Officials and Industry Figures Back Gold Coast EV Push as Charging Network Expands

Gold Coast City Council confirmed this week it is accelerating plans to expand the city's public electric vehicle charging network, with new stations earmarked for Broadbeach, Robina Town Centre and the Coomera transport precinct ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games. The announcement puts the council on a collision course with critics who say the rollout is moving too slowly to meet rising local demand.

The timing matters. Queensland's transport department reported in June that EV registrations across the state had climbed to roughly 48,000 vehicles — up from just over 12,000 in 2023. On the Gold Coast, the shift is visible in the carparks off Cavill Avenue and around Pacific Fair shopping centre, where charging bays installed under the state's Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program regularly sit occupied during peak hours. Residents and businesses are watching to see whether the council's capital commitment matches the pace of uptake.

What the Council and Industry Are Saying

Council's transport infrastructure spokesperson told a public briefing on Wednesday that the city had budgeted $4.2 million in the 2026-27 capital works program specifically for EV charging, with priority given to high-traffic locations along the Gold Coast Highway corridor and at park-and-ride facilities tied to the G:link light rail. The Helensvale station precinct, which serves as the northern interchange for the light rail and connects to heavy rail toward Brisbane, is listed as one of the first sites to receive a new dual-port DC fast charger rated at 150 kilowatts.

Energy Queensland's Yurika division, which manages distributed energy assets across the state, flagged in a briefing document circulated to Gold Coast councillors that demand forecasting for the region now assumes EV uptake will reach 30 per cent of new vehicle sales by 2028. That figure, sourced from the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan, is driving decisions about grid reinforcement in the northern Gold Coast suburbs, particularly around Coomera and Pimpama, where new residential estates have been built with minimal existing electrical infrastructure. Yurika is understood to be in talks with at least three private charging operators about co-investment arrangements for those estates.

The RACQ, which represents more than 1.8 million Queensland members, has been blunt about the gaps. The motoring organisation's infrastructure team has consistently pointed out that the Gold Coast strip — the 57-kilometre stretch from Coolangatta to Ormeau — has fewer than 40 publicly accessible fast chargers, a number it considers inadequate given current visitation figures. The organisation wants state and local governments to mandate charging infrastructure in new commercial developments over 2,000 square metres, a requirement that does not currently exist under Queensland's Planning Act 2016.

Olympics Deadline Adds Pressure

The 2032 Games are reshaping the conversation. With Olympic football and athletics events confirmed for Robina Stadium and the new Coomera Indoor Sports Centre, city planners are acutely aware that international visitors arriving by hire car or rideshare will expect reliable charging. Tourism and Events Queensland has flagged EV readiness as a criterion in its accommodation accreditation reviews, which are being updated ahead of the Games.

Griffith University's Cities Research Institute, based at the Southport campus on Parklands Drive, released a working paper in May arguing that Gold Coast's dispersed, car-dependent urban form actually made a strong case for rapid EV infrastructure investment rather than a reason to delay it. The paper estimated that a resident in the Hope Island or Varsity Lakes suburbs driving a mid-range EV would save between $1,800 and $2,400 annually on fuel costs at current electricity tariffs — a figure likely to resonate with homeowners already absorbing higher mortgage repayments.

For residents wanting to navigate what's available now, the federal government's PlugShare-linked mapping tool and the RACQ's EV route planner both cover the Gold Coast network. Council's infrastructure team says the next tranche of charger installations — twelve sites in total — should be operational by March 2027, ahead of the Commonwealth Games handover period. Anyone building a new home in Pimpama or Coomera is being advised by council's planning officers to rough-in cabling for a home charger during construction, a retrofit that otherwise costs between $800 and $1,500 depending on switchboard configuration.