EV travellers from anywhere north of Sydney wanting to drive to Adelaide through western NSW via Broken Hill have until now had to ensure a full charge and economical driving when tacking the 300 km DC charger desert that has been the western end of the A32 Barrier Highway.
That stretch of highway (like the Nullarbor) has long been emblematic of the difficulty to provide charging in areas with little to no electrical connection. This, of course, is the oft cited reason by many for still waiting on the sidelines before making their own transition to all-electric driving.
Now, in a sign that even that reason for not buying an EV is receding, the opening of a DC fast-charger in Yunta (South Australia) has plugged yet another charging hole. There are now enough DC chargers to take the central western NSW route via Broken Hill to Adelaide using only DC chargers.
The NRMA has just opened a fully off-grid charging station comprising a 30 kW solar array, 200 kWh battery, 2 x 80 kW DC chargers (with the capacity to charge up to four EVs), Starlink for guest wifi access, and a backup diesel generator “… so that an EV can be recharged, no matter what” to quote Tim Harrison from the NRMA in his recent Linkedin post.
Mind-you, the DC charger network through the area is still only skeletal, with several other DC charger sites on the route still only supporting one CCS lead.
However, now the footprint is there, these sites can be expected to expand – just as I have seen many other site other sites around Australia do in the seven years I have been travelling through regional and remote areas of Australia.
Now all the NRMA has to do is get their App to work properly… speaking to EV drivers at various DC charger sites I’ve used in NSW and surrounds, discussions about the charge provider Apps usually end up in furious agreement that the NRMA App is far-and-away the least user-friendly.
(Thankfully, most NRMA chargers can also be accessed through the Chargefox App – although many people I speak to are unaware this is the case).
See also: “Grit in the Gears:” NRMA report on shortfalls of national EV charging network hidden from view
