Letting energy companies install electric vehicle chargers on their power poles and charge all households for the equipment would be an anti-competitive move no government should consider, an inquiry has heard.
The proposal, designed to accelerate the rollout of electric vehicle chargers, was widely rejected on Monday despite testimony from several groups that a lack of infrastructure continued to put the brakes on EV adoption in Australia.
NSW parliamentarians hosted the debate in the first public hearing of its electric vehicle infrastructure inquiry, which was called in March to investigate the market and its regulation.
In submissions, energy network operators including Ausgrid and Energy Networks Australia argued regulations should be dropped to allow the firms to install tens of thousands of long-duration chargers on power poles to address "market failures".
Competition had not delivered enough charging stations for motorists to feel comfortable about switching to an electric car, Energy Networks Australia acting chief executive Emma Shanks said.
"We, as a nation, are suffering from a chicken or egg problem whereby a lack of EV density currently doesn't encourage significant upscale in private investment," she told the inquiry.
"Without more visible public chargers, drivers continue to be hesitant to switch to an EV."
Australia has 68 electric vehicles for every public charge point, according to the International Energy Agency, compared to a global average of one charge point for every 11 cars.
But allowing energy networks to take over the infrastructure rollout and charge all households for the equipment they install would be "anti-competitive," engineer and former Electric Vehicle Council representative Ross De Rango told the inquiry.
"The outcome they're after is they be allowed to deploy tens of thousands of public EV chargers in an inefficient way," he said.
"They want to be able to make everyone who pays a power bill cover the cost of this exercise – not just the deployment but also the maintenance and also their profit margins."
Electric vehicle charging companies would not be able to compete with energy networks if they were allowed to install thousands of widely funded chargers, Mr De Rango said, and no state government should consider removing "ring-fencing" regulations to allow it.
Representatives from AGL, Nexa Advisory, and providers EVSE and Evie Networks also spoke out against the proposal, which EVX chief executive Andrew Forster said would not be targeted and could result in unused chargers.
"Where councils don't undertake significant community consultation, you don't see significant acceptance and utilisation of that infrastructure," he said.
Vehicle-charging infrastructure had grown significantly over the past two years to more than 1800 fast-charging points, Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Julie Delvecchio told the inquiry.
As a next step, she said, Australia should undertake a study of charging locations to identify the best ways to expand infrastructure and accommodate more electric vehicles.
"We would like to see a comprehensive national dashboard which tells us where the current charging infrastructure exists and where the gaps are and what are opportunities that exist," she said.
