End of electric vehicle stamp duty rebate boots NSW to bottom dwellers in EV stakes

Southwest Sydney is the worst place in Australia for electric vehicle owners, new research shows.

Analysis by EV insurers ROLLiN’ shows the Gold Coast is the best place for EV owners in the country, when the number of public chargers, median power price and government incentives are all tallied.

“Our research highlights how tough it can be to own an EV in regional spots, where public charging stations are scarce,” ROLLiN’ executive manager Brendan Griffiths said.

“That’s why you see such a tiny EV presence in the outback.”

The insurance company’s research crunched the numbers on public charging stations, the median charging price per kilowatt hour, any incentives on offer, the total percentage of EVs on the road and the rate of EV growth in a particular area to score various regions out of 100.

The top five are: the Gold Coast, inner Melbourne, the ACT, South Brisbane and the Sydney city/inner south. Of those, the ACT’s $1707.50 subsidies are the best, and nearly 1 per cent of cars are electric – the highest in the country.

The Gold Coast has 63 chargers, which is the most. South Brisbane has the cheapest power at $0.52.

Interestingly, Bunbury, south of Perth, has what is surely the most chargers per capita (43), the equal cheapest power of the top 10, and a massive $3500 subsidy on offer. The city of 70,000 people, two hours drive from Perth, ranks sixth in the overall standings.

“It’s awesome to see Aussie cities getting on board with electric vehicles,” Mr Griffiths said.

“We’ve now got over 2000 EV charging stations nationwide, and places like NSW are adding hundreds more soon. But there’s still a lot of work to do in some areas.”

At the other end of the scale, NSW has four of the five worst regions, as the state’s stamp duty refund scheme ended this year.

The suburbs of Campbelltown, Liverpool, Wollondilly and Fairfield in Sydney’s southwest have just eight public chargers and expensive power.

The state government said it was ending the stamp duty rebate scheme to pump more funds into chargers.

Mandurah in WA is the second worst region. House prices in the region have shot up as the sprawling Perth suburban area now encompasses the southern region. Mandurah is halfway between Perth and Bunbury, but there are only four chargers.

Following Mandurah, the NSW Central Coast ranks third worst, with only 10 chargers, high power costs and 0.26 per cent EVs in general.

The Riverina and New England/north west are fourth and fifth, due to only six in 100 vehicles being electric in those regional districts. There are 14 chargers in the Riverina and 22 in New England though.