A new Costco warehouse in Melbourne is set to have 20 EV chargers.
As spotted by The Driven, planning permits for the new Costco store in West Melbourne reveal 20 EV charging spots. The planning permits were submitted to the Brimbank Council back in May. The permit is available online.
That’s a lot of electric vehicle chargers, all situated together so that customers can park, pay, shop and come back once the car is topped up. They’ll be situated near staff parking, with a petrol station and tyre centre also available at the warehouse.
Many (but not all) Costco warehouses in Australia include petrol stations, where you can refuel your car quickly before heading into shop (provided that you’re a member and that you prepay), but this would be the first Costco in Australia to have electric vehicle charging available to customers.
As an aside, my brother is an avid fan of the Costco store at Lake Macquarie and has been very quick to sing the praises of their (relatively) low fuel prices over the past year. For similar reasons (like not needing to pay for fuel), I’m very excited about these 20 EV chargers at the new warehouse and hope that similar stations are built at stores across Australia.
Having 20 car parks for charging is also very welcome, as most charging stations across Australia are comprised of two car parks. As The Driven notes, Costco has chargers available at some of its stores in the U.S., with charging accessible to members.
A Costco spokesperson told The Driven that there aren’t any firm plans to install EV chargers at Costco sites yet, but surely they will at some point. Additionally, we’re not sure of what kind of chargers will be available at the new Melbourne store.
In Australia, membership costs $60 per year for individuals. You can’t buy stuff at Costco without a membership, although there are some ways around that.
Critically, that means access to these chargers will cost you $60 per year, but they’re not being built as networks across Australia, they’re being built as a service to Costco’s already present customer base.
If you’re not in-the-know, Costco sells its items in bulk at low prices, making it a great choice for businesses and big families, but probably not a great choice for singles or smaller families.
There’s no word on when the Melbourne store will be complete, but let’s hope more stores will be built with EV chargers.
While you’re here, why not check out our list of every new EV in Australia, or every electric vehicle coming to Australia.