As electric vehicle (EV) ownership continues its rapid growth across Victoria and Australia, Euroa is preparing for the next wave of motorists with plans to expand local charging facilities.

A three-week public consultation period opened on Wednesday 22 July, giving residents the opportunity to provide feedback on a proposed licence agreement that would allow Tesla to expand its EV charging station at the Kirkland Avenue East car park.

If approved, the proposal would increase the number of dedicated EV charging spaces from six to 10 and include new CCTV infrastructure within the car park.

There are now over 500,000 EVs on Australian roads, a figure driven by record sales of more than 157,000 vehicles in 2025, accounting for 13.1 per cent of all new vehicle sales that year.

Victoria is home to over 110,000 registered EVs.

Strathbogie Shire Council said Euroa remained a key stop for motorists travelling between Melbourne and Sydney and that the additional chargers would help meet growing demand while supporting local tourism and visitor spending.

Mayor Scott Jeffery said community feedback would play an important role in council's decision-making process.

"Council is committed to ensuring the community has an opportunity to provide feedback on proposals involving council-owned land," Cr Jeffery said.

"We encourage anyone with an interest in the proposal to review the information and make a submission during the consultation period.

"All feedback received will be considered before council makes a final decision."

Tesla has operated its Supercharger facility within the council-owned car park at the corner of Kirkland Avenue East and Bury Street since 2016.

All costs associated with the installation, operation, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning of the infrastructure would be met by Tesla, with no capital contribution required from council.

Local EV owners say the proposed expansion reflects growing demand and could help attract more visitors into Euroa.

Euroa resident Jayme Sexton, who has owned a Kia EV5 for the past year, described the additional charging bays as "definitely a good thing".

"The one downside when we bought the Kia was not having enough chargers around," Mr Sexton said.

"There are no fast chargers between here and Albury and there are people who could potentially stop in Euroa but go to Avenel instead."

Mr Sexton said charging infrastructure remained one of the biggest considerations for people making the switch to electric vehicles.

Tesla owner Trent Howard said many motorists were surprised to learn how quickly demand could overwhelm existing charging facilities.

"We're quite lucky they're proposing to upgrade it," Mr Howard said.

"Normally they would just build a new station somewhere else."

Mr Howard said the current station was often busy during holiday periods and long weekends.

"If you've got two vehicles charging at the same time, the available charging power gets shared between them," he said.

"So instead of people being there for 10 or 15 minutes, they can end up hanging around for 30 minutes or more."

He said increasing capacity would not only help local EV owners but would improve the experience for travellers moving between Melbourne and Sydney.

"I still see non-Tesla drivers pull in there, realise they can't use it and then head straight back out to the highway," he said.

"Anything that keeps people in town longer and gets more people stopping in Euroa is a good thing."

The consultation period for the expansion closes on Tuesday 11 August.

Community members can view the proposal and lodge a submission via share.strathbogie.vic.gov.au/tesla-supercharger-expansion-euroa

For more information visit www.strathbogie.vic.gov.au or call 1800 065 993.