Melbourne suburb Brunswick lays claim to having the most used electric car charging station in Australia.
There’s a lot of buzzing around hipster-hotspot Brunswick – and not much louder, it seems – with Moreland Council saying that it’s Australia’s busiest municipality for electric vehicle charging and that the newest EV station at 13-15 Edward Street in Brunswick the number one place for drivers to stop and charge up their electric car.
It comes as electric car sales gain momentum according to Vfacts sales data and is supported further with statistics provided by Moreland Council: in 2018 it registered an average of 10 charging sessions per month, and in March 2021 it saw 725 charging sessions per month across the network. It is a meteoric rise and requires a lot of juice, though Moreland says that all electricity used to charge vehicles is renewable, sourced from the Crowlands Wind Farm.
It makes it Australia’s number one municipality for charging electric cars, which would be boosted by the council running its own fleet of EVs too. The Brunswick station is 12 months old.
The network in Moreland is supported by ChargeFox, partnering with the council to manage the EV stations and will be only some of the many stations ChargeFox has under its umbrella.
“The hub’s usage data shows there is local uptake and appetite for electric vehicles and EV infrastructure. It also shows that having this infrastructure in place can attract people to the area which will help boost our local economy,” said Moreland Mayor, Annalivia Carli Hannan.
“I myself drive an electric vehicle. I love knowing that when I need to charge, there are free, easily accessible places for me to charge up quickly and conveniently across Moreland. It’s also a great feeling knowing I’m reducing my carbon emissions and helping the environment.”
But for long will it remain “free”?
What critical mass needs to be reached before charging becomes “User Pays”?
Who cares. Enjoy and never question something that’s freely given to you.