If you live in Queensland and love electric vehicles, you’re in luck. 18 fast charging locations running from Gold Coast to Cairns will create an “Electric super highway” for electric vehicle owners.
Known as Veefil-RT, these chargers are a liquid-cooled and run up to 50kW DC power. They’re made by company Tritium who have been around since 2001 and supply some 20 countries around the world. The chargers provide a tap to pay system, however Acting Roads Minister, Steven Miles said the first 12 months would be free to encourage adoption. The network of chargers will be built over the next six months, meaning from early 2018, EV owners will be able to travel free of charge along the north-east coast of Australia.
While Tesla has led the way in Australia in terms of electric vehicle recharging infrastructure with their Supercharger network, these multi-format EV chargers would support multiple vehicles, opening the door to more manufacturers. Most day-to-day use woulds still be catered for at home, but when you’re taking a road trip, its good to know you can stop off, grab a coffee or lunch, recharge and then continue to your destination.
This announcement is a big step forward for electric vehicles in Australia and instantly make them more practical to own in that state. Lets hope other state Governments follow suit and support the installation of multi-format fast-charging like this.
For those interested, you’ll want to know the locations of these fast chargers, and the proposed locations are listed below.
- Cairns
- Tully
- Townsville
- Bowen
- Mackay
- Carmila
- Marlborough
- Rockhampton
- Miriam Vale
- Childers
- Maryborough
- Cooroy
- Brisbane
- Helensvale
- Coolangatta
- Springfield
- Gatton
- Toowoomba
Image credit: Nick Wiggins on Twitter.
