Adelaide to roll out 40 EV charging stations

Adelaide is set to lead the nation in developing electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure to encourage more EVs on Aussie roads, according to Adelaide’s lord mayor.

The Adelaide City Council has announced it will roll out 40 electric charging stations throughout the city in 2017 in addition to the four charging points it currently has in two CBD car parks.

Speaking at the Electric Vehicle Expo at Elder Park, lord mayor Martin Haese said the infrastructure would be free to all users.

“At this point in time the council needs to show leadership — we are very much in a changing environment where we’re forecasting the growth and sale of EVs over the next few years to just grow exponentially,” he told the ABC.

“Adelaide has a goal to become the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2025 and EVs are an important part of that story. We want to be a smart city, we want to send a very clear signal to everyone that technology and the knowledge economy is important to our future.”

He pointed out that currently South Australia has 700 registered EVs and 22,000 registered hybrid vehicles.

The council is also offering residents and businesses $5000 to install their own charging points and will consider installing faster super chargers around the city in the future.