The Inner West has a specific and consequential problem for electric cars: most homes have no off-street parking.
Terraces, semis and small apartment blocks mean the majority of cars live on the street, which rules out home charging for a lot of owners.
Why that changes the battery
An owner without a driveway charges in public — at a shopping centre, a workplace, or a DC fast charger.
DC fast charging generates heat and stresses cells more than slow AC home charging does. A car that has spent three years on public rapid chargers has had a harder charging life than an identical car that trickled overnight on a home wallbox in the Hills.
That is not a fault and it is not abuse. It is simply the pattern this part of Sydney imposes, and it is worth knowing when you are assessing a locally-owned car.
The mitigating factors: Inner West driving is short and slow, so cycles are shallow, and the temperatures are moderate compared with the west. Those offset a good deal of the charging pattern.
The street-parking practicality
We come to the car wherever it is, including parked on the street. There is no need to find a driveway or move the vehicle — the read happens where it stands, takes minutes, and nothing is written to the car.
That matters here more than in most suburbs, because "can you test it where it's parked?" is a genuine question in the Inner West.
Where we come to
Newtown, Marrickville, Enmore, Erskineville, Leichhardt, Annandale, Petersham, Dulwich Hill, Ashfield, Summer Hill, Stanmore, Camperdown, Balmain, Rozelle, Lilyfield and the surrounding suburbs.
Booking
Online booking is open for all Inner West postcodes. $249, no travel surcharge. Phone 02 7252 1390 if you prefer.
Sydney · Burwood · How the testing methods compare · Book a test — $249