In the first six months of 2026, Australians bought 157,957 electric vehicles, up 117% on the same period last year.
Another way to look at it is this: a year ago, EVs accounted for 12.1% of new car sales. Today, that figure is 25.8%.
In just 12 months, the share has more than doubled.
If you own or manage a car park, that changes the conversation.
Not long ago, the question was whether any of your customers, staff, tenants or residents actually drove an EV. Now, the more relevant question is whether they can charge it when they arrive.
A few figures put the pace of change into perspective:
So, what's driving the surge?
Mostly, it's the things you'd expect. Household budgets are under pressure, fuel remains expensive, and there are finally more EVs available at prices everyday buyers can seriously consider. According to the Electric Vehicle Council, Australian drivers have never had more models to choose from.
The bigger issue is that charging infrastructure hasn't kept pace.
The EV Council's 2026 report makes the case for continued investment in public charging, but it also highlights an important point: simply building more fast chargers won't solve the problem.
Charging needs to be available where people already park.
Around 80% of EV charging in Australia happens at home or at work.
For businesses and property owners, that has two important implications.
First, the workplace is increasingly becoming the backup home charger.
Plenty of people can't conveniently charge where they live, particularly renters and apartment residents. Others have a charger at home but are parked at work during the middle of the day, when electricity can be cheaper and solar generation is strongest. Either way, workplace charging is becoming increasingly useful.
Second, people without a driveway need somewhere else to charge.
For apartment residents and renters, that often means charging somewhere they're already planning to spend time: the supermarket, gym, restaurant, shopping centre or another regular destination.
This group is particularly interesting for businesses.
When Evie Networks surveyed nearly 9,000 EV drivers, 83% said they visited food or retail outlets while charging. It's not hard to see the commercial opportunity. Coles is rolling out fast chargers at up to 30 supermarkets, while fuel retailer Ampol has agreed to pay $225 million for the Evie network.
Charging isn't just an amenity anymore. In the right location, it can become part of the reason someone chooses to stop there.
There isn't one 'best' EV charger.
The right solution depends largely on a simple question: how long do vehicles normally stay parked at your site?
| Site type | Typical stay | Best fit | What it can deliver |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office or workplace | 6-9 hours | AC chargers (7-22kW) with load management | Staff benefit, fleet charging and potential FBT advantages |
| Apartment or strata | Overnight | AC chargers on a shared backbone, with individual billing | A more attractive property and convenient charging for residents |
| Retail, hospitality or winery | 30 minutes-3 hours | Fast AC, or DC for shorter visits | Longer visits and an additional reason for customers to choose your venue |
| Shopping centre or supermarket | 30-90 minutes | DC fast charging | More foot traffic, increased dwell time and potential charging revenue |
| Dealership or workshop | Hours-days | AC chargers plus DC for faster turnarounds | Vehicles charged for handover and potential rebates of up to $50,000 per site |
| Industrial park or depot | Overnight or by shift | AC or DC sized around fleet schedules | Lower fleet operating costs and more efficient charging |
The key is matching charging speed to dwell time. Faster is not automatically better.
Get these decisions right at the beginning and the rest of the project becomes considerably easier.
Customers, employees, fleet vehicles, residents and the general public all have different needs. Many sites will cater to more than one of these groups.
Decide early who gets access, when they can use the chargers and whether they'll pay for charging.
This is where many projects run into trouble.
A major electrical supply upgrade can be expensive and may take considerable time. But an upgrade isn't always the only answer.
Smart load management allows chargers to share the power that's already available at the site. In practice, this can mean installing more chargers than the site's apparent spare capacity would otherwise allow, potentially delaying or avoiding a costly supply upgrade.
There's no single business model.
You might offer free charging as a customer or employee benefit. You might provide paid public charging through an app. In an apartment building, each resident could simply pay for the electricity they use.
You might also be looking at the broader return: longer customer visits, improved tenant amenity or lower fleet running costs.
The important thing is deciding how the chargers will be used before choosing the hardware. Your operating model should drive the technology, not the other way around.
This gets overlooked surprisingly often.
Charging networks report uptime of 95% to 98%, yet research shows drivers successfully complete a charge only 75% to 83% of the time.
That's a meaningful gap, and when something doesn't work, it's your customer standing in the car park trying to figure out why.
Frankly, a charger that's regularly out of service can be worse for the customer experience than having no charger at all.
Before committing to a provider, understand who monitors the chargers, what their support response times are and whether spare parts are readily available.
Cable theft is becoming a genuine issue.
In September, cables were cut at around 28 charging bays in Ballarat. Good lighting, CCTV, physical cable protection and choosing the right charger for the location can all make a site less attractive to thieves.
Start with how people use the site. Then choose the charger.
One in four new vehicles sold in Australia is now electric, and the direction of travel is clear.
As EV adoption continues, drivers are increasingly likely to view charging as part of a well-equipped car park, much like good lighting, accessible parking or other basic amenities.
For businesses and property owners considering EV charging, there is a significant advantage to moving before the decision becomes urgent.
Right now, you have choices. You can decide which sites make sense, choose the right technology and partner, establish a business model and build capacity according to your own timetable.
Leave it too long, and the decision may end up being driven by customers, staff, tenants or residents asking why charging still isn't available.
About one in four. EVs, including plug-in hybrids, accounted for 25.8% of new car sales in the first half of 2026.
It mainly depends on how long vehicles remain parked. AC charging generally makes sense when cars stay for several hours or overnight. DC fast charging is better suited to locations where drivers typically stay for less than an hour.
Often, yes. Smart load management can distribute your site's available electrical capacity across multiple chargers, potentially reducing or avoiding the need for a supply upgrade.
Yes. The return doesn't necessarily come from charging fees alone. Depending on the site, value can come from paid charging, longer customer dwell times, attracting new customers or reducing fleet operating costs.
The right model depends on who uses your site and how long they stay.
Yes, in certain circumstances. Dealerships and repairers may be eligible for support through the federal DRIVEN program, while some states, including NSW, have offered co-funding programs for EV charging infrastructure.
Contact GetElectric to discuss your EV charging requirements.
Stock photo: Kindel Media / Pexels.
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