Blue Mountains News

The new charging station will be installed and managed by Australian EV charging station operator, Evie Networks, at the Council-owned car park off New Street in Lawson Town Centre. It will be the second public charging station in the Blue Mountains, with the first EV charging site planned for Blaxland, in conjunction with Tesla.

Mayor Cr Mark Greenhill said: “This is another exciting opportunity for the Blue Mountains – both for local residents and the many visitors to our region, to help us encourage and facilitate the uptake of electric vehicles, by reducing range anxiety and eliminating barriers to their uptake.

“Hopefully this will be the start of a network of EV charging stations across the Blue Mountains, aligning with our vision for a more sustainable, accessible, healthy and liveable City. Encouraging EV owners to visit the Blue Mountains will also provide a boost to our local economy.

“EV numbers are expected to increase significantly in the next few years across Australia and are likely to become a mainstream transport choice. As a major regional attraction, we need to be prepared for this technology so we can take part in this major technological transport shift.”

Council will enter into a licence agreement with Evie Network for an initial five-year term, with options to extend for a further two terms. Evie Network will pay a leasing fee to Council for the term of the licence agreement and there will be no extra cost and responsibility on Council as Evie will own, operate and maintain the charging stations.

The Evie Networks’ chargers will accommodate a wide range of EV models and will determine its own charges to customers to use the charging station. 

The site is partially funded by the federal government, under The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Future Fuels Fund. supports EV service providers with its Future Fuels Fund to install new public fast charging stations. To access funding through this competitive program, operators made submissions with nominated sites and were subject to a rigorous review process. 

As a member of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC), Council provided a list of potential locations. These included Council locations identified as optimal land classification for EV charging sites, as this type of infrastructure is ‘exempt development’ under NSW Government policy. Other factors for site selection included proximity to business centres and tourist attractions to allow EV users to undertake other activities charging their vehicle. 

A date for the installation of the EV charging station is yet to be determined and is expected to cause minimum impact to the car park during the installation period.