NRMA has chosen Wallsend as the first site for its rollout of more than 40 high-speed electric vehicle chargers, which will soon be scattered across regional NSW.
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The two charging stations, unveiled in a car park on the corner of Cowper and Nelson streets on Wednesday morning, will each be capable of fully charging an electric car in 20 to 30 minutes.
They won’t cost motorists anything to use for the next few months. But a small, yet-to-be-determined fee will eventually be introduced for people who aren’t NRMA members.
NRMA CEO Rohan Lund said the network of chargers would cover major highway routes across NSW and ACT, each within 150km of one another.
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“Australia no longer manufactures cars locally and global manufacturers are now shifting their focus and investment to electric and hybrid technology,” he said.
The Wallsend charging stations were switched on the same day NRMA released a new policy paper that urged the federal government to further address the issue of electric vehicle uptake, called Recharging the Economy.
NRMA chief financial officer Michael Gabriel said the $10 million charging station initiative wasn’t so much about catering for an existing demand as it was about setting up infrastructure that would make the inevitable transition from petrol powered vehicles easier.
“It’s small, but within the next five to 10 years it will be large,” he said.
“Within five to 10 years there’ll be a proliferation of [electric] cars into the mainstream and we are trying to create a future to be able to service that demand.”
Other locations for charging stations include Port Macquarie and Jindabyne.
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“We wanted an initial site that was a gateway out of the city [Sydney] into regional communities and we thought Newcastle was an ideal place, it opens up the state,” Mr Gabriel said.
Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the Wallsend facility would “operate as a hub for travellers” moving north or south, given its proximity to the highway.
“On a broader scale, this electric vehicle charging station is one of a number of stations we’re going to roll out through the city of Newcastle over the next 12 months,” said Cr Nelmes, who wouldn’t say where they would be established.
“Car manufacturing is moving towards wholly electric vehicles. We are looking at that with our fleet at the moment – we’re looking at fully electric garbage trucks – and this is one part of a broader range of initiatives we are doing in town centres like Wallsend and also the [Newcastle] CBD to make sure our city is ready for innovation.”