Australia’s electric vehicle market has reached an important turning point, according to JET Charge Founder and CEO Tim Washington, with charging infrastructure now becoming the critical factor that will determine how quickly fleets and heavy transport transition to electric vehicles.
Speaking at the Autel EV Charging Innovation Seminar, Washington said the industry has successfully created demand for EVs and must now focus on removing the practical barriers that slow adoption.
“Australia’s first challenge was getting people excited about electric vehicles. Congratulations, you’ve achieved it. Now, the next challenge is building the infrastructure that keeps up and manages the pace of that opportunity.”
Fleet market faces a 2030 reality check
While electric vehicles now account for around 20 per cent of new vehicle sales, Washington warned that business fleets are not transitioning at the same pace.
He highlighted tool-of-trade fleets as a critical segment because they account for around 30-40 per cent of new vehicle purchases, even though they represent less than 10 per cent of vehicles on Australian roads over the long term.
More importantly, many organisations are approaching the final vehicle replacement cycle before their 2030 emissions commitments.
“We are now in our last lease cycle for that target. That means if you lease a vehicle today, you have a five year lease and it’s not electric, and you’ve got a net zero 2030 plan, then you’re already not going to meet it.”
For Fleet Managers, Sustainability Managers and Finance Managers, that creates pressure to make electrification decisions now rather than waiting for the next procurement cycle.
Workplace charging bureaucracy is slowing fleets
Washington challenged the common assumption that public charging is the biggest barrier for corporate fleets.
Instead, he said workplace charging approvals are creating significant delays, particularly for organisations operating across multiple office locations with different landlords and building managers.
“Charging infrastructure is starting to become a real barrier to tool of trade fleet electrification, but not for the reasons you think.”
JET Charge is increasingly seeing organisations overcome those challenges by shifting to managed home charging programs.
“We’re seeing home charging really unlock electrification for tool trade fleets at scale.”
Washington suggested that organisations planning large-scale fleet transitions should consider home charging as the primary deployment strategy rather than relying solely on workplace infrastructure.
Public charging has become more important than expected
Washington admitted his own thinking on public charging has evolved as apartment electrification has proven more difficult than anticipated.
“I’ve changed my mind… apartments have proven to be incredibly difficult to electrify at scale.”
He estimates that around 30 per cent of Australian drivers either live in apartments or lack off-street parking, while approximately 10 per cent of charging sessions occur in public locations regardless of whether drivers have home charging.
“Actually, 37% of all charging in Australia happens in public. That is a huge proportion of charging.”
However, Washington pointed to a concerning trend. Since 2023, Australia has been adding roughly the same number of new DC charging sites each year despite rapid EV sales growth.
“Pretty much the same number of sites deployed across Australia every year. It hasn’t increased… Meanwhile, EVs have hit 20% of new vehicle sales.”
The result is significantly higher utilisation rates per charger, increasing pressure on existing infrastructure.
Property owners need to lead charging expansion
Rather than relying solely on charge point operators, Washington believes shopping centres, property groups and major landowners need to become active participants in charging deployment.
He illustrated the challenge by noting there are only around 20 site acquisition specialists across Australia trying to secure locations for public charging.
“There are literally around about 20 people in Australia trying to secure car parks for public charging… it is no surprise that we haven’t seen growth in the number of sites deployed.”
His message to the property sector was direct.
“There needs to be a far greater role played by the property market… only when the people who are in control of car parks start to raise the questions in their boardrooms… will we start getting actual momentum behind the public charging rollout.”
Bigger chargers aren’t always better
Washington also urged the industry to avoid assuming that maximum charging power automatically delivers better outcomes.
Drawing on data from China, where high-voltage vehicles and ultra-fast charging are widespread, he noted that less than three per cent of charging sessions on one major network exceed 200kW.
“I think for me that says fit for purpose and designing to the site requirements is more important than we think it is.”
The message for charging providers and fleet operators is that infrastructure should be designed around actual vehicle behaviour rather than headline charging speeds.
Heavy transport economics are improving rapidly
Perhaps the biggest shift Washington identified is occurring in heavy transport, where operators are now discovering electric trucks can outperform diesel on total cost of ownership.
He said recent market pressures have forced logistics businesses to analyse operating costs more closely than ever before.
“As soon as they look at the electric version, we’re seeing total cost of ownership cases come out where they are 20% better, all things included… than the diesel cost alone.”
That finding is particularly significant in an industry where profit margins are typically below three per cent.
Washington believes the conversation should now shift away from simply purchasing the lowest-cost charging hardware.
“Everyone is focusing on the cheapest possible hardware… Very little is talked about in relation to electricity, which make up 60 to 70% of the 10 year cost for a logistics fleet.”
Speed is becoming the next challenge
Looking ahead, Washington believes the biggest obstacle for heavy vehicle electrification is no longer economics but deployment speed.
“It’s no longer going to be economics, I think that’s solved for a lot of people… It’ll be speed.”
He expects battery energy storage systems to play an increasingly important role by helping fleets overcome grid constraints and accelerate charging infrastructure deployment.
For Australian fleets, the message is clear: the business case for electrification is strengthening across passenger vehicles and heavy transport alike, but organisations that delay planning charging infrastructure risk becoming the biggest barrier to achieving their own decarbonisation targets.
