Meanwhile Council has recently received some pushback from the community after enthusiastic embrace by EV owners about the proposal for Joltz to install advertising kiosks disguised as EV charging stations along our roads from Manly to Palm beach. Asking why it is Council’s responsibility to provide charging kiosks with advertising on public land, and what is the plan for when everyone gets an EV, Council has responded by stating that it is in the Transport Strategy - Move 2038 and that Northern Beaches Council supports the uptake of electric vehicles (EV) and has partnered with Ausgrid and JOLT (a vehicle charging network company) to install free, 15-minute public EV charging stations in selected locations across the Northern Beaches. Considering the expected revenue to Council from the recent bus shelter deal, a different Council team looks to have negotiated a very tardy revenue outcome with Joltz only paying about $1,600 to install their chargers with advertising panels and an annual fee of $1,900 payable to Council each year for an unknown period.

The Mayor announced recent additions to the network were installed by JOLT and include two new chargers on Council land in Narrabeen and a new charger in Brookvale. This brings the number of JOLT chargers on the Beaches to eight with proposals for dozens more. The Manly community rejected the locations for these kiosks along West Esplanade and the Steyne.

Council is now in the process of reconsidering the proposal and intends to revisit the report on the matter before it is sent for final sign off by the Traffic Committee