An electrifying road trip

[get me outta here]

Almost 500k on a battery would suit me. And stopping for coffee every 300k would also. Maybe not EV territory around the outback though as yet. I once saw an EV plugged in through the window around the back of the Oslo Opera House.

There are still a lot of people poo pooing the idea of an EV. I guess the various petroleum industry associations are not giving much encouragement and have the government’s ear. Aust is lagging.

Informative posts about the chargers and all that. Seems rather disappointing at the fragmentation between Tesla and the NRMA charging stations. I can't see electric cars becoming really main stream until there is just one type of charging system.

Having just done a road trip in a petrol car through outback WA, there is a long way to go. After a certain point the only fuel you can get it diesel or 91 RON petrol. No 95 or 98. Electric charging....good luck (although there is plenty of sun).

I think the other thing that would drive me a bit nuts is needing to spend an hour or so waiting while the car is topped up.

 

[moa999]

curious about the 80% maximum draw though.

Not an electrician so not exactly sure why (my heaters are also 2400W or 2.4kW), but something about constant load.

Most electric circuits are on 20A breakers and the wires sized for that (hence we can use double and more sockets).

There are some Tesla owners using Amphibian 15A to 10A converters (designed for caravans) to pull slightly higher loads.

Agreed 10/15A charging is not the quickest, but if daily usage is say under 100km it's quite possible to use existing plugs and still have a full charge every morning.

rather disappointing at the fragmentation between Tesla and the NRMA charging stations.

needing to spend an hour or so waiting while the car is topped up.

Note that Tesla's in Aus/Europe with their CCS2 plug (in the 3, or converter in S/X) can use both (not the situation in the US) but at present no other car can use the Tesla Supercharger network (which also handles the billing in the plug, although Musk has said he is open to it, and it would be far easier in Australia/Europe with the standardised CCS2 plug)

On the ultra-rapid/superchargers it's more like 15-25min ever 250-350km and in a Tesla you're covered from Adelaide to Gympie on the coastal routes.

(And apologies for somewhat hijacking offshore71s thread)

 

[offshore171]

(And apologies for somewhat hijacking offshore71s thread)

Not at all, your contributions have been brilliant!

 

[offshore171]

I admit it’s not an ideal way to charge a car but at least it’s an option.

It's definitely an option. The portable charger supplied with the car gets you charging from any of Australia's tens of millions of standard powerpoints. Slow but still useful - should give you about 180km of range overnight.

You do also get a faster wall charger with the car. Looks like this, and you get your sparky to install it in you garage or carport (it's outdoor rated). This gives you 32A (7kW) charging at home (and even more if you have 3phase)

 

[33kft]

I’m curious about the 80% maximum draw though. Does the car decide to draw 80%? I see no reason why you couldn’t draw a full 10A from a modern domestic power point continuously to charge the car... there are many 10A/2.4kW heaters which will do so for example.

It's more than likely based off the US NEC rather than any local requirement:

Sizing a Circuit Breaker

Circuit breakers are designed to carry 100% of their rated current while the NEC dictates an 80% application. Why the difference?

www.ecmweb.com

80% vs 100% Breaker Rating and Continuous vs Non-Continuous loads

In the NEC I can find where it discusses breakers must be loaded to 80% of their capacity and the conductors must be sized at 125% of the load (or the rating of the breaker). So a 1200-amp breaker can only be loaded to 960-amps and your conductors have to be rated for 1200-amp. NEC also...

forums.mikeholt.com

https://www.electriciantalk.com/threads/80-rule.67638/

 

[offshore171]

Sleeping at the camp was very comfortable, albeit with a lot of very weird animal noises during the night. The gibbons and the siamang can be heard miles away.

Breakfast is served early, around 630am. Then it's off for another walking tour of the animals while the zoos is still closed.

After this we checked out, packed up into the car and then continued our own exploration of the second half of the zoo circuit, mostly on foot.

In the afternoon we departed the zoo and headed into Dubbo for our next night's accomodation, the Bluegum Motel. This was a real eye opener (in a good way).

Incidentally, driving in spring time in the Australian bush means a lot of bug splatter on the front of your car. On a regular car, this is what ends up in your radiator! No grille on the tesla means you see the warpaint. It all came off in the rain on the way home. Will get to that later.

 

[offshore171]

After the zoo, we continued our stay in Dubbo proper. The motel was the Bluegum, who as it happens, have two Tesla wall chargers on site, as do several other Dubbo motels.

As the car was still around 85% charged, we didn't end up using them, but nice to know they are available as another option.

The motel itself - excellent. Really high quality rooms, and extremely helpful front desk. They were completely full, as was most accomodation in Dubbo. It looks like a lot of people had the same idea for the school holidays.

They provided a great list of recommended pubs and restaurants, and we picked the Pastoral Hotel for dinner.

Once again, a great dinner venue and top quality service. Australian hospitality is really finding its mojo.

 

[33kft]

Tesla destination chargers are a no brainer if you're an accommodation provider IMHO. Lots of EVs out there now and Tesla will send you the unit for free, you just need to do the installation (which does cost $$) and provide the juice, which costs very little, and Tesla owners will come to you as the convenience of being able to plug in overnight is a huge selling point.

Even Airbnbs are getting in on it. More and more Airbnbs now are either putting in an EV charger or allowing guests to use a plug socket to charge EVs and listing it on their listing. Frankly I think the first mover advantage here is huge - Tesla won't hand out free wall chargers forever, soon enough you'll have to stump up for them or you'll be one of the few accommodation providers without it.

 

[offshore171]

Next morning starts with light drizzle in Dubbo, which is presumably always welcome.

We head across the road to a bakery for a hearty breakfast and then load up the car and start the trip back to Sydney.

This time our route is the main Mitchell Hwy, via Wellington to Orange to Bathurst.

Shortly after leaving Dubbo proper rain sets in. It gets heavier until it is absolutely torrential. Interestingly the autopilot in the car can see the lane markings and other vehicles better than we can, and it renders it all in realtime on the driver's display.

Not my picture, but this should give an idea of what this looks like:


The heavy rain must be a thing of joy for the farmers, so bring it on.

We stop at the Bathurst superchargers for a top up and an early lunch at the Harvest Cafe.


Also welcome: driving in that rain washed off most of the bug splats from the front of the car.

Then it's back on the road for the final leg to Sydney.

 

[JohnM]

Next morning starts with light drizzle in Dubbo, which is presumably always welcome.

We head across the road to a bakery for a hearty breakfast and then load up the car and start the trip back to Sydney.

This time our route is the main Mitchell Hwy, via Wellington to Orange to Bathurst.

Shortly after leaving Dubbo proper rain sets in. It gets heavier until it is absolutely torrential. Interestingly the autopilot in the car can see the lane markings and other vehicles better than we can, and it renders it all in realtime on the driver's display.

Not my picture, but this should give an idea of what this looks like:
View attachment 230213

The heavy rain must be a thing of joy for the farmers, so bring it on.

We stop at the Bathurst superchargers for a top up and an early lunch at the Harvest Cafe.
View attachment 230214

Also welcome: driving in that rain washed off most of the bug splats from the front of the car.

Then it's back on the road for the final leg to Sydney.

No mention of paying for the juice-up. What's the story on that?

 

[offshore171]

No mention of paying for the juice-up. What's the story on that?

Very seamless. Just plug the cable in. Car is identified by the charger. Any charges get billed to your Tesla account payment method (similar to Uber)

If you buy the car using a referral link from an existing owner, you get 1500kms worth of free Supercharging. I’m still using the free credit.

 

[JohnM]

Informative posts about the chargers and all that. Seems rather disappointing at the fragmentation between Tesla and the NRMA charging stations. I can't see electric cars becoming really main stream until there is just one type of charging system.

Having just done a road trip in a petrol car through outback WA, there is a long way to go. After a certain point the only fuel you can get it diesel or 91 RON petrol. No 95 or 98. Electric charging....good luck (although there is plenty of sun).

I think the other thing that would drive me a bit nuts is needing to spend an hour or so waiting while the car is topped up.

Actually, 98RON is quite common in the bush, certainly along major routes such as across the Nullarbor, NW Coastal Highway to Broome and beyond and so on.

It's 95 that's generally the rarer option of the premium petrols outside of large towns. 98 covers the 95 & 98 bases; 95 being not so good for your Lambo on the Nullarbor.

 

[JohnM]

Very seamless. Just plug the cable in. Car is identified by the charger. Any charges get billed to your Tesla account payment method (similar to Uber)

If you buy the car using a referral link from an existing owner, you get 1500kms worth of free Supercharging. I’m still using the free credit.

What would be the approximate cost of, say, 500km range drawn from a supercharger?

 

[33kft]

No mention of paying for the juice-up. What's the story on that?

It costs 40c per kWh to use a Tesla supercharger. After the 1500kms is up, the cost will be:

40c x n kWh (lets do this based on 0% charge which is not generally the case) = 75 kWh = $30 for a full charge

Keep in mind however that a supercharger is a convenience option, it's not a day to day charging mechanism. You can simply use the in car display or a website like a better route planner to top up the amount of charge you need to get to your destination, and then put it on charge (at a lower or perhaps zero* cost) overnight.

Just like paying for premium fuels, people don't tend to supercharge unnecessarily. I wouldn't drive the 12km to my nearest supercharger to supercharge at 40c/kWh when I can do it at home for a nominal 9c under solar (what I would have got as a FIT if it went to grid) or 21c from the grid overnight.

(The * is because people are convinced that all of this has some sort of catch and so they'll claim that it is baked into the accomodation costs or something like that. I can't respond to that because how would I know? did you stay at a more upmarket place because it had a charger? very few places will charge you for using it but perhaps it influenced your stay?)

 

[33kft]

Informative posts about the chargers and all that. Seems rather disappointing at the fragmentation between Tesla and the NRMA charging stations. I can't see electric cars becoming really main stream until there is just one type of charging system.

This is a misunderstanding. They are not different systems, just different operators. Any Tesla can use an NRMA charger or any other CCS2 model charger out there, which apart from a very small number of Chademo chargers out there (which are a Japanese standard but exist within Australia because Toyota used it in their older EVs and which will be phased out very soon) are the only type of DC fast charger you will find in Australia.

You can use those chargers for any EV, from a Mitsubishi PHEV to a Tesla. It's who operates the network that differs. Imagine if I said that I can't see this petrol thing working out until all of the Caltex and BPs of the world merge?

The one benefit that the Tesla network provides is that it can automatically read the VIN of your vehicle and charge your card based on that, but it's hardly a big deal. Networks like ChargeFox (which NRMA use) simply require you to open an app, it identifies where you are from GPS, you click "let me charge" and it unlocks the charger and charges it to you.

Then of course there's all the AC and DC chargers out there that don't even charge you. They're even easier to use. Pull up, plug in.

 

[33kft]

What would be the approximate cost of, say, 500km range drawn from a supercharger?

$30 per my post above, but again, there's little incentive to charge from 0 - 100% at a supercharger, it's entirely unnecessary. Just like there's 0 incentive to use a higher cost fuel unless it meets a specific need, however for some people it might be their preference. But I doubt many people are going to calculate general average fuel prices from the highest octane fuels.

 

[moa999]

Very seamless. Just plug the cable in. Car is identified by the charger. Any charges get billed to your Tesla account payment method (similar to Uber)

Tesla is easy with the car identified by the plug (one of the pins is a data channel).

Other systems typically use apps or smartcards to unlock the chargers and do the billing.
Chargefox has the largest network of ultra-rapid to destination chargers, and I've also got Evie and EO apps. ActewAGL in the ACT uses smartcards. And not sure what NRMA will do when they start charging (hopefully Chargefox like the Qld/Yurika network).
And also saw in the SMH today an article about a new player Joltcharge who is looking to rollout DC chargers in partnership with Ausgrid - The plan to turn power boxes into car charging points

 

[33kft]

I think people get a bit lost unless we EV drivers provide a bit of context, I know that I did before I got my Tesla.

It's really quite simple. ChargeFox's app is like BP's BPgo app, while Evie is like Caltex's app. Unlike a service station where you go in to pay, chargers are unmanned and you pay by app. So sure, there's different operators and different apps but it's a good thing quite simply - it allows footprint to expand by different companies investing in chargers, gives diversity of chargers because nobody is going to build chargers 10km from each other, and introduces price competition and incentives to use chargers.

So it really is entirely analogous to different fuel companies. It can't be written off as some sort of major failing of the EV ecosystem, Tesla initially had to build out their own chargers because no other company was and they needed their EV owners to be able to travel longer distances, these new entrants like NRMA, RACQ and RACV have dramatically improved the landscape for all EV owners. Choosing which app to pay with at a charger is no harder than using Flybuys when you go to Coles or BPme when you go to BP, it's a bit of a beat up.

 

[Daver6]

Actually, 98RON is quite common in the bush, certainly along major routes such as across the Nullarbor, NW Coastal Highway to Broome and beyond and so on.

It's 95 that's generally the rarer option of the premium petrols outside of large towns. 98 covers the 95 & 98 bases; 95 being not so good for your Lambo on the Nullarbor.

I was pretty surprised to see no 95 or 98 in both Cue and Meekatharra. No big deal for the trusty BMW though. It can run on 91 if need be

 

[offshore171]

Just on the "fuel" cost, as others have mentioned, you do most of your charging at home, at very low cost.

If you have an off-peak power plan, it works out at less than $2 per 100 kms of driving. Even less if you have excess solar.

For road trips your first "tank" is from home. You then use Superchargers, which are more expensive, but still cheaper than petrol, or charge at your hotel/motel which is often complimentary.

As for the general driving experience, theres no engine drone so you can do long stints at highway speeds and feel fresher on arrival. Conversation is easier. Music sounds better. Overtaking is effortless and stress free as mentioned previously. If you wish, the car can do much of the driving itself, or you can be fully manual, or in between. If you want to do some spirited driving on a twisty road, you can do that too.

This is our family's only car, so we're all-in. If I struck some extreme edge case like needing to drive to birdsville, I'd rent a car.

It would of course be a more difficult decision in places like WA where there are few if any superchargers AFAIK. Also more challenging if you don't have access to off street parking at home.

Further to the earlier discussion about setting charging limits, such as 80% for daily use or 100% for road trips, this is done via the app or the screen in the car and is simple as sliding your thumb: