Fast charging networks and providers say reliability and uptime is improving

The operators and technology providers for Australia’s growing numbers of electric vehicle fast chargers have defended their record and say reliability and uptime is improving dramatically, particularly as poor performing early installations are replaced by updated systems.

EV charger uptime and broken facilities at non-Tesla chargers have become a serious issue for EV owners making long trips, or even short ones, in recent years – along with the insufficient numbers and sometimes poor charging etiquette. The problems are not confined to Australia, and have become a major issue in the US and the EU as well.

The issue was highlighted again earlier this month, when The Driven wrote of another frustrated EV trekker, currently doing his third “lap” of Australia, who said he had struggled with EV charger availability, particularly in Queensland.

The problem with charger uptime was further highlighted in an investor presentation last week by Jane Hunter, the CEO of Tritium, the Brisbane-based fast-charger manufacturer that is one of the most heavily criticised by EV users over its performance and reliability, even earning itself a series of unsavoury nick-names on social media.

Hunter admitted in the Q&A with investors that “very little” had been published on uptime by the industry. “It seems to be something that’s really been an industry secret,” she said in response to analysts’ questions.

She said one Tritium customer had quoted figures of 72-75 per cent uptime in Europe, and in the 60s (per cent) in north America, although she made it clear that those figures applied to chargers supplied by other providers.

Anecdotally, that would probably correspond to what many experienced EV drivers have found – to their frustration – in Australia in recent years.

Of course, no charging network or provider will admit to that being the case with their own product. Hunter’s presentation highlighted the 97 to 99 per cent uptime that Tritium is now reporting with its latest modular charging stock, in particular its RTM 50 and RTM 75 and PKM 150 models.

She said these new products were getting up to 1.5 to 2 percentage point improvements in uptime rates, on average, than the company’s previous generation of chargers, which it has now stopped making.

In response to our story earlier this month, Yurika, the owner of the Queensland Electric Superhighway that was criticised in the article, said that since April 2023, uptime on the QESH had been at more than 95 per cent, and more than 98 per cent in the last 90 days.

The QESH network currently comprises 55 EV charging sites from the Gold Coast to Port Douglas and has expanded into central and western Queensland. Yurika says the use of its charging stations has increased four times its usual amount in the last year – 8,000 charging sessions per month (vs 2,000 charging sessions per month a year ago).

“As part of our continuous maintenance program, we monitor all of our systems including public sites like PlugShare for information and user feedback on the QESH to assist us in responding as quickly as possible to any downtime or faults,” a spokesperson told The Driven.

“We’ve also worked hard to overcome supply chain issues by stocking huge quantities of spare parts from OEMs to improve the availability and uptime of our chargers.

“Pending warranty repair times on chargers as well as their location and availability or supply of parts, we’re typically able to restore offline chargers within a 1 to 3 day period.”

The spokesperson also said that Yurika recognises the need to diversify its charging portfolio. The providers now included in its network are Siemens, Schneider, and ABB, as well as Tritium.