While councils across the region - including Wagga, Gundagai, Temora and Holbrook - have installed charging stations, increased use during peak periods, and lack of local knowledge is frustrating some drivers.

Chris Dalitz, who runs a social group for EV owners in the region, thinks there's already dozens of owners in major towns in the Riverina.

He says if that number is going to increase, something has to be done to address congestion at the electric pump, and people's anxiety about not being able to charge when they need to.

"All the chargers are going in slower than the cars are being added, and on school holidays or long weekends when there's a lot of people travelling, we are getting congestion," Mr Dalitz said.

"Or if we've got a fast charger that fails ... they can get stranded. A few people have been caught out in Jerilderie in the last few weeks.

"At the moment, you do need to plan your trip a bit more than in a petrol car."

Two of the people who could have been caught out in Jerilderie are Colin and Cindy James.

They were warned of a charging station failure through the app Plugshare.

Mr James said their new car had been a delight to drive around Wagga but taking longer trips could be problematic because many smaller centres along the highway only have one charger.

If it's already in use, this can slow down the journey. If it's out of service, it can bring things to a dead stop.

"This lady we saw on Plugshare got to Young, noticed Cowra was out and she couldn't get the charger there to work at Young," he said.

"It was night time, and she was like 'I'm going to be stranded here, what am I going to do?'

"This bloke with a Tesla got the thing going, but it's almost a safety issue for a lady at night.

"Let alone how much it costs you if you need a tow."

In the year to October 2023, 25,339 EVs were sold in NSW. This is still dwarfed by the number of petrol and hybrid cars sold - a total of 318,921 in the same period.

Although EVs still make up a small portion of total new car sales, growth in sales has been meteoric.

More were sold in the first six months of 2023 than all of 2022. By year's end, sales are expected to be 121 per cent higher than last year.

At the same time, there was only a 57 per cent increase in the number of fast chargers. This means in areas that are highly trafficked but sparsely populated, chargers are coming under increasing stress.

This is particularly acute when chargers are taken out of action, either by technical issues, or someone forgetting to unplug before they drive away.

Mr Dalitz said more educational initiatives were needed to introduce people to the different processes and etiquette of driving an EV.

"Traditionally when filling a car with fuel, you fill it to 100 per cent, but with electric cars, to take them from 80 per cent to 100 per cent takes the same amount of time as charging from 10 per cent to 80 per cent," Mr Dalitz said.

"A lot of new owners insist on charging to 100 per cent.

"We need to educate the public that you don't need to sit there until your car is 100 per cent full - just charge it to 80 per cent, and free it up for another user."

Despite growth this year, EV sales are still significantly lower than international averages.

Research by the Electric Vehicle Council suggests this is because Australia's regulatory environment is still too friendly towards highly polluting cars.

The NSW government has recently let a scheme offering rebates on EVs lapse, drawing criticism from some environmental groups.

Instead, they plan to invest $209 million in to build "ultra-fast charging stations at 100 kilometre intervals across the state, and every five kilometres in metropolitan areas."

Minister for Climate Change, Energy and Environment Penny Sharpe said it was more important to roll out charging infrastructure to accelerate the transition away from petrol cars.

"Our view is that public funding is best directed to EV charging infrastructure, rather than private subsidies," she said.

"Providing EV charging plugs at regional destinations across our state will help make 'range anxiety' a concern of the past and give more drivers to confidence to make EV purchases."

Mr James said it was frustrating to have bought an EV to only be able to use it some of the time due to lack of infrastructure.

He said the roll out of new charging infrastructure needed to be accelerated.

"We need more, but it's not just putting one in a place on the highway, it's just not enough," he said.

"If it's busted or someone's on it, it screws up your whole trip.

"It's really frustrating."

People interested in learning more about driving an EV in the Riverina can contact Chris Dalitz by emailing chris.dalitz@bigpond.com.au