New guidelines to make electrical car chargers as simple to make use of as petrol bowsers are being thought-about in a push to make sure nobody is left stranded within the transport transition.
And the college conducting the session is looking for folks with disabilities to disclose their greatest frustrations with the infrastructure, a few of which consultants say had been created in a “cowboy” style.
The examine, undertaken by La Trobe College and analysis centre iMove Australia, is predicted to affect updates to electrical car charging pointers issued by Austroads final yr.
The session comes because the variety of electrical vehicles and chargers continues to develop in Australia, with greater than 65,000 new automobiles offered throughout 2023 and greater than 900 high-powered public chargers put in by July.
However La Trobe College Centre for Know-how Infusion deputy director Erik van Vulpen stated early analysis confirmed Australia’s current chargers didn’t swimsuit all motorists and had change into one thing of a “cowboy market”.
“Most firms don’t suppose sufficient in regards to the alternative to make issues accessible,” he stated.
“To innovate and make the expertise seamless is solely good enterprise and in case your most difficult buyer can use (charging stations) simply meaning everyone advantages.”
The undertaking report, Tips for Accessible EV Charging Stations, has revealed challenges to recharging automobiles together with poor lighting round charging factors, heavy plugs, inadequate cables, insufficient signage, and restricted entry to help.
Charging stations are sometimes positioned on curbs and uneven surfaces, it discovered, making them tough to entry for folks in wheelchairs or with restricted mobility.
“Gasoline bowsers are usually not on a curb so why are these charging stations on a curb?” Mr van Vulpen stated.
“You want to have the ability to park, you want to have the ability to get out of the automobile earlier than you cost, it must be accessible, it must be secure and that’s not at all times the case.”
Proposed pointers embrace adjustments to plugs, cables, charging places, and apps to make chargers accessible to a wider viewers.
The suggestions are resulting from be offered to Austroads early subsequent yr and used to refine guidelines for low and zero-emission charging infrastructure issued in September 2022 round components reminiscent of web site choice, planning, parking, power provide and plug varieties.
Excessive-power public car-charging websites in Australia elevated by 57 per cent between June 2022 and 2023, in keeping with the Electrical Automobile Council, to succeed in 558 places and 967 charging factors.
However their attain is predicted to develop considerably over the following yr, with investments by state governments and companies reminiscent of NRMA, Evie Networks, BP, Ampol and Tesla.
Mr van Vulpen stated drivers with disabilities had been invited to present suggestions on the rules and their expertise with electrical automobile charging stations on the iMove web site over the following three weeks.
AAP