Balanced News: Slow action on fast chargers could drain enthusiasm for electric vehicle uptake

A slow rollout of fast chargers could hold Victorians back from shifting to electric vehicles, with some early adopters finding infrastructure has not kept pace with the growing fleet of battery-powered cars. Electric vehicles sales doubled in Australia last year to represent almost 4 per cent of all new cars, according to the Electric Vehicle Council, but the nation still lags markets like Germany (18 per cent of new cars) and the UK (17 per cent). As the number of EVs on the road grows, so too does demand for public DC fast chargers which allow drivers to quickly fill up their batteries on the road and for apartment dwellers who cannot plug in at home. Queues up to 90 minutes backed up at some charging sites around the country over the summer holidays, as many motorists embarked on battery power road trips for the first time. Riz Akhtar, chief executive of the Melbourne-based EV industry data firm Carloop, said Victoria was not building enough DC fast charging stations to