This time it’s Adelaide. The Adelaide City Council is proud to announce a new city parking station which has spaces where electric cars can recharge. Not only that, the parking station was chosen because it already has solar roof panels, to make use of the endless South Australia sunshine.

Adelaide Lord Mayor Michael Harbison said that the main obstacle for people interested in electric vehicles is the lack of charging points outside the home.

The idea was proposed by an electric car enthusiast, Bruce White, who thinks it will be of great benefit.
“For me, I live down at the beach, I normally can come in and out of the city once. If I want to do a bit more running around this gives me more flexibility so it’s a great tool,” he said.

Adelaide is not the only Australian city looking at electric vehicle infrastructure.The City of Canberra recently signed an agreement with third-party supplier Better Place Australia to build recharging stations in the nation’s capital. The State of Victoria has announced a partnership with Renault-Nissan for a similar project.

Councillor Stephen Yarwood says more electric cars would change the face of Adelaide. “You have cleaner air, you have less oil dropping onto the roads, you have quieter streets, you might even hear the birds sing,” he said.

Due to the low running costs and high efficiency of electric cars, the recharging points can be used for just the normal cost of city parking.