This guide aims to complement (rather than replicate) existing Australian resources on site selection and is aimed at those delivering charging projects.
Report extract
Network planning
Fast DC charging sites generally fall into two categories, being urban (or neighbourhood) chargers and highway (or intercity) chargers. The ultra-rapid project is the latter. Highway chargers are designed to facilitate longer, less frequent EV journeys and their presence is an important factor in many people’s decision to purchase an EV. They should use the fastest chargers (150 kW or more) and be located close to major routes.
The ultra-rapid network is designed to cater to current and future EVs which have battery capacities providing between about 250 and 550 km of range ( Figure 1). Therefore, we aimed for approximately 200 km as a maximum spacing between connected sites. This guided high-level network planning prior to commencing scouting for specific places to build.
The completed network has between 105 and 212 km spacings (Figure 2). This allows a large range of EVs to comfortably make trips spanning multiple sites without worry of running out of charge. Many modern EVs may only need to stop at every second or third site.