EV sales are at record highs, but there’s an emerging and serious shortage of independent workshops, skilled technicians, training and infrastructure needed to support them. Training courses that exist are booked out.
While government incentives backed an unprecedented surge in EV sales in the 12 months to 2023, when annual market share first broke the 5 per cent barrier, support has failed to keep pace with consumer demand, independent workshops have scrambled to source parts, and electricians continue to face a lengthy and costly process to acquire proper technician qualifications.
The fuel crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East has only aggravated that scenario.
Collin Jennings, head of government relations at the Motor Traders Association of NSW, told The Fifth Estate the estimated shortage of skilled EV technicians nationally was close to 5000.
“While upskilling workers is faster than full EV training, it’s costly in time and money, and often it isn’t clear who will fund it,” he said.
Depending on the certification, upskilling qualified mechanics to work with EVs can take one to five days for basic safety and servicing or three to nine months for high-voltage diagnostic and repair training. Full EV trade qualifications take one to three years.
“The one-day course could be $960, the three-day course around $1400, and there’s no particular funding in some states for that,” Jennings said.
In New South Wales, which has the biggest number of EVs, the upskilling course is not universally subsidised as it is in other states, including Victoria and Queensland, leaving shops and mechanics to pay steep out-of-pocket costs to transition to EV servicing.
The Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association told The Financial Review it’s estimated Australians will own 3.4 million hybrid and electric vehicles by 2030 and require 21,000 qualified technicians.
Although EVs need less servicing and have lower maintenance costs than standard vehicles, “No matter how hard we try, someone’s going to get into a prang in a vehicle,” Jennings said.
Making matters worse environmentally is that, thanks to the current lack of qualified repairers, there’s a tendency from insurers to “write the vehicle off,” rather than having it repaired. This means insurers avoid open-ended repair costs that come with an uncertain industry facing a skills shortage and potential long service times, while consumers face logistical and financial risks.
It’s expensive to keep up, but colleges are booked out
As EV sales increase, the nation’s regions and independent workshops in metropolitan areas are most affected by this skills shortage compared to ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles and face higher prices to upskill or hire EV trained technicians.
Chris Jones, president of the AU Electric Vehicle Association and lecturer at South Metropolitan TAFE in Western Australia, said that although independent workshops are least likely to have the time, staff or financial support to send engineers to EV upskilling training, pressure from consumers will ultimately force the industry to progress.
“When the vehicle fleet is increasingly electrifying, businesses are just going to have to send their staff out to get this extra training.”
As a lecturer at one of Western Australia’s largest government vocational education and training programs, Jones said he’s noticed a significant interest in electrical apprenticeship training, with “every college booked out.”
Still, electrical apprenticeship training takes four years to complete, and Jones estimates the skills shortage gap will remain problematic for the next three years.
Similarly, Jennings noted that a skills shortage is “hard to fix,” and electric vehicles will “fit into that space for a long time.”
A shortage beyond the workforce
While concerns remain over a lack of qualified EV technicians, the shortage is not unique to the sector.
Chris Fowler, the managing director of AUTOrecruit, which provides recruitment services for automotive and associated industries in Australia and the South Pacific, said that for any new brand entering the market, “there is always a trailing period where skills are lacking”.
“These are problems that even existing, legacy brands can have.”
The infrastructure is also in short supply
On top of a skills shortage, there is a lack of infrastructure to support EV charging, as a 2025 report by the International Energy Agency found Australia has around 45 electric vehicles for every public charger.
And, because most EVs are manufactured overseas, there is a supply lag as shipments arrive by boat.
We need a national approach
While state governments have worked to address these issues separately, Australia has yet to adopt a unified national model for EV technician training, charging infrastructure, or supply. Currently, governments rely on a collaborative framework under the National Electric Vehicle Strategy, allowing individual jurisdictions to manage their own EV practices.
Industry bodies and advocates, including the Tech Council of Australia, argue Australia’s current fragmented approach to the EV transition may cause setbacks for EV adoption, including unreliable public charging, power grid instability, and an imbalance in EV coverage between geographic areas.
