A Canberra disabled driver using innovative hand controls to drive his electric vehicle has warned that the fast-rising adoption of EVs in the ACT has the potential to leave a vulnerable section of the community behind because of poor planning and policies.
Giving evidence before the ACT Assembly's inquiry into EV adoption on Wednesday, John Smith, a member of the Tesla Owners Club of Australia and the Australian Electric Vehicle Association, said that planning needs to "start now" on accessibility planning for recharging sites.
A long-term ACT resident who bought his Tesla Model 3 in May 2021 and undertook a lengthy investigation to adapt it for hand control operation only, Mr Smith said that while it was still early in the roll-out of recharging infrastructure - the ACT government has promised 180 rechargers across the territory by 2025 - without better planning "we will end up with a totally inaccessible system in the future".
He urged the government to begin consultation with disability groups now before more rechargers go in because "it's crazy to build a network and then have to retrofit it".
The ACT government submission to the Assembly EV adoption inquiry makes no mention of accessibility access.
"While cars have until now provided tremendous accessibility and independence for for people with a disability, that may well take a huge step backwards if we do not design [wheelchair] accessibility into the charging system," he said.
"As more and more disabled drivers switch from ICE (internal combustion engine) cars to EVs, the problem is going to worsen.
"When accessible charging points are designed they need to be wide enough to allow for wheelchair access for the driver and a smooth route of access from the car to the charger."
He said that some rechargers have their screens so high off the ground that they cannot be read by anyone in a wheelchair and that he has to plan well ahead, or have someone to assist him, when he recharges his car.
"Where you actually put your car alongside the charger has to be wide enough so you can get a wheelchair alongside to get in and out," he said.
"At the moment they [recharging bays] are standard car parking bays.
"For instance at a Tesla supercharger bay in Sydney if I was to go there and presumably if I could reach the cable, which I can't, but if I could, if another car comes alongside me I'm stuck because the car parks are not wide enough to for me to gain circulation access alongside the car.
"That's why disabled car parks give you that circulation space for a wheelchair.
"And generally that doesn't exist with EV infrastructure at the moment."
He said that some of the latest EV rechargers are on raised concrete plinths surrounded by bollards "and that's just an impossible situation for anyone in a wheelchair".
He said that without proper policy guidance and planning, the problems would only compound.
"For instance, those recharging cables are only going to get heavier and there's an issue about the weight of those and how they are supported," he said.
Mr Smith, who is a paraplegic, is regarded as one of Australia's EV innovators after he adapted his Tesla for hand controls. His specially adapted car was voted "Car of the Show" last year by the public at the annual Wheels exhibition, one of the biggest car shows in the ACT region.
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