Regional EV Charging Blackspots: The 336 Towns on the Federal List

NSW (27 of 92) · VIC (12 of 68) · QLD (30 of 72) · WA (15 of 41) · SA (9 of 33) · TAS (5 of 18) · NT (9 of 12)

New South Wales: 27 of 92 towns with no fast charger listed

All NSW chargers →

Victoria: 12 of 68 towns with no fast charger listed

All VIC chargers →

Queensland: 30 of 72 towns with no fast charger listed

All QLD chargers →

Western Australia: 15 of 41 towns with no fast charger listed

All WA chargers →

South Australia: 9 of 33 towns with no fast charger listed

All SA chargers →

Tasmania: 5 of 18 towns with no fast charger listed

All TAS chargers →

The Northern Territory: 9 of 12 towns with no fast charger listed

All NT chargers →

What the federal list is

In September 2025 the federal government committed $40 million to an Accelerating EV Charging Program that pays electricity distributors to put chargers on their own poles and substations: slow AC kerbside chargers in the cities, and DC fast chargers in what the program calls regional blackspots. To decide where the regional money should go, the department modelled charging demand for 2034 and published the result as a layer in its program mapping tool: 336 regional towns, each with the number of fast-charging plugs the modelling says the town will need by 2034. That layer is the list on this page.

The program does not promise a charger in every town on it. Distributors apply for grants (due December 2026), pick sites from early 2027, and the whole thing is contingent on a change to the National Electricity Rules that the Australian Energy Market Commission was still deciding in September 2026. What the list does tell you is which towns the government thinks are under-served, and the tables above show which of them still have nothing. Fast charging within about 10 km of the town centre is the test: close enough to be that town’s charger.

How we matched the list against real chargers

A town counts as having a fast charger listed when a public charger rated 50 kW or more sits within its zone in either of two sources: our own editorial dataset, built monthly from Open Charge Map, or the existing-DC-charger layer the government publishes in the same mapping tool (dated August 2026). We use both because neither is complete on its own. Open Charge Map, the open dataset behind most of this site, carries only about half of Australia’s fast chargers; on its own it would have called Nowra, Port Macquarie and Alice Springs empty. The government layer is fuller but is a snapshot.

That is also why the wording throughout is “no fast charger listed”, not “no fast charger”. Both sources lag real openings, so a town in the gap tables may have a charger the data has not caught up with. If you know of one, email us with the location and we will check it against the operator’s own map and correct the table. Our side of the match reruns with every monthly data refresh; the government’s list and its charger layer update when the department republishes them.

Slow AC chargers do not count. A 7 or 22 kW destination charger at a motel or a council car park is useful if you are staying the night, but it is not what a traveller passing through, or a household with no driveway, needs. The “AC only” note in the tables flags towns that have one.

What to do if you are stuck in one of these towns

If you are low on charge in a town with no fast charger, the question is whether you can reach the next one. Our range guide gives a realistic figure for your car rather than the brochure one, and the map shows the three nearest DC sites to wherever you are, with distances. If the answer is no, an overnight AC charge at a motel or caravan park is the fallback, and if you are already stranded, our out-of-charge guide covers who to call and what to say. The roadside clubs will tow you to a charger; a few will bring one to you, and our comparison shows which.

Related

• Australian EV charging statistics: how many chargers there are, by state and network, month by month.
• EV charging without a driveway: the kerbside half of the same federal program.
• Free EV charging stations: the genuinely free sites, by state.
• State directories: NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania, NT.

Zone list and modelled plug counts: DCCEEW Accelerating EV Charging Program Mapping Tool (Evenergi for DCCEEW), layer regional_optimal_zones_yr2034, retrieved 18 September 2026. Existing charger counts: the same tool's existing-DC-charger layer (August 2026) and Open Charge Map contributors (CC-BY-4.0). Per-town counts only are derived from the government charger layer; its underlying point data is not reproduced here. Listings show sites known to exist, not live availability.