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Aussie Tesla Owners Build Open-to-All Round Australia Charging Network

Aside for the battle for supremacy on the electric vehicle market, established car manufactures are now waging war to see who would become the one to roll out the biggest charging infrastructure.
Round Australia Electric Highway 1 photo
Photo: teslaowners.org.au
But corporations still crawl towards a future when charging stations would be wide spread. They struggle in areas that are densely populated, places where in theory building the infrastructure should be easy, like Europe and the U.S. How would they fare in challenging places like say Australia?

The continent is not waiting for an answer to that question. EV owners there are tired and unwilling to wait for someone else to build the charging stations for them. So they pooled their efforts and their money and got up and going what probably is the largest privately-owned charging network in the world.

The people behind this achievement are EV owners from Down Under, who got together in the Tesla Owners Club of Australia (TOCA). With all of their power combined and aided by the Australian Electric Vehicle Association, they set up the Round Australia Electric Highway, a ring of charging stations 400 km apart (248 miles) that surrounds the continent. In all, the ring spans for nearly 17,000 km (10,563 miles).

As per Renew Economy, the network was completed last month and uses 32 amp three-phase charge points. Because TOCA allows it, owners of EVs regardless of make would be able to use the network.

“We’re endeavoring to show that there is people power behind the drive to EV’s, and hopefully governments can follow,” said according to the source Richard McNeall, coordinator of the Round Australia Project.

“The Queensland government, so far, is the only state that has really thrown its weight behind EV charging.”

The results of several studies conducted in recent months shows that the lack of government support is the main reason why EV adoption is still slow. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says in 2017 there were an estimated 3 million private chargers installed in the world, while state-sponsored ones were all but are absent.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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