Tesla opening Canberra electric car dealership on Bunda Street

The store will open in a few weeks time after the company began moving into the shopfront across from the Canberra Centre on Monday.

David Southgate said he purchased the "bottom range" Tesla Model 3 online in March for $66,000, the price has dropped to $59,000 since then.

He said he wasn't deterred at having the new car roll off the truck in Canberra without receiving a run through first as his previous car had been an electric vehicle.

Mr Southgate's was one of more than 1400 electric vehicles registered in the ACT, half of which were estimated to be Tesla's.

Battery electric vehicles, which represented one in every 686 vehicles registered in the ACT in January 2020, now represent one vehicle in every 221 registered, according to the Australian Electric Vehicle Association.

ACT branch secretary Warwick Cathro said talking to salespeople face-to-face to fact check some of the misinformation about electric cars would likely see an increase in the uptake of electric vehicles.

"To have a proper test drive and to get a little training for half an hour or so when you take delivery, I think it would make people more comfortable purchasing one," Mr Cathro said.

He said the public misconception still existed that electric vehicle owners got stuck waiting every two hours for their cars to recharge every 200 kilometres.

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Mr Southgate said he typically stops for a coffee every two hours and plugs his Tesla into one of their rapid charging stations.

"By the time my coffee has arrived, nevermind drunk it, it's put enough charge in for two hours of driving," he said.

He said the appeal of Tesla - a global leader in electric vehicles - was there was usually six or eight charges at every station so there was never a wait.

Mr Cathro said there was a reasonable number of charging stations in the ACT, but there were some gaps in the territory, including Belconnen, Weston Creek and Woden where there still weren't any rapid chargers available.

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