Yesterday at the Fully Charged Live Sydney media preview session I happened to meet Edward Lynch-Bell (Product Development at Evie Networks) and he was able to explain why Evie electric car charging locations don’t have any shade above them so far.
I wrote recently that Australians need shade & shelter at electric car chargers but unfortunately shade is rare both above charging stations and nearby, as shown in the example below where I was charging a loan review Polestar 2 at Evie Shell Coles Express Warrenheip.
Ed explained:
“So here’s why you don’t see a lot of shelter at EV charging stations in Australia – Installing chargers does not (generally) require council approval through a development authorisation (DA)”.
“If you put in a canopy, that is considered a permanent structure and you then have to go through a planning approval process that can slow the project down by months, if not years.”
Now I understand the reason for no shade it makes sense, anyone who has applied to their local council for a DA knows that it can be a long delayed process.
Evie and other charging networks obviously can’t afford to delay the activation of a new charging site by months or over a year and the EV owning public don’t want that either.
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