ELECTRIC vehicle owners in Hawks Nest have a new charging location on Booner Street, just down the road from the beach.

Installed in the last fortnight, the EVX pole-mounted charge station came about after a previously-reported partnership between Essential Energy and MidCoast Council, ostensibly to improve charging access for EV owners.

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“The Hawks Nest Tea Gardens Progress Association (HNTGPA) is pleased to see the pilot program proceeding, making the area more attractive for visitors with EVs,” said one of the group’s representatives.

Use of the charger involves downloading an app via a QR code, located above either of the two seven-hole charge ports on either side of the box.

EV owners wishing to use the station will have to supply their own connection cable.

Users will be charged a market rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh), the precise rate made clear via the app.

Official spruiking of the box describes it as “a solution for residential areas with limited access to off-street parking”.

The power-converting end of the setup is located underground, meaning the pole-mounted recharge box is slim, hardly noticeable from the roadside.

The clearest indication that anything has been installed is the presence of two shiny, new parking signs and some new road-surface markings, which indicate that two parking spaces have been redesignated ‘2P Electric Vehicles Only While Charging’.

According to Drive.com.au, as of 2022, the NSW government has become one of the first jurisdictions to impose fines on drivers of petrol and diesel cars who occupy such spaces, so locals and visitors alike should be aware of the new laws.

By Thomas O’KEEFE