Wyndham's first EV Policy endorsed!

Thanks to everyone who participated. View the final Policy and Engagement Report below.

Getting ready for more Electric Vehicles

Wyndham City is taking the exciting step of creating a policy for the greener transport option of Electric Vehicles (EV) and is asking for community feedback.

The draft Electric Vehicle Policy prepares Wyndham for a wave of change that is already being seen in other parts of the world. Wyndham, which is also a Smart City, aims to provide technology of the future, that emits no pollution, is more economical and leaves a smaller environmental footprint.

When it comes to supporting the uptake of EVs, Council has six guiding principles. Together these principles act as a guiding framework for Council's policy positions and the actions, frameworks and guidelines that we need to implement the Electric Vehicle Policy.

The policy proposes six guiding principles to address these responsibilities:

  • Decarbonisation

    Actions must support Wyndham's target of net-zero community emissions by 2040 and Councils net-zero corporate emissions target by 2023.

  • Integrated Planning

    Actions should promote integrated and strategic planning approaches, supporting the EV transition whilst promoting the use of active and public transport travel modes.

  • Equitable Access

    Wyndham's EV charging network should provide equitable and convenient access to EV chargers that addresses the current and future needs of the Wyndham community and its visitors.

  • Economic Development

    Wyndham's EV charging network should support economic development, and the activation of Wyndham neighbourhoods and tourist destinations.

  • Fit for purpose

    Actions needs to ensure the right EV chargers are installed in the right locations, by the right organisation and at the right time. Actions must be responsive to changes in market and technology.

  • Smart City

    Actions should be informed by smart city concepts, leveraging intelligent and innovative planning solutions that integrates digital and physical assets to improve operations and outcomes.

Key Strategies

The draft Electric Vehicle Policy is intended to support several outcomes associated with three main adopted Strategies:

  1. Smart City Strategy 2019-2024
  2. Resilient Wyndham 2021-2025
  3. Wyndham Integrated Transport Strategy (Refresh) 2023

How to get involved

We want your thoughts and ideas on our draft Electric Vehicle Policy. Your feedback will be used to help finalise the Policy before it is reported back to Council in early 2024.

  • Read the policy
  • SURVEY - Provide your feedback in the survey below
  • MAP - Tell us where you'd like to see additional charging infrastructure installed by dropping a pin on the map below; or
  • Complete the Quick Poll (right)
Feedback closes at 11:59PM Sunday 3 March 2024.

  • Survey

    Tell us what you think about our Draft Electric Vehicle Policy.

    Get started. 

  • Map your feedback!

    Share your feedback on where you would like to see charging infrastructure installed in Wyndham.

    Get started. 

FAQs

There are two types of electric vehicles available on the Australian market that this policy addresses.

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV):

A vehicle with two drive trains – a battery and an internal combustion engine. A PHEV can run on battery-power for a certain kilometre range and then switches over to the combustion engine.

Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV):

vehicle 100% powered by an on-board rechargeable battery. These vehicles use electric motors and motor controllers instead of internal combustion engines. Electric bicycles are considered this variety of electrical vehicle.

These EVs can be charged using a standard power point connection or via specialised charging infrastructure, as shown below.

Different ways of charging an EV (Source: Electric Vehicle Council, 2022)

There are several benefits of electric vehicles:

  • Economic – Electric vehicle owners may realise operational cost savings from greater engine efficiency and a reduction in fuel and maintenance costs
  • Environment – Electric vehicles have zero greenhouse gas emissions when they are powered by 100% renewable energy
  • Public Health – Electric vehicles improves air quality and amenity through reduced air and noise pollution (electric vehicles have no tailpipe emissions and emits minimal noise)

Wyndham City has a commitment to reducing our community’s carbon footprint through a variety of actions as outlined in Resilient Wyndham Strategy. This includes encouraging greener transport options.

As they release lower amounts of noise and air pollution than petrol or diesel cars, EVs also align with the Wyndham Integrated Transport Strategy guiding principle 6:

"The transport system should seek to continually improve safety performance; minimise risk of harm; and promote forms of transport which have the greatest benefit for, and least negative impact on, health and wellbeing."

These charging stations are part of Wyndham City Council’s plan to promote the uptake of electric vehicles and support the transition to a zero-emission transport sector. It also addresses the significant shortfall of public charging stations in Melbourne’s west and allows Wyndham’s current and future electric vehicle owners to travel in their community without experiencing range anxiety.

Wyndham Residents! The most recent motor vehicle census showed that Wyndham has increased its EV car ownership by 6 times in the time between January 2021 and January 2023. We are in the top 5 local government areas across the State for registered EV cars.

Electric vehicles are popular with individuals who like to reduce their running costs for travel, and who have the opportunity to charge their cars in their own driveways/garages.

At home charging can often be a cheaper alternative than using faster DC chargers.

This can involve using a level 1 portable charger (commonly known as a trickle charger) which use a standard Australian power outlet or level 2 using a dedicated at home charging station.

Level 1 chargers are slowest means of charging but offer portability and can be anywhere with a power outlet.

Level 2 chargers provide greater charging speed and require an electrician to install at your home but can reduce charge times significantly.

For further information about charging at home -

https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/about-ev/charging/

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/electric-vehicles/charging-an-electric-vehicle

Like any car, EV’s can catch fire. However, statistics show that petrol internal combustion engine cars catch fire more frequently than EVs. EVs do however take more of an effort to bring the fires under control if they do catch alight and require a different method to bring the fire under the control.

For further safety information about using electric vehicles visit this page - https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/docs/are-ele...

As the market hasn’t matured to a point yet where many batteries have reached their end of life a full battery recycling scheme has not been established for EV batteries. However, Australia’s national battery recycling scheme - b-cycle have identified them as a priority focus for their collection network moving forward.