Electric vehicle study: charging the regions

East Gippsland Shire Council is one of 54 Regional and metropolitan councils across Victoria that have come together to better understand their role in providing or facilitating public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the state.

The Charging the Regions project recognised the niche role local governments have in supporting public charging for electric vehicles, particularly in regional and rural areas where top up and destination charging is important. A number of councils across Victoria have or are beginning to install and encourage EV charging points in their communities. This project recognises the opportunities for alignment between councils to ensure the best strategic outcome for communities, councils, businesses and EV drivers.

The Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance led the project on behalf of 43 regional councils, 11 metropolitan councils, the Goulburn Broken Greenhouse Alliance, the Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action, the Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse Action and the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia. The project was funded through $60,000 from local governments and an additional $40,000 funding from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).

The final project report has been finalised and is available here.

The Charging the Regions project undertook a study for participating regional, rural and metropolitan Councils across Victoria to:

1. Provide guidance to councils on the factors relevant to the placement of the various types of charging stations and costing for alternative charge station network options, including considerations of technical effectiveness, impact on the local economy, attractiveness to users and community desire to participate.
2. Understand role of local government in charging infrastructure including options for different ownership models and options to coordinate the maintenance and management of the statewide network once installed.
3. Understand the opportunities for ongoing collaboration in a statewide roll out

The consultants from Ndevr Environmental undertook the work.

The first phase of the project is now complete and work is underway to apply the project findings within East Gippsland.