MidCoast Council willing to share land to ramp up EV charging stations

Darshan Singh, owner of Bulahdelah Motor Lodge, says business has improved since he installed an electric vehicle (EV) charger over a year ago.

• “Whether they are staying with me, or just driving past, they stop and charge here,” he said. 

Singh’s facility is one of 24 public EV charging locations across the MidCoast LGA. They have a combined 70 chargers.

Is it enough, given the boom in electric vehicle sales? In tourist towns, the spectre of EV-driving holidaymakers forming long queues to charge their vehicle during peak periods has sharpened the focus of MidCoast Council. It’s not the type of thing one wants on postcards.

Policy planning: Happy tourists make for return visitors, and to this end MidCoast Council has developed a draft EV policy aimed at increasing the number of facilities, saying improved charger access would stimulate tourism and local trade, attract investment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The policy does not set future targets for charger numbers. 

The stats: Nationally, nearly one in four new vehicles sold in June 2026 were fully electric. In 2025, EVs accounted for 12.1 percent of all new car sales in Australia, an increase from 9.6 percent in 2024. 

In NSW, the state estimates that EVs will make up 50 percent of new car sales by 2030-31. 

Time for action: MidCoast councillor Digby Wilson believes council can help fill an obvious gap in the charger market.

“Why wouldn't we capitalise on that opportunity and have a policy that allows companies to put EV chargers on council land, so people can come and enjoy our coast, and not worry about range anxiety?”

Blockages to progress: The EV industry says it is ready to invest in more charging points, but is facing barriers such as accessing the electricity grid. 

Stephanie Bashir, CEO of clean energy consultancy Nexa Advisory, said it can take between two and four years to connect one charger to the grid, and could cost charge point operators up to $400,000 depending on the size of the charger.

Bashir claimed electricity distributors were intentionally slowing down these connections, as a potential federal rule change would allow them to compete by rolling out their own EV charging infrastructure.

“They constrain the connections … and then they lobby that they can do it faster and cheaper.”

Council prepares: A spokesperson for MidCoast Council acknowledged grid connection “can be a challenge”, and pointed to state grant programs as a means to support operators. 

“The number of EV chargers on public land is only one small component of the overall charging network and council encourages the consideration of chargers in private and commercial settings where permitted.”

Image credit: PlugShare.