By Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson

As many as 120 electric vehicle chargers could be installed on power poles in NSW every week, a study has found, if national rules were changed to allow them. 

Energy Networks Australia also found the chargers could be funded for less than the price of a cup of coffee added to Australian electricity bills each year, or the cost billed back to users.

The industry body released its findings in a report on Friday that investigated whether Australia’s electric vehicle charging network could be boosted by kerbside hardware rolled out by energy distributors.

But the program, similar to a proposal by Ausgrid, will require legal changes to the Australian Energy Regulator and faced opposition from local councils during a NSW government inquiry.

The Street Smart report, prepared after Energy Networks Australia released a study into lowering energy bills, found the nation had fallen further behind other countries in electric vehicle charger availability.

The number of chargers for each electric vehicle in Australia had fallen from one for every 32 cars to one for every 68, Energy Networks Australia chief executive Dominique van den Berg said, and the issue was affecting vehicle sales and repeat purchase intentions.

“In Australia, because we’re so far behind on EVs, there’s a massive chicken-and-egg scenario,” she told AAP.

“You haven’t got enough EVs to really warrant commercial-scale chargers being rolled out and you haven’t got enough chargers to really encourage the uptake of EVs.”

Kerbside chargers mounted on power poles could provide a significant boost to EV-charging infrastructure, the report found, due to a faster deployment and lower costs.

Electricity distributors would take as little as two hours to install an EV charger on a power pole, it found, allowing each company to install 40 chargers a week.

In NSW alone that could equate to 120 additional EV chargers installed in a week, Ms van den Berg said, and distributors in Victoria and Queensland were also keen to adopt the approach.

“The thing with distributors is they’ve got the workforce, they’ve got the skills, they can immediately get going,” she said.

“Our analysis is also showing they can do it cheaper than the alternatives, largely because they can do it at scale and use the existing workforce.”

The rollout, if allowed through regulation changes, could be paid for by electricity consumers as a yearly charge of up to $3.80, the report found, but Ms van den Berg said it could also be funded by government grants or by users themselves.

Drivers would also be able to choose their preferred energy provider when connecting to the chargers, the study found, adding to competition.

Ausgrid proposed a similar scheme in December to boost EV chargers in residential areas and near high-density housing.

The number of electric car charging locations in Australia grew to 1059 last year, according to the Electric Vehicle Council, hosting 1849 high-power chargers.

But the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries recently called on the federal government to expand public charging facilities, with chief executive Tony Weber saying it should reinvest revenue raised through the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard.

However, organisations including the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils have questioned proposals to install EV chargers on power poles or put electricity firms in charge, saying questions remained about their regulation, cost and choice of locations.