Melbourne Airport opens Australia's biggest EV hub, for now

Australia's biggest EV charging hub opened last week at Melbourne Airport with 24 bays. The Driven calls it the biggest "for now", and the reason is a Tesla planning application for 37.

The Driven reports that the hub sits on Airport Drive, near the airport's long-term Value car park. Its 24 bays use a mix of 150 kW and 300 kW chargers, include two accessible bays and drive-through bays for larger vehicles, and have a canopy over about 12 bays. It also has a dedicated Uber bay, a bathroom, free Wi-Fi and picnic seating. Construction began in March, a soft launch followed in September, and the official opening came the week before The Driven's 19 October report.

When bp pulse broke ground, Electrek noted the airport sees around 34,000 vehicles a day and that the hub would run on 100% renewable electricity from the airport's two onsite solar farms. Jai McDermott, Melbourne Airport's chief of ground transport, property and retail, said at the time: "we're proud that bp pulse has chosen to power the hub with 100% renewable electricity". Uber drivers who have switched to EVs can use bp pulse's existing Uber charging discount.

None of the reports gives a price per kilowatt-hour, how many of the 24 bays are 300 kW versus 150 kW, or which plug types the bays carry. The renewable-power line comes from the March announcement, and the October report does not repeat it, so whether the solar supply is live at opening is unconfirmed. A driver deciding whether to detour to the airport cannot yet work out what a session costs, or whether a car that can take 300 kW will find a 300 kW bay free.

The Driven says Tesla has lodged plans with council for a 37-bay Supercharger site on a vacant lot in Thurgoona, Albury, about 2.5 km from the Hume Highway (a distance the article attributes to the ABC), at an estimated $3.5 million, or about $95,000 a bay on that figure. The article describes it as designed for long-distance travellers. Charger power is not reported, and the plan awaits council approval.

It would top Tesla's earlier record claims. In March, The Driven reported site plans spotted for a highway service centre near Mackay, Queensland, with more than 25 stalls, described only as likely V4 hardware. The current operating record is a 20-stall Goulburn, NSW, site that Tesla's Australia and New Zealand director Thom Drew called "the largest site in the southern hemisphere". Albury already has a 16-stall V4 site from December 2023, and The Driven says Goulburn and that Albury site were co-funded by the NSW Fast Charging Grants Scheme.

The two projects do different jobs. An airport hub serves drivers with predictable dwell times, ride-hail fleets and a large local catchment. A highway site is a short stop on a long trip. What decides whether either works is availability at peak: how often a driver finds a working bay without queueing, and what the session costs. Neither operator has published those figures for these sites. This article synthesises published reports; this desk has not visited or tested either site.