Electric car plans charging ahead

AN EXPLOSION in electric vehicles running on Queensland roads will require at least 1600 public charging stations to be built before the 2032 Olympic Games.

Experts expect about 800,000 electric vehicles to be on the road in the next decade - up from 10,000 currently registered in Queensland - requiring a charging location every 70km along arterial roads and off-grid facilities in remote regions.

While upwards of 80 per cent of charging facilities were expected to be in people’s homes or workplaces, public charging stations would be needed to allow motorists to take longer trips.

Dr Kai Li Lim, the inaugural St Baker Fellow in Electromobility at University of Queensland’s Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, said a passenger-based electric vehicle mainly used for small trips was unlikely to use public charging facilities.

“With the assumption that traffic remains constant along arterial routes, we are looking at a total of about 1600 public dual-outlet DC chargers across the state across 84 additional sites,” he said.

He said the Electric Vehicle Council’s latest recommendation involved having one charging location every 70km along arterial roads.

“However, the number of charging stations at each location would be largely dependent on local transport demands and local grid availability,” he said.

“For more remote regions we would possibly need to set up a microgrid or off-grid facility with renewables.”

The Queensland Government started phase three of the Queensland Electric Superhighway this year, with a goal of adding 24 charging stations in regional areas.

Phases 1 and 2 involved 31 charging stations from Coolangatta to Port Douglas, and Brisbane to Toowoomba.