A new Glen Innes electric vehicle charging station has put the town on the map – literally.
Glen Innes Severn Shire Council has installed two charging bays behind its visitor centre in consultation with charging specialists EVolution.
The New England town is now on the national charging station map. The Tesla Owners Club of Australia released the ‘Round Australia Electric Highway’ map in June this year.
The map shows EV owners how to drive around Australia by giving the locations of national charging stations. Adjacent stations have a maximum 400 km spacing between them.
Solar to power electric vehicle charging station in future?
At the moment the Glen Innes charging station is free of charge. However, Council is considering a solar panel installation to cover costs as demand picks up.
“Electric vehicles are coming and they are coming quite quickly,” said Council Environmental Officer Ian Trow.
“We expect the uptake over the next few years will be a lot more.”
Electric vehicle charging station powers all EVs
The charging station consists of a 22 kW eo universal EVSE and a Tesla Charger. But according to EVolution, Council was originally going to install only the Tesla Charger.
“The Council management quickly understood that Tesla isn’t the only car manufacturer selling EVs in Australia,” EVolution stated when announcing the new station.
“They wanted to cater for all EV drivers, not just those that are able to drop $120k+ on a car. Hence the rather smart looking ‘Universal’ eo charger.”
First customer already charged up and gone
According to the Glen Innes Examiner, the charging station’s first user was a Tesla driver.
Richard McNeall said on his next visit he will charge for about an hour to give him enough power to reach Toowoomba across the border in Queensland.
McNeall told the Examiner that he drove the Tesla around Australia two years ago. He claims to be the first to drive an electric vehicle around Australia without carrying a generator.
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