Australia’s EV boom has a renter problem — and it’s stalling the revolution in our cities. More than 410,000 EVs are on the road, yet a third of households can’t charge at home; now a Melbourne build‑to‑rent trial putting shared EVs downstairs is surging in demand and could be the shortcut that finally brings renters into the electric era.
The contradiction is sharpest in dense suburbs where most people live in apartments.
Even with incentives, many renters simply can’t plug in at home, and relying on public fast chargers adds time, cost and uncertainty to weekly routines.
With home ownership delayed and borrowing capacity squeezed, long‑term renting is now the norm for a growing slice of the population.
The ABS counts renters at roughly 31 per cent – around 2.9 to 3 million households – which means this is no longer a niche strata issue; it’s a mainstream barrier holding back EV uptake across our biggest cities.
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Australia’s electric vehicle fleet has soared past 410,000, yet for millions of apartment dwellers, the dream of owning an EV remains a distant reality.
Former Electric Vehicle Council energy and infrastructure head Ross De Rango told South Bank Local News that installing EV charging “is often placed in the ‘too hard basket’ by OCs and building managers,” because “owners’ corporations are responsible for all manner of things within a building, and EV charging is not necessarily at the top of their list today.” He’s confident priorities will shift as numbers grow.
“It’ll take something like 30 years to shift the vast majority of the fleet to electric,” he said. “The total that we spend today on liquid fuels for road transport is about $50 billion a year… Once we’ve done that, we’ll be using about $20 billion a year worth of electricity instead of $50 billion a year of liquid fuels.”
In the meantime, a very different solution is getting traction: bring the EV to the building and share it.
Greystar, a global build‑to‑rent operator, has partnered with Australian electric mobility platform Ollo to embed EV car share at its Haiku communities in South Melbourne and South Yarra.
Greystar, a global leader in BTR, is tackling this challenge head-on, by partnering with Ollo to integrate shared EVs directly into its Haiku communities in South Melbourne and South Yarra.
Users manage everything through the Ollo mobile app, including selecting a vehicle, along with the date and time for their trip.
The vehicles are unlocked and locked directly via the user’s phone as needed, removing the need for physical keys.
At The Gladstone in South Melbourne, demand has already surged out of the gate – more than 645 booking requests in the first 100 days, with average trips clocking in at about 17.5 hours and longer journeys being booked weeks ahead.
For a building amenity, those numbers suggest residents are using the EVs as a real replacement for private cars when they need one, not a novelty.
Greystar APAC executive director Adam Pillay says the retrofit reality is challenging for many older blocks.
Mark Broadley charging his electric car at the Horizon Apartments in Darlinghurst. Picture: Damian Shaw
“Integrating EV charging into apartment buildings isn’t always straightforward, especially for older properties that weren’t built with the electrical capacity to support multiple chargers,” he said.
“Retrofitting requires upgrading switchboards, running new cabling, and carefully managing load across the building – all of which can quickly become complicated and expensive.”
For new projects, the play is to “future‑proof,” ensuring “buildings can handle EV demand as it grows in line with evolving regulations and energy requirements.”
Just as importantly, he argues, it’s time to rethink how mobility fits into apartment living. “Rather than designing buildings solely around private car ownership, developers can offer access to electric vehicles as a shared amenity – exactly what Greystar is doing through its partnership with Ollo,” Pillay said.
“In high‑density urban areas, where space is tight and parking is expensive, these vehicles can become a key lifestyle amenity…They provide residents with the convenience of a car without the cost or commitment of owning one.”
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