The road ahead is electric. We need the infrastructure to catch up

April 11, 2026 — 5:50am

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In the past six weeks, Australian motorists have seen and felt the effects of the Iran war. Those driving petrol and diesel vehicles have confronted the threat of fuel shortages and high prices. At the same time, the interest in electric vehicles and the demand for charging stations has risen significantly.

The surge in interest in EVs is piggybacking on a trend that is steadily climbing in this country. Evie Networks, a DC fast-charging company, expects the number of electric vehicles to grow from about 350,000 at present to 2 million by 2030. The Electric Vehicle Council says the total will be 5 million by 2035. Evie says that in the past month, its data has shown a 20 per cent surge in demand in charging use.

Last year, almost 200,000 new hybrids were sold, up 15 per cent from 2024. EV sales were 102,000, a 13 per cent rise on 2024. According to Pickles Auctions, one of the country’s leading auctioneers, searches for EVs are up 30 per cent on its website. Flowing with this has been a surge in demand from people to live in a residence that has a charging installation as part of the property.

No doubt the Iran war, and its consequent effect on fuel supplies, has played a part in turning what might have been in motorists’ minds a “yes, we’ll look at it” to “yes, we will”. To not have the anxiety of being dependent on events a world away on one’s own life and transport needs is no small thing. The electric option removes both worry about supply and soaring prices.

Clearly, the road ahead is electric. Clearly, also, the adage to never waste a crisis has never been more pertinent.

It is, however, a common thread in government action and societal trends that infrastructure to facilitate the trend is always playing catch-up. This should not be the case with EVs. It’s not as if the move towards their use has happened overnight.

Last week, NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said Australia did not have the infrastructure in place to accommodate the EV boom. “It’s going to take a long time for us to continue to build that up, as a nation,” he said.

NRMA had started rolling out charging stations in regional NSW a decade ago before uniting with the federal government to establish a national network in regional areas. “Some of the challenges that we’ve been confronted by, which we’ve been trying to address as much as we can, are things like the geographical isolation of the country,” Khoury said.

Electric vehicles are having a moment, but questions linger over the network

Geography is, indeed, a huge challenge in establishing a national grid in this country. Government and the private sector have created websites and apps to chart a map of charging stations locations, but what is needed is peace of mind for EV drivers.

What might prove a greater challenge is formulating a road-user charge for EV motorists. As the number of EVs rises on the road, government revenue falls. Fuel excise has been reduced temporarily, but usually, a 52.6¢-a-litre excise is levied on petrol and diesel vehicles; the more kilometres driven, the more fuel needed, the greater the take the government receives. Of course, EVs contribute nothing in this regard to government coffers. According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, fuel excise revenues are projected to fall about 6.2 per cent by 2034. The excise raised about $17 billion in 2024. Thus, the argument over how to impose a levy – a fixed annual charge or a per-kilometre charge. The government is also wrestling with whether tax breaks for high-end electric cars should be axed or restricted to cheaper models.

It is with the two types of charge here that the states and the federal government are at odds. Transport Minister Catherine King wants a fixed annual charge; the states want the distance-travelled model. The issue is also not new. A national cabinet working group was looking into it in December 2023. It is here that fairness, hard economic reality and environmental concerns come up against each other. Treasurer Jim Chalmers believes that a policy on a road user charge should not militate against people buying EVs. Some EV motorists in the cities may baulk at a fixed charge, and argue for a kilometre-travelled imposition. We have sympathy for this view, but believe the greater good for all motorists, in the revenue thus produced being used to maintain roads, is a fixed road-user charge.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited oil refineries in Singapore as part of a visit to shore up supply of fuel and meet his counterpart Lawrence Wong. Singapore is this country’s largest supplier of petrol, while we are their second-largest supplier of LNG. This is a turbocharged fossil-fuel relationship, which benefits both nations. However, this should not cloud the long-term strategy of Australia (whichever government is in power) to look into the future, both for our own security and the health of the planet.

This week in Paris, BYD, the Chinese EV manufacturer, unveiled a drive-through charger, which can charge a car in under 10 minutes. Governments and the private sector must invest in this kind of technology for the future, while also maintaining the integrity of the country’s vast road network. To do that, fuel excise revenue must be replaced, and a fixed road user charge is the fairest and simplest way to do that.

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