Fuel price spikes amid the ongoing Middle East conflict have reignited a fresh EV ownership debate.
New electric vehicle sales reached a record 14.6 per cent share last month with 15,839 sales, according to official data with Tesla’s Model Y placing third overall with 2818 registrations.
Yet not every suburb is EV-ready, with some Sydney locations lacking appropriate driveways or scarce charging access, making ownership impractical for some.
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Homes without parking facilities are an issue for EV drivers wanting to charge their cars.
Ray White head of research Vanessa Rader said the worst suburbs in Sydney to own an EV would generally be the inner city areas.
ISSUES WITH CHARGING AN EV AT HOME
Some suburbs with the worst proximity to parking facilities include Dawes Point, Sydenham, Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Encore, Rushcutters Bay, Lavender Bay, Tempe, Kirribilli and Chippendale.
“They’re suburbs where households often don’t have driveways, parking facilities, garages, carports, anything like that,” Ms Rader said.
“That’s where we see the case where people are putting their power cords out across the footpath, to try to charge their cars.”
Kings Cross isn’t a great place to be an EV owner. Picture: John Appleyard
Ms Rader said these suburbs are often filled with terrace properties with very little access on the road or access to driveway facilities.
“It’s those homes that are on quite small footprints, they have no car access so they don’t have a driveway or a parking facility of any kind,” she said.
Ms Rader said the “better suburbs” for electronic vehicle ownership are usually quite established homes, a little further out of the city.
“They’re homes that usually have multiple garages and definitely have driveways and carport facilities with them as well,” she said.
“That’s actually quite a big list.”
Sydney suburbs with ample access to parking facilities include Malabar, Kenthurst, Lugarno, Glenorie, Silverdale, Georges Hall, Glenhaven, Connells Point, Oyster Bay and Burraneer.
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Ray White head of research Vanessa Rader said the worst suburbs in Sydney to own an EV would generally be the inner city areas.
Ms Rader spotlighted many newer developments are looking to include EV chargers directly into the garages of new homes.
“They already have that kind of garage capability to do so,” she said.
“The good thing with that is the power that’s needed is already built into the infrastructure where they build a new home, because not all homes can just easily put an EV charger in them.”
Charging at home is probably the easiest and most affordable option but it isn’t available to all EV owners. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian
Another point of contention is around those who live in apartment complexes.
“Shared facilities become quite problematic too,” Ms Rader said.
“Putting in EV chargers – there is an issue of who’s going to pay for it, how is the power going to distributed.
“You need to have a lot of their body corporate on board to be able to do that.
“You can understand that that would be quite problem because if someone owns an EV and you don’t – why would you bear the cost of that when you’re not going to take the use of it?”
Ms Rader said including EV chargers was particularly difficult in older apartments and buildings.
“That’s another kind of stumbling block to people getting EVs, the power capabilities, particularly if it’s an older style building to ensure that it can be up to standard,” she said.
“The newer properties obviously don’t have that same kind of issue, particularly if you’re looking in the inner Sydney markets, there’s an awful lot of older walk up type apartment buildings in there where that will definitely be a concern and a roadblock for those that are looking to charge their car.”
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An electric car charging station in Sydney. AAP Image/Daniel Munoz
CHARGING YOUR EV AT A LOCAL STATION
Access to community charging facilities, such as those on the street, in car parks or at community centres are also a big consideration for those thinking about buying an EV.
According to Transport for NSW’s Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Map, there is a greater concentration of publicly available chargers in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and eastern beaches, when compared to much of the rest of Sydney and NSW.
Camperdown stands out as one location in the Inner West with better options for charging.
The Balmain peninsula is another with a myriad of options.
In Katoomba, you can charge your car while you enjoy the sights.
Mosman on the North Shore has another strong concentration of chargers, according to the map, alongside Lane Cove, as does Manly and Brookvale on the Northern Beaches.
The retail hub of Chatswood is another suburb that caters well to EV owners, perhaps looking to charge up while shopping.
Parramatta in Sydney’s west appears to be the only area in that neck of the woods that is well serviced for owners looking to charge out of home.
Penrith appears to have very few publicly available charging options relative to its population and size of its greater area. The same can be said of the Central Coast with only Wyong, Gosford and The Entrance offering the opportunity for several out of home options.
Further west, Katoomba in the heart of the Blue Mountains is another.
Beyond the Mountains, the regional hubs of both Bathurst and Orange boast a series of charging stations for both locals and those paying a visit.
Heading further up north, Newcastle has some option in the eastern part of the steel city, around Newcastle East, central Newcastle and The Hill but not many elsewhere.
The popular tourist town of Orange in NSW’s Central West offers a variety of charging options.
CHANGE IS ON THE WAY
Access to charging facilities are changing across many Sydney suburbs.
The NSW government $149 million investment to develop a world-class charging network across the state, is providing a rollout of approximately 250 charging stations around NSW in the coming years.
Current NSW electric vehicle charging locations. Source: Transport for NSW online
There will be at least four fast or ultra-fast chargers per station every five km in metropolitan areas and at 100 km intervals across all major NSW highways. Its’ all part of NSW Government getting your state EV-ready.
This includes:
Regional Rollout (Nov 2025): 159 new chargers targeting regional hubs like Shoalhaven (19 ports), Kempsey (11), and Mid-Coast (10).
North Coast Focus: 35 new charge ports at 11 sites specifically to enhance tourism on the North Coast.
Inner West Program: 136 public kerbside charging ports scheduled for installation by April 2025.
Total Infrastructure: By late 2025, the government reported funding for nearly 3,300 new chargers at over 1,200 sites across the state.
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