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Interesting stuff. Chargefox complaining about increased competition for landlords does not surprise me. With a growing number of EV charging programmes at local, state and Federal level, more and more players are out looking for a limited number of useful, viable locations and hence...

Correct. I invented this index merely to counter the oft-repeated talking point “but when the sun isn‘t shining and the wind isn’t blowing…” to demonstrate that it basically doesn’t happen. People ‘get’ that hydro is always available, but don‘t understand how wind and solar can do the same...

QLD insolation is great, and they have the country’s highest penetration of rooftop solar at 43% of dwellings, and yes the whole state will never be cloudy everywhere at the same time. That’s not the issue. The issue is solar and storage, and QLD’s relatively small amount of hydro, is never...

Ha ha… I think you’re joking 🤔. The water never not flows, so it wouldn’t add anything interesting to the stats. Yep, SA does extremely well on the wind/solar balance. A renewable diurnal ratio of 0.88 is pretty extraordinary actually for a grid that has no hydro. VIC is only that high due...

Power generated by wind in a given state or territory = 0 MWh. The measurement window is 15 minutes.

From what I’ve read, these Apps or services require you to log in once with your Tesla credentials (email address and password), and they do not store those credentials, since the authentication is done in real time directly with the Tesla auth server. That authentication returns two tokens -...

The stats for June. As promised, some juicy new stats added - the renewable percentage is additionally split out for daytime and night - meaning when solar production is not zero, and zero, respectively. The calculation is done correctly on the basis of total power generated in MWh in each...

Not in NSW. Under our state government scheme, the requirement is that “Charging bays are expected to be equipped with FCAI recommended DC charging types, which is either CHAdeMO or CCS Type 2”. So there is no requirement to support both. A site with CCS2 only would still be eligible to apply...

I asked the NSW Net-Zero team about this and they got back to me - I posted the info in the NSW EV charging master plan thread.

A few people inquired about the new $10M grant money available for large apartment buildings (> 100 parking spots) to have electrical upgrades to support EV charging. The programme is called “Making Buildings EV Ready (MBEVR)” I asked the NSW Net-Zero Transport team about this and they said...

There’s a DIP switch inside the HPWC which sets the maximum draw to prevent it tripping the RCBO it is connected to… if that’s what you mean. The charge setting on the Tesla App is limited to between 5A and whatever that DIP switch setting is. Except in the case of 3-phase, where the maximum...

Ha ha… Whatabout: A tyre plugging kit and 12V tyre inflator (or is that the ‘emergency kit’?) and tools for removing objects Depending on what kind of trips you might take, a 5-pin 32A UMC adaptor and Type 2-Type 2 cable. Sign up to Evie, Chargefox, etc and order RFID cards. I keep the RFID...

Wise advice, although I confess that I do occasionally use an extension lead - but you need to buy the correct one. I purchased an industrial strength 10A, 10m extension lead that is rated for 15A continuous draw. It has a red and black sheath rather than orange, and a snib on the socket end...

Nah, just get the kerb rash over and done with, and then you won’t care any more.

It depends on what kind of driving and trips you do. Our household has been EV-only for 2.5 years now… no regrets! We’ve done some decent long trips and Syd-Melb return twice (which is totally easy these days). With the increasing number of DCFCs out there, there are fewer and fewer trips...

I did not buy a Type 2 to Type 2 cable until last week because I am driving up to QLD soon and some of the charging options up there, which will be essential for some legs of the trip, require BYO cable. I don‘t anticipate I will use it often, but I’ll keep it in the sub-boot. I’ve never had...

Well it‘s possible for anyone to have an Epiphany. That was 2017, this is now :). Money talks, and the fact that since 2017 South Australia now has the lowest wholesale electricity prices in the country and the most reliable grid (no clunking coal plants that can break down) could convince...

And don’t forget change in elevation. The increase in potential energy of lifting an 1800kg vehicle to a higher elevation is significant. It takes 0.49 kWh of energy to raise a car that heavy 100m. So driving from sea level to 1000m, even if you could do it without covering any distance and...

I'd be interested to know how frequently Charge HQ polls the inverter and then how frequently it tells the car to start or stop charging or change the charge rate. I also wonder if it changes the IP address of the API queries on a frequent basis to sidestep IP blocking. Apps running on mobile...

I'll ask the Net Zero Transport team what the deal is around that, hopefully they can provide the details. The documentation for the fast charging grants appeared about 3 months after the policy was first announced.

Translation: we have no idea whether this is true or not, but we read it on a Qanon website and thought we'd toss it in. Incredible how people are scared of the very very rare event of EVs bursting into flames (has is ever happened with a vehicle AC charging?) but not concerned by hundreds if...

Exactly. If you have a Tesla vehicle and Tesla Powerwall, the API provides all the information you need to be able to intelligently charge your vehicle from excess solar. And if you don‘t have a Powerwall but do have a solar inverter that has its own API (e.g. SolarEdge) then you could still...

The CEO of Evie is basically a property guy. Chris Mills got rich founding a company in the UK doing mobile site property deals in Europe, then worked for Optus for 5 years building mobile networks, Sprint in the USA doing the same, before being hired to run Evie. And when you think about it...

Well anyone who actually looks at their ToU bill should be reconsidering their consumption habits! People with EVs should be very aware of demand shifting, and people with house batteries even more so…. ToU is definitely cheaper than constant tariff.

If you are talking about NSW, read the site host prospectus and requirements for fast charging operators (links in my earlier post #24). I reckon the plan has been pretty well thought out. The government is saying ‘here’s the framework’ and providing input data on traffic densities and...

That’s not the case. While this is complicated stuff due to the statistics involved, it turns out that a large enough collection of widely distributed renewable generation has statistically fairly predictable outputs, and the statistical deviations from expectation get smaller the more...

I asked this in the software thread - is Tesla smart enough to precondition the battery if you Nav to a third-party DCFC? It does preconditioning if you Nav to a Supercharger, and further it slaps your wrist if you go to a supercharger and charge without using the Nav, you are rewarded with a...

The best charger is the one that’s available :D

The generation capacity of the Australian power grid has increased by between 3% and 4% every year over the past 5 years. Almost all of this is due to the addition of renewable generation capacity. Australia’s population growth is about 1.2% per year.

Looking at the check-in photo the current surface level looks to be about 20-30mm below the finished concrete gutter level. This means the final surfacing is yet to be done. This is normal practice for any kind of road surface building work. All of the roads around the Rozelle Interchange...

An update to the NSW EV charging master plan! NSW increases funding for electric car charging network Under the State budget being handed down tomorrow, a further $38 million will be added to NSW's electric vehicle charging network, and increases the total commitment under the NSW Electric...

Wait, what? Sydney is not the centre of the universe? Surely that cannot be right… 😱

Yes the last time I charged at a Supercharger without using the nav to get there, I got this slap-on-the-wrist admonishment from Tesla. Do Teslas precondition the battery though if you navigate to a third-party DCFC? Does Tesla “know” about those yet?

Seems you didn‘t read this thread 😄 It’s up to the applicants to propose the sites. I expect it will be a mix of operators. https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/6237646/ Site host prospectus: here The requirements for fast charging operators: here PDF of the application and funding...

Specific locations for the first round of grants should be announced within weeks - watch this space 😄

Woo hoo - that's more like it 😄 That underpass is not that ‘secret’ is it?

I’m not the expert in this area (and I’m not in VIC) but installing an AC EV charger should be exempt from needing Council approval if my reading of this is correct: https://www.vba.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/136149/BP-01-When-is-a-building-permit-required.pdf See page 3...

I'm not sure if that is satire 😄 but I doubt prices were increased in the USA because of a few thousand Ys sold in Australia 🤣 But I do apologise - I make that post and a few hours later Tesla Australia hikes the prices. I am deeply sorry.

I've updated my script to report from next month the renewable percentages in each state and nationally for when solar production is zero, i.e. renewable percentages at night. We've all heard the comments about "what happens when the sun goes down?" and accusations that EVs are "coal fired"...

The latest news on Evie - fast chargers to be rolled out at 16 shopping centres in a deal between AMP Capital and Evie: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/electric-vehicle-charging-stations-to-be-rolled-out-at-shopping-centres-20220614-p5atnk.html

This doesn’t seem to have been reported here so far. You’d have to think it’s only a matter of time before these price rises flow through to Australia. https://electrek.co/2022/06/15/tesla-tsla-increases-electric-car-prices-across-lineup/

That doesn’t seem to cover the NSW Government’s $171M plan for EV chargers over the next 3 years, which is estimated to deliver around 1000 DCFCs as well as destination/venue charging and kerb-side charging. The results of the first grant round should be announced soon - between 27 June and 15...

I just received a notice from my “Big 4” energy retailer that my grid electricity costs are increasing from 1 July by about 18%. Quite a whack. So I put the new tariffs into my massive PW2 spreadsheet and calculated that this price increase has taken 5 years off the battery payback time (as a...

The NRMA chargers at Wilcannia are reported on Plugshare to be vandalised and not working 🙁 no photos though of the alleged damage. NRMA describe this site as having only one live charger but two hardware units, allegedly so that they can activate the other unit if one is out of order. I...

Well, Elon apparently didn’t know that Bitcoin mining had a huge CO2 footprint until people pointed it out to him, so… 🤷‍♂️

Trade-ins never give you value for money - avoid it like the plague in my view. I sold my last 2 cars on eBay in 2014 and 2019. That way the market finds the price and the winning bidder must complete the transaction. The cars were 18 and 16 years old respectively. When I inquired about...

Not if there’s a charger at your destination for the night. I don’t particularly care if I’m on a road trip and arrive at my destination with 10% range remaining. Even a slow trickle charge overnight and I am good to go the next day. I am, however, unlikely to run it that low during the day...

Indeed. I cannot now go for a drive anywhere in Sydney and not see another Model 3, even if I’m only out for a few minutes. Seeing 6 or more in a 20 minute trip is not uncommon. They are the new Toyota Camry 😊 At least our Gen 1 Leaf is still a rarity 🤣

Now that winter has hit, I’ve noticed that the resistive heater always fires up when I drive, even though the AC is off and the display shows the temperature setting as “manual”. This used not to be the case as far as I can recall. I’m assuming the only way to stop it would be to turn climate...

Well, I won’t be switching, although I am very excited that Model Y is released and even more people will now be buying BEVs. I don’t like SUV form factors Have found the 3 to be plenty big enough for our needs, including boot/froot space Keeping a car for only 2 years would offend my sense of...