WA EV Road Trips: Driving Australia's Longest Charging Network

Every other state's charging story is about density. Western Australia's is about nerve. The state government spent $43.5 million building the WA EV Network — completed in early 2025 — and the numbers read like a dare: 110 charging points across 49 locations spanning roughly 7,000 km, from Mundrabilla on the Nullarbor (1,317 km east of Perth) up to Kununurra in the far Kimberley (3,135 km north-east), with stations placed roughly 200 km apart and the remotest sites running on standalone solar and batteries because there was no grid to plug them into. Time magazine put the network on its list of the world's greatest places. More usefully for you: it means Perth to Esperance, Albany to Kalbarri, and even the Kimberley and the Nullarbor crossing are now genuinely drivable in an EV. This is the biggest road-trip canvas in the country — it just asks for slightly different habits than a Yarra Valley Sunday.

The WA EV Network: what got built

The network — delivered by Synergy in the south and Horizon Power in the regions — runs fast chargers at roadhouses, visitor centres and town centres along WA's great highways, with top-ups taking around 20 minutes and a backup AC charger at sites as insurance. It reaches the SA and NT borders, which is the quiet headline: WA is no longer an island for EVs. Around it, the commercial networks stack depth where the people are — Perth and the South West are thick with Chargefox, Evie, Tesla, BP Pulse and Ampol sites — while the state network carries the frontier alone. Tourism WA now actively markets the "electric South West"; the state's own ministers talk about Albany to Kalbarri without range anxiety. Five years ago none of those sentences existed.

The drives at a glance

Start here: the electric South West

If WA's north is the frontier, the South West is the reassuringly civilised training ground — Tourism WA's "electric South West" pitch is built on fast chargers spaced comfortably under 200 km apart through the whole corner. The classic loop: down through Bunbury and Busselton (stop for the jetty), into Margaret River for two days of cellar doors, surf lookouts and cape-to-cape scenery, then east through the karri giants around Pemberton — drive the forest roads at dusk in electric silence and you'll understand why EVs and old-growth forest are a natural pairing — before looping back via Collie's river valley, or pushing on to Albany's granite coast. Dunsborough, Margaret River town and the region's wineries are increasingly dotted with destination chargers too, so the rhythm becomes: fast-charge once a day at a town, AC-charge wherever you linger.

This loop is the perfect first WA electric trip precisely because it doesn't feel like an experiment. Distances are Victorian, the charging is layered, and the only planning required is booking the good restaurants early.

The big league: Coral Coast, Kimberley, Nullarbor

Perth to Esperance & the south coast

East along the south coast the towns thin out but the network holds: Albany, the Stirling Ranges' jagged skyline, Ravensthorpe, then Esperance and the almost fictional white sand of Lucky Bay, where kangaroos genuinely do lounge on the beach. The state's own line — Perth to Esperance without range anxiety — checks out, with the standard regional caveat that between major towns your charging stops are planned events, not improvisations.

The Coral Coast: Perth to Exmouth

North through the Pinnacles' lunar spires, Kalbarri's river gorges, the dolphins of Monkey Mia and Shark Bay's world-heritage water, ending at Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef — where, in season, you swim with whale sharks. It's ~1,250 km each way with network chargers pacing the highway; the legs run long and the roadhouse charging stops become part of the trip's texture. Give it a week or more and the Coral Coast is arguably the best-value world-class road trip in the country — now with a fuel bill that rounds to lunch money.

The Kimberley & the Nullarbor: the sentences that changed

Here's what the network's completion actually means. Broome and the Kimberley — Cable Beach sunsets, Gantheaume Point's dinosaur prints, the long run to Kununurra and the Ord — now sit on a charging spine, with the remotest stations running on their own solar and batteries. And the Nullarbor crossing, the great Australian pilgrimage, has EV waypoints at Mundrabilla and Eucla linking WA to South Australia's border-to-border network. These remain expedition drives: enormous legs, single-charger dependencies, weather and wildlife. But they've crossed the line from impossible to demanding — and demanding is just another word for memorable.

Frontier discipline: the rules that keep it boring

WA rewards a mindset shift. In Melbourne, a dead charger costs you ten minutes; out here it can cost you a day. The habits that keep remote EV driving pleasantly uneventful:

• Respect the 200 km spacing. Never pass a charger with under half a battery on remote legs — the next one is the plan, the one after it is the backup, and you should always know both.
• Leave towns full. Overnight AC at your accommodation plus a morning top-up means every big leg starts from 100%, which turns tight margins into comfortable ones.
• Headwinds and heat are real range taxes. A stiff northerly on the Coral Coast or 40° air-con weather can take a serious bite — drive the speed limit, not above it, and re-plan if consumption runs hot.
• Know the backup AC exists. Network sites carry a slower backup charger — if the DC unit is down, slow is infinitely faster than stranded. Pack your Type 2 cable, always.
• Tell someone your route on expedition legs — standard outback practice, EV or not.

When the next charger is 200 km away, information is safety

In the South West, Plugroo makes WA driving convenient — every network and destination charger on one map, prices compared, the winery with the free AC plug easy to find. On the frontier routes, the same features change character: they become safety equipment. When the next option is two hours of saltbush away, "was this charger working recently?" is not a comfort question — it's the trip.

• Live community check-ins tell you a Horizon Power site was charging cars this morning — before you commit a 200 km leg to it.
• One map, every operator — state network, commercial fast chargers, council units and destination plugs, with plug-type and speed filters so the plan matches your car.
• A main and a backup for every leg — the trip planner and map make the two-option habit effortless. (Our AI features are in beta and improving with every release.)
• Red house pins — in towns with no public site at all, Plugroo shows home chargers locals have chosen to share: call ahead, arrange a time, and a station-less town becomes a viable overnight stop.
• Check in after you charge — out here, your 10-second report is genuinely valuable to the next driver. Frontier charging runs on exactly this kind of neighbourliness.

Key takeaways

1. The WA EV Network is complete: 110 chargers, 49 locations, ~7,000 km from the Nullarbor to Kununurra, with remote sites on standalone solar — the boldest charging build in the country.
2. Start with the electric South West: Margaret River, the karri forests and the capes, with chargers under 200 km apart and destination plugs thick on the ground.
3. The big-league routes — Esperance, the Coral Coast to Exmouth, the Kimberley, the Nullarbor — are now real EV trips: expedition-flavoured, but real.
4. Frontier discipline is five habits: respect the spacing, leave towns full, budget for wind and heat, know the backup AC exists, carry your cable.
5. Remote driving turns live information into safety gear — check a charger's recent status before committing a leg, keep a main and a backup, and check in for the next driver.
6. The reward: the best landscapes in Australia with a fuel bill that rounds to zero.

Sources & further reading: WA Government — WA EV Network completion announcements (Synergy and Horizon Power delivery, $43.5m program, Mundrabilla–Kununurra coverage and standalone-solar sites); Tourism Western Australia — electric South West road-trip guidance; Time magazine's World's Greatest Places recognition of the network; network operator site information. Remote-area charger availability is the critical variable — always verify live status in-app before committing to long legs, and follow standard outback travel practice.

Last updated: July 2026 · Author: Plugroo Team