Is range anxiety still a major barrier to EV uptake for drivers in regional Australia? Not according to Victorian Labor MP Tom McIntosh, who traverses his expansive regional electorate of Eastern Victoria in an electric vehicle and has “never been caught out.”
“Yeah, look, it hasn’t been a problem for me,” McIntosh told The Driven from the sidelines of an offshore wind sector event in Sale on Wednesday.
“I’ve done 75,000 km – the electorate is bigger than Belgium, it’s six hours from one end to the other. I’ve had [my EV, a Volvo C40] up in New South Wales a couple of times, around Tassie another time, on a holiday.
“So my experience thus far: 75,000 km and I’ve never been caught out.
“I find it really a great way to travel … particularly in recent months, it’s been a very cost effective way to travel.”
McIntosh, who in his role on the Legislative Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee recently was part of the state parliament Inquiry into Electricity Supply for Electric Vehicles, says he believes that range anxiety, as a rural concern, is diminishing as both infrastructure and technology improve.
“I just think the future is massive. We’re hearing about, you know, technological breakthroughs coming to market all the time… And I think we’re actually going to see a big uptake.
“We hear about how the suburbs, the outer suburbs, use a lot of EVs because it makes economic sense. It’s the same for rural communities.
“And I think even if only one of [a family’s] two cars in the next five years is an EV, I think that’s the way they’re going to go, because when they’re taking the kids to school, when they’re going into the shops, they want to get their costs down.
“And a lot of these houses … already have solar on their roofs. They’re getting batteries in at home, and they’re getting the EVs. It just makes complete financial sense.”
As seamless as his own electric vehicle driving experience has been, however, McIntosh says he still believes “passionately and strongly” that Australia needs to keep improving and expanding its EV charging infrastructure.
He says the recent parliamentary inquiry witnessed “so much positivity and determination” from charge point operators ready to install their technology, as well as from distributors keen to support them, and to identify where the capacity is on the grid.
“My read is the government doesn’t need to do too much more. Even in the regional areas there is enough demand, now, that the return on investment is there.
“So, the companies want to invest, it’s about working with distributors to … [identify] sites that work with energy capacity, but also sites that are going to get good use by customers and return on that investment, and we just keep getting more and more infrastructure in.”
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See The Driven’s detailed EV sales data here: Australian electric vehicle sales by month in 2026; by model and by brand.
