By Tyler Wright
A new electric vehicle charging station is now operational in Belgrave.
The 50-kilowatt charger located at the Reynolds Lane car park was switched on on Monday 14 August, Evie Networks’ head of emerging technology Ed Lynch-Bell confirmed, with EV users able to gain 100 kilometres for every 15 to 20 minutes of range depending on their vehicle.
Mr Lynch-Bell said the company has commissioned the charging station with two plugs; one for a CCS type 2 connector and another with a CHAdeMO port; which are now available for use.
“Any vehicle sold in Australia will be able to use the charger,” Mr Lynch-Bell said.
“Although it’s one charger, both connections can be used at the same time simultaneously.
“As of now, it’s available through our app…It’ll push through into all of the mapping systems so people will be able to find it and use it, and it generally doesn’t take long for people to discover these things and to start using them, especially if they’re local.”
The charging station was built through the state government’s Destination Charging Across Victoria program, which provided $5 million in grants to establish fast-charging public network across Victoria.
Belgrave South resident Tony Forster, who owns a 2014 electric Nissan Leaf, said it is “great” to see electric vehicle charging stations popping up around the Dandenong Ranges.
“Out the hills there have not been, in the past, a lot of charging stations,” Mr Forster said.
“For me, it’s just a matter of being sure I can get home in an emergency; if I misjudge, there’s a charging station I can use.”
Mr Forster said he has been charging his Leaf at the Ferntree Gully and Bayswater train stations, using charging facilities which were installed in 2023 after an agreement was brokered between Knox City Council and Australian company JOLT.
“They give you 50 kilometres for free, which is great. And I’ve used them quite a bit, not just because it’s free, but because it gives me the extra range,” he said.
According to the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia’s October 2022 State of Electric Vehicles report, there were a total of 455 public charging locations in Victoria as of 30 June 2022.
Across the country, the number of individual public EV chargers in service was 3,669; marking a 15 per cent increase in charging locations compared to early 2021, the report revealed.
The share of new vehicles sold in the country that were EVs also increased last year and rose from 2.05 per cent in 2021, to 3.39 per cent in the year leading up to September 2022, according to the report.
Mr Lynch-Bell said it is not yet clear how popular the charging station in Belgrave will be.
“The nearest [Evie charging station] is in Vermont South, which is not that close, but that’s actually a pretty popular charger,” he said.
“It’s interesting, some of them, like Wangaratta, are super popular from day one. Other ones, it takes a bit of time for [people] to grow into it.
“Sometimes people in the area have just been waiting for the charger to turn up and they’ll pounce on it, and sometimes it takes a while for it for demand to grow, so it’ll take a few weeks before we get a picture of what it looks like.”
Mr Lynch-Bell said the existence of electric vehicle charging stations, including in Belgrave, play a role in instiling confidence in motorists to go out and buy electric vehicles.
“It means that anybody in the neighbourhood who doesn’t have a driveway or doesn’t have a garage, or lives in a unit, has got the ability now to go out and choose to own or rent an electric vehicle,” he said.
“It also means that people who are coming to Belgrave, for whatever reason, for Puffing Billy, for the shops, they have the confidence to know, ‘hey, I can reach that destination. If I need to charge there, I know I’m going to have enough energy to get back home again’.”
Evie Networks is also set to install electric vehicle charging stations in Healesville and Yarra Junction with the support of Yarra Ranges Council.
