Future and the past sit side by side as town gets fast charger

Katanning was the first WA town to have electric street lights, and now the Shire has taken its modernisation one step further by installing a 50kW electric vehicle fast charger.

The recently installed Veefil Electric Vehicle Fast Charger allows motorists to fully charge their electric vehicle in one hour.

The fast charger is the second of its kind in the region with the other in Arthur River 80km away.

It is outside the Katanning Visitor Centre on Austral Street.

Shire chief executive Julian Murphy said the vehicle charger represented a new opportunity for the town.

“Electric vehicles are still in minority but as the market increases we hope this service will encourage people to travel into the Great Southern region,” he said.

“People who are travelling can continue on their journey without stopping overnight and even if they decide to, they can do so knowing their vehicle will charge quickly with this improved service.”

Mr Murphy said though the installation was not fully complete, the charger was working.

“It’s functional at the moment but we still need to upgrade some electrical parts to accommodate the faster charging as well as fix the car parking bays,” he said.

The charger has been capped at 20kW while the Shire sorts out the power supply problems.

Mr Murphy said there were a range of chargers in regional WA, but not many of the quality and speed of the Veefil unit.

Drivers of electric Tesla vehicles expressed their gratitude on an online forum last week.

Tesla Model X driver Harald Murphy commended the Shire on its “progressive approach to providing vital regional fast DC charging”.