Kingaroy Is Charging Ahead

February 1, 2022

The mystery object in Kingaroy’s Alford Street car park was officially unveiled on Tuesday morning … a 50kW fast charging unit for electric vehicles.

Assistant Minister Lance McCallum – who has the portfolio responsibilities for Hydrogen Development and the 50 per cent Renewable Energy Target by 2030 – officially declared the two-vehicle charging station open.

He was joined by South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto and Stanwell General Manager (Southern Generation) Michael Joy at the launch.

Stanwell provided the funds to purchase the EV charging unit.

A red Tesla Model 3, driven by Assistant Minister McCallum from Ipswich to Kingaroy, became the first vehicle to “fill up” at the charging station.

Mayor Otto said Council had joined with Stanwell to deliver the first public fast electric vehicle charging station in the South Burnett.

This would provide “tourism circuits” for owners of electric vehicles, working in with other charging stations at Gympie, Maryborough and Toowoomba.

“This will be a popular stopping point for tourists coming across from the coast to the inland of southern Queensland or going from inland across to the coast,” he said.

Assistant Minister McCallum said Kingaroy was “all charged up and ready to go”.

He agreed the new unit would attract people into Kingaroy.

“It joins many other chargers in Queensland, including the Queensland Government’s Electric Superhighway,”  Assistant Minister McCallum said.

He said the Kingaroy charging unit was “a real Queensland success story”, with the power being delivered by Stanwell, a publicly owned Queensland corporation; and Tritium (the manufacturers) being a Queensland company.

Mr Joy said Stanwell was really pleased to be able to partner with Council on the project.

“Stanwell is a proud member of the local community and appreciates the opportunity to work with the South Burnett Regional Council to offer this new facility,” he said.

Mr Joy said more and more EV vehicles were on the road.

“Everyone wants to do their bit to reduce emissions and play their part,” he said.

He said Stanwell was working to make sure its emissions were reduced as much as possible while providing energy security. The corporation was also actively working with the State Government on renewable energy generation projects

The Tritium RT50kW EV fast-charging station will provide up to 300km range to an electric vehicle in an hour.

Infrastructure upgrades to support the provision of EV charge station were delivered as part of the SBRC’s 2020-21 capital works program, with the cost of the EV charging station unit funded by Stanwell.

Kingaroy’s new EV charging station is now available for public use.

• Related article: South Burnett Powers Up

  Council, Stanwell, Tourism