How Are We Travelling?

Yours Truly, aka Hurry Krishna, would love to answer this question by saying: “By electric cars, of course.” But even for an EV enthusiast like me, the story is a lot more nuanced.

Driving around Fremantle, you might think Teslas are more popular than short blacks. But numbers tell a different story. According to Bridie Schmidt, the EV Editor at the NRMA, nearly 20% of passenger vehicles sold in Australia are electric. However, these only make up a small slice of the overall car market. When you include all vehicles, EVs account for just 4% of new sales, less than half the global average of 9%, lightyears away from Norway’s 90%, and closer to Mexico’s 2%.

Western Australia isn’t exactly wild for electric vehicles. Less than half a percent of registered vehicles in WA are electric. Fremantle isn’t leading the charge either; nearby suburbs like Canning Vale and Willetton, followed by the leafy enclaves of Crawley, Dalkeith, and Nedlands, can all boast more EVs than our beloved Freo.

Range Anxiety: The New(ish) Phobia

Wikipedia tells me that the term was first seen in print in September 1997. If you don’t drive long distances, and like the overwhelming majority of EV owners charge your car at home most of the time, you probably have no residual fears at all.

Since the popularisation of the RA term in the early 21st century – instigated, no doubt, by the petrol addicts of the mining industry who had everything to gain from fomenting such fears — both the range of electric vehicles and the number of public charging stations have risen astronomically, all around the world.

In Oz, Chris Bowen, the federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy, regularly spruiks his Government’s half-billion-dollar investment in placing fast-charging stations every 200 kilometres. And Ampol stands out as the only major petroleum company committed to installing chargers at all their locations.

Credit energymatters.com.au

Around Fremantle, EV charging stations are sprouting, though not quite like mushrooms. Across Perth’s suburbs, you’re now more likely to encounter EV chargers than petrol bowsers. However, drive an hour out of the city in any direction along the highways, and massive petrol stations start to appear at regular intervals. Meanwhile, you might find yourself scouring apps for the next charge point, only to find that it is out of order or occupied.

Global Charging Landscape

There are probably more than 3 million public charging stations around the world, the majority having been installed in the 2020s. The US is ramping up efforts with over 150,000 public charging points, while Europe boasts more than 300,000. China leads the pack with nearly a million.

But the point is not the absolute numbers but EV:Charger ratio. On this count South Korea wins hands down with Australia somewhere in the middle along with UK and Spain, but way behind Asian neighbours, not just Korea and China, but also Indonesia.

Demographics

All around the world, young urbanites and environmentally conscious families are leading the charge in EV adoption. In Australia, 30 to 44 year-olds make up 60% of the EV-buyers.

Hurry Krishna and Co-Pilot

In Fremantle, this age-group makes up just under 25% of the residents. 25 kms away, in Osborne Park, which leads WA in EV adoptions, that same age-group makes up 35% of the population. At the other end of the scale, we oldies — that is, the 60 plus category — are a good quarter of the Freo mob, while up in Osborne Park just 17% of the folks are over 60.

Osborne Park’s status as EV capital of WA may be in part due to the rather groovy Tesla showroom on Scarborough Beach Road. But fear not Freo, a similar showroom is also coming to a street near you – Carrington Road to be precise.

Tesla’s new showrooms at Carrington Street, O’Connor

At the point in life, after the children have left home and you are no longer summoned daily to the office-hour traffic jam, you think: What are cars for if not to sing ‘You got a fast car./ I got a plan to get us out of here’ (with thanks to Tracy Chapman).

For the aspiring and potential grey nomad (as befits the Fremantle age profile), perhaps range-anxiety continues to raise its ghostly face.

Electrifying Adventures

Despite the ghosts and some real, if distant, past traumas around running out of power, the spirit of adventure lives on. At least 34 ‘Big Laps’ around Australia have been completed by Electric Cars, with more likely under the radar. West Australians are notable amongst these trailblazers. Fellow WA EV Enthusiast, Harald Murphy, has zipped around the continent five times (an Aussie record), clocking over 13,000 kilometres each time, and completing the journey in just 10 days on the last occasion.

Hurry’s trusty Kona EV

Fremantle residents may not be setting speed records, but Hurry Krishna and Co-Pilot, are gearing up for a pleasurably slow trip around Australia starting August 1. So watch this space but don’t rush!

By Hurry Krishna

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