BMW, Tesla bolster electric charging networks

Extra charging points make electric cars more attractive.

13 December 2016 David McCowen

BMW has contributed toward electric car infrastructure at popular supermarkets. Photo: Fabian Kirchbauer

Australia's fledgling electric car charging network received a boost from BMW and Tesla this week.

BMW announced on Monday that it will work with Scentre Group, the owner and operator of Westfield shopping centres, to install 40 electric vehicle charging stations at popular retail areas in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.

The stations will allow drivers to recharge their cars for free at major shopping centres including Westfield Sydney, Westfield Doncaster and Westfield Chermside.

Importantly, the charging stations can be used by any electric vehicles, not just BMW products such as the i3 city car, i8 super car or X5 plug-in hybrid SUV.

Tesla has taken a different approach with its supercharger network, which can only be used by its own vehicles.

The brand confirmed on Monday that its main charging hubs have now been augmented by 200 "destination charging" points across Australia. The expanding network of charging points in hotels, restaurants, parking centres and other public destinations allows customers to recharge cars as if they were parked at home.

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Drive Comments

5 Comments

NewEra | 2016-12-13 10:48:09

Excellent to see this happening... provided the charging bays don't get ICEd by people who can't read the signs! Tesla has just opened the Coffs Harbour supercharger and apparently the much awaited one at Heatherbrae will open in a few days and Knockrow (Byron Bay) not long after. That will complete the route from Melbourne to Brisbane, enabling any Tesla driver to cover the route in the same time it would take an ICE vehicle to do it, but without spending a cent in fuel.

DJM61 | 2016-12-13 21:24:35

Does one void their warranty by recharging at another car company's charging station? Surely the plug is patented? For this to work the ACCC may need to get involved.

The truth | 2016-12-13 23:25:56

What is desperately needed is a standard plug worldwide and cross compatible charging platforms for all EV's.

NewEra | 2016-12-14 02:45:48

DJM61 - interesting question. Apart from Tesla, most public chargers (e.g. Chargepoint) are not car-branded, so I could not see how use of them they could void your warranty. That's the whole idea of public charging. If the public charger has your type of plug on it, or you can attach your own adaptor, then it should be fine. For home charging, Nissan for example say they only warrant their branded home charger, but I doubt they could void your warranty under Australian consumer law if you used someone else's charger provided it was compliant with the relevant specs (in this case J-1772). Electrons is electrons.