The Treasurer and Minister for Energy, Matt Kean, has announced that the NSW Government is investing $39.4 million to fund the initial round of Fast Charging Grants.

The NSW government is co-funding 86 new fast and ultra-fast charging stations. Each station will contain 4-15 charging bays with a minimum of two ultra-fast bays with a 350kW capacity, and two fast charging bays of 175kW.

Over the next 24 months, over 500 new EV charging bays are expected appear in NSW.

The grants are a key action under the NSW Electric Vehicle Strategy that will support and encourage growth of the EV market by:

• Overcoming range anxiety through the development of a broad, visible‚ and accessible fast charging network across NSW
• ensuring connectivity between metropolitan and regional areas
• future-proofing the EV charging network past 2030
• co-funding private industry to build, own and operate the charging stations
• maximising grid support and reducing emissions

Companies have to apply to receive the grant and the applicants so far include Ampol, BP, Evie Networks, Tesla, the NRMA, and Zeus Renewables.

The Government is ensuring that chargers are no more than 5km apart in metropolitan areas, and no more than 100km apart on major roads and highways.

Maintenance of these charging stations has been called into question as there is little financial incentive to do so and several charging stations in place in NSW today are out-of-service or offline. For example, the Goulburn charging station has been offline since October 1, 2022.

The second round of co-funding is expected to open at the end of the year.