Looking at the data on a rural level, multiple areas in South Australia dominate the rankings. Barossa - Yorke - Mid North takes the top spot as the best rural area to own an EV. With more than 200 chargers per 100,000 people - the highest rate in the entire study - it offers a level of EV infrastructure you might not expect outside a major city. South Australia's South East and Outback also boast over 170 chargers per 100,000, making regional EV driving feel easy, modern and well-supported.
rn
Charging prices in these rural areas are also quite moderate, ranging from $0.52 to $0.43 per kWh. In fact, Barossa - Yorke - Mid North ranks 6th for affordability across the entire study, closely followed by the South East (SA) at 13th. Clearly, there are several rural areas that are making EV travel both affordable and well-supported through the right infrastructure.
rn
Yet despite these supporting factors, the share of EVs on rural roads sits below 0.55% for all areas. But growth is happening. All top-scoring rural areas record over 100% average annual growth, suggesting that EV adoption may still be in its early stages but is growing quickly as infrastructure expands and awareness builds.
rn
Brendan Griffiths, Executive Manager at ROLLiN' comments:
rn
"Electric vehicles have quickly shifted from a niche choice to a practical one, and where you live now plays a big role in how easy that transition is. EV‑friendly areas are those that blend everyday driving needs with accessible charging, manageable costs and growing local adoption. When those factors come together, owning an EV becomes a natural fit rather than a compromise."
rn
"While inner‑city areas still lead when it comes to EV uptake, the data shows regional Australia is moving fast. Some regional centres now offer higher charger density than major cities, which signals real progress in making EV ownership practical beyond metro areas. That balance between infrastructure and adoption is what defines how EV‑friendly an area really is."
rn
"As EV ownership continues to rise, the focus is no longer just on going electric, but on which parts of Australia are best set up to support it."
rn
About the Data
rn
EV Charging Infrastructure and Cost
rn
Public EV charging infrastructure data was compiled from six national sources (Chargefox, Charge@Large, Open Charge Map, Evie Networks, Exploren and PlugShare), capturing almost 6,000 unique charging stations and over 15,000 connectors across Australia. Where the same physical station appeared across multiple sources, it was deduplicated using a 50-metre spatial proximity match, with data filtered to publicly accessible stations only.
rn
Each station was assigned to its SA4 region, and total connectors were normalised against the 2025 Estimated Resident Population (ABS Regional Population) to produce a connectors-per-100,000-residents figure. Connectors were used rather than stations because a site with multiple plugs provides substantially more charging capacity than a single-plug destination charger.
rn
Charging cost is based on station-level pricing data from the two networks in the dataset that publish structured $/kWh pricing, covering over 1,200 stations nationally. The connector-weighted mean price across all priced stations within each SA4 was used as the regional cost indicator, with higher-capacity stations weighted proportionally. Data was collected in April 2026 and represents a point-in-time snapshot. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy through cross-source validation and deduplication, individual station records have not been independently verified.
rn
EV Uptake and Growth
rn
Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) registration data was sourced from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) Road Vehicles Australia dataset, covering January 2021 to January 2025, and filtered to passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles only.
rn
Postcode-to-SA4 allocation used a population-weighted concordance built from ABS boundary shapefiles and the ABS Regional Population GeoTIFF (2025). Where a postcode crossed an SA4 boundary, BEV registrations were split proportionally based on the share of population within each SA4, ensuring vehicle counts reflect where residents actually live.
rn
EV Uptake is measured as BEV share of the total light vehicle fleet in each SA4 as at January 2025. EV Growth is measured as the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of BEV registrations between January 2021 and January 2025, providing a smoothed, annualised growth figure that is comparable across regions regardless of base year size.
rn
Index Methodology
rn
For the purpose of this report, ABS Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) regions are referred to as "Areas", and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs) are referred to as "Cities".
rn
Each of Australia's 88 SA4 regions is scored across four metrics, normalised to a 0-100 scale and weighted to produce a final index score. Infrastructure and Uptake were normalised using a log-transformed min-max method to account for right-skewed distributions. Cost was normalised using an inverted min-max method, as lower prices represent a better outcome for drivers. Growth was normalised using standard min-max normalisation.
rn
Capital city rankings are based on Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs) as defined by the ABS, with SA4-level data aggregated to GCCSA level using population-weighted totals. The Australian Capital Territory, Greater Darwin and Greater Hobart each correspond to a single SA4 region, and their GCCSA figures (outside of index scores) are therefore identical to their SA4 figures.
rn
To highlight standout regional performers, SA4s were grouped using the ABS Remoteness Areas framework, which ranks every part of Australia by road distance to major service centres (the ARIA+ index). The same scoring methodology was applied nationally, with the top Outer Regional and Remote / Very Remote SA4s then pulled out for separate ranking.
rn
Petrol vs EV Cost Comparison
rn
To illustrate the real-world cost difference between petrol and electric vehicles, a standardised cost-per-100km comparison was calculated for each Australian capital city. The reference electric vehicle is the 2024 Tesla Model 3 RWD (H6MRB) with an energy consumption of 13.8 kWh per 100km, while the reference petrol vehicle is the Toyota RAV4 Edge 2.5L 4-cylinder Petrol, 8-speed Auto, 4WD with a combined fuel consumption of 7.0L per 100km, as listed on the Australian Government Green Vehicle Guide.
rn
EV charging costs use the connector-weighted mean price per kWh for each capital city GCCSA as derived from this study. Petrol prices are city-level daily average retail unleaded (ULP) prices as at 29 April 2026, sourced from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) petrol monitoring report. All figures are rounded to the nearest cent.
rn
Changes from the 2024 Index
rn
The Government Incentives variable has been removed from the 2026 index. Since the 2024 campaign, five of eight states have closed their major EV rebate programs, leaving insufficient variation across SA4 regions to meaningfully differentiate scores. Incentive data is retained as contextual background in this report.
rn
The charging infrastructure dataset has been expanded from one to six national sources. The infrastructure metric now measures connectors per 100,000 residents rather than a raw station count, and the cost metric now uses a connector-weighted mean derived from directly collected pricing data rather than an unweighted median from a single commercial source. BEV registration data has been updated to the 2025 release with the growth measure extended from a 2-year percentage point change to a 4-year CAGR.
rn
Due to these cumulative methodology changes, direct rank comparison with the 2024 index is not recommended.
rn"}}">
"Areas" refer to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) regions. Charging cost reflects the connector-weighted mean price per kWh across publicly available charging networks with published pricing data within each area, and may not reflect all publicly accessible charging options or price variations across different charging speeds and networks. All figures are as at the date of data collection (April 2026) and reflect publicly accessible charging stations only.
Looking at the data on a rural level, multiple areas in South Australia dominate the rankings. Barossa - Yorke - Mid North takes the top spot as the best rural area to own an EV. With more than 200 chargers per 100,000 people - the highest rate in the entire study - it offers a level of EV infrastructure you might not expect outside a major city. South Australia's South East and Outback also boast over 170 chargers per 100,000, making regional EV driving feel easy, modern and well-supported.
Charging prices in these rural areas are also quite moderate, ranging from $0.52 to $0.43 per kWh. In fact, Barossa - Yorke - Mid North ranks 6th for affordability across the entire study, closely followed by the South East (SA) at 13th. Clearly, there are several rural areas that are making EV travel both affordable and well-supported through the right infrastructure.
Yet despite these supporting factors, the share of EVs on rural roads sits below 0.55% for all areas. But growth is happening. All top-scoring rural areas record over 100% average annual growth, suggesting that EV adoption may still be in its early stages but is growing quickly as infrastructure expands and awareness builds.
Brendan Griffiths, Executive Manager at ROLLiN' comments:
"Electric vehicles have quickly shifted from a niche choice to a practical one, and where you live now plays a big role in how easy that transition is. EV‑friendly areas are those that blend everyday driving needs with accessible charging, manageable costs and growing local adoption. When those factors come together, owning an EV becomes a natural fit rather than a compromise."
"While inner‑city areas still lead when it comes to EV uptake, the data shows regional Australia is moving fast. Some regional centres now offer higher charger density than major cities, which signals real progress in making EV ownership practical beyond metro areas. That balance between infrastructure and adoption is what defines how EV‑friendly an area really is."
"As EV ownership continues to rise, the focus is no longer just on going electric, but on which parts of Australia are best set up to support it."
About the Data
EV Charging Infrastructure and Cost
Public EV charging infrastructure data was compiled from six national sources (Chargefox, Charge@Large, Open Charge Map, Evie Networks, Exploren and PlugShare), capturing almost 6,000 unique charging stations and over 15,000 connectors across Australia. Where the same physical station appeared across multiple sources, it was deduplicated using a 50-metre spatial proximity match, with data filtered to publicly accessible stations only.
Each station was assigned to its SA4 region, and total connectors were normalised against the 2025 Estimated Resident Population (ABS Regional Population) to produce a connectors-per-100,000-residents figure. Connectors were used rather than stations because a site with multiple plugs provides substantially more charging capacity than a single-plug destination charger.
Charging cost is based on station-level pricing data from the two networks in the dataset that publish structured $/kWh pricing, covering over 1,200 stations nationally. The connector-weighted mean price across all priced stations within each SA4 was used as the regional cost indicator, with higher-capacity stations weighted proportionally. Data was collected in April 2026 and represents a point-in-time snapshot. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy through cross-source validation and deduplication, individual station records have not been independently verified.
EV Uptake and Growth
Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) registration data was sourced from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) Road Vehicles Australia dataset, covering January 2021 to January 2025, and filtered to passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles only.
Postcode-to-SA4 allocation used a population-weighted concordance built from ABS boundary shapefiles and the ABS Regional Population GeoTIFF (2025). Where a postcode crossed an SA4 boundary, BEV registrations were split proportionally based on the share of population within each SA4, ensuring vehicle counts reflect where residents actually live.
EV Uptake is measured as BEV share of the total light vehicle fleet in each SA4 as at January 2025. EV Growth is measured as the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of BEV registrations between January 2021 and January 2025, providing a smoothed, annualised growth figure that is comparable across regions regardless of base year size.
Index Methodology
For the purpose of this report, ABS Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) regions are referred to as "Areas", and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs) are referred to as "Cities".
Each of Australia's 88 SA4 regions is scored across four metrics, normalised to a 0-100 scale and weighted to produce a final index score. Infrastructure and Uptake were normalised using a log-transformed min-max method to account for right-skewed distributions. Cost was normalised using an inverted min-max method, as lower prices represent a better outcome for drivers. Growth was normalised using standard min-max normalisation.
Capital city rankings are based on Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs) as defined by the ABS, with SA4-level data aggregated to GCCSA level using population-weighted totals. The Australian Capital Territory, Greater Darwin and Greater Hobart each correspond to a single SA4 region, and their GCCSA figures (outside of index scores) are therefore identical to their SA4 figures.
To highlight standout regional performers, SA4s were grouped using the ABS Remoteness Areas framework, which ranks every part of Australia by road distance to major service centres (the ARIA+ index). The same scoring methodology was applied nationally, with the top Outer Regional and Remote / Very Remote SA4s then pulled out for separate ranking.
Petrol vs EV Cost Comparison
To illustrate the real-world cost difference between petrol and electric vehicles, a standardised cost-per-100km comparison was calculated for each Australian capital city. The reference electric vehicle is the 2024 Tesla Model 3 RWD (H6MRB) with an energy consumption of 13.8 kWh per 100km, while the reference petrol vehicle is the Toyota RAV4 Edge 2.5L 4-cylinder Petrol, 8-speed Auto, 4WD with a combined fuel consumption of 7.0L per 100km, as listed on the Australian Government Green Vehicle Guide.
EV charging costs use the connector-weighted mean price per kWh for each capital city GCCSA as derived from this study. Petrol prices are city-level daily average retail unleaded (ULP) prices as at 29 April 2026, sourced from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) petrol monitoring report. All figures are rounded to the nearest cent.
Changes from the 2024 Index
The Government Incentives variable has been removed from the 2026 index. Since the 2024 campaign, five of eight states have closed their major EV rebate programs, leaving insufficient variation across SA4 regions to meaningfully differentiate scores. Incentive data is retained as contextual background in this report.
The charging infrastructure dataset has been expanded from one to six national sources. The infrastructure metric now measures connectors per 100,000 residents rather than a raw station count, and the cost metric now uses a connector-weighted mean derived from directly collected pricing data rather than an unweighted median from a single commercial source. BEV registration data has been updated to the 2025 release with the growth measure extended from a 2-year percentage point change to a 4-year CAGR.
Due to these cumulative methodology changes, direct rank comparison with the 2024 index is not recommended.
