to massively reduce carbon emissions from cars, vans and utes while cutting fuel bills.

From 1 January 2025, emissions thresholds will be applied across each manufacturer’s range of vehicles – effectively a cap on emissions that gets progressively lower each year. Any manufacturer that breaches that cap has to pay a penalty of $100 for every gram of CO2 over the limit, or buy credits from rival manufacturers that are under their own limits.

The upshot is that carmakers will have to balance out the heavy emitting models in their range – big petrol and diesel utes and SUVs, for example – with a higher number of low or zero tailpipe emission vehicles. Otherwise they face the prospect of paying significant pollution penalties.

Which means that more EVs are likely to start arriving in Australia from next year. Currently, many carmakers send the bulk of their all-electric models to Europe, where EU rules state that all new cars must be zero emissions by 2035. The EU already has emissions performance standards in place.

Volvo Car Australia aims to sell only fully electric vehicles by 2026 and is making progress on that goal. As of May this year, EVs represented 40 per cent of Volvo’s total Australian sales.

With the new EX30 now arriving in volumes – and deliveries to a record number of pre-orders underway – that figure is set to top 50 per cent of sales by the year end.

Meanwhile, the new seven-seater flagship luxury EV, the EX90, has now entered production with volumes ramping up through 2025.

Volvo Cars is also set to announce a new all-electric model before the end of this year.

In the meantime, see the current range – and start customising – here.