Chargefox has raised $15 million, including $1 million from the Victorian government, to build stations across the country that can each deliver more than 300 kilometres of range to electric cars in 15 minutes, “the fastest of any charger currently available in Australia”.

The first of 22 sites, at Euroa, went live at the end of last year, and a solar-powered station at Barnawartha is undergoing final testing.

There are four charging points, two with the power output of 150kW, and two capable of 350kW.

Chargefox chief executive Marty Andrews said the network would “join the dots on intercity travel”.

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“The Barnawartha site is on that Melbourne to Sydney leg, which is the most travelled long-distance route for cars in the country,” he said.

“It made a lot of sense to start in Victoria and we’ve had incredible support from the state government.

“There’s lots of lower-power stations – we manage several hundred across the country, with local councils or shopping centres – and we’re working closely with the NRMA.

“The main difference with these stations is the power.

“There’s only a handful of sites in the world that have stations as powerful as this.”

The NRMA also has plans to establish a charging station at the Gallipoli Victoria Cross Rest Area in Holbrook.

Mr Andrews said there was “a chicken and egg” situation in that the electric vehicle market in Australia was yet to take off, but there was also not yet adequate infrastructure.

“The country needs national-level infrastructure to stimulate the uptake of electric vehicles,” he said.

“It will be great to see the network evolve as cars come out – there’s a real opportunity to buy as prices are coming down all the time.

“Charging stations are great for tourism as well.

“It becomes an obvious stop for people with electric cars, and that means they stop at the cafes and restaurants.”