ARENA/NRMA national fast charging network

RareEarth · Jul 9, 2023

moa999 said:
Please name and shame the town.

Well, at a guess this might be Bega. Same thing happened to me there. It is far enough away from other chargers that you may need to rely on it, even if it is just a top up to get you to Cooma, Cann River or Narooma (thirsty X !).

Tristan888 · Jul 9, 2023

hahaha it was Bega!

SPadival · Jul 9, 2023

Tristan888 said:
The biggest issue was caused by a local charging a Classic Ioniq up to 100%, the fastest I saw it charging was 14 kW on a 50 kW charger, eventually as it approached 90% it was charging at 4 kW. They'd left a sign on the car saying something along the lines of we are charging to full call us when it's finished. I called them to try and tell them there was a queue of cars and they didn't answer, eventually someone else called at about 95% SOC, they didn't answer them either but mins later emerged and hot footed it out of there. They clearly knew the inconvenience they were causing and given the state of their creased sign I'm guessing it's well used.

Actually, this isn’t the worst. I saw a Facebook post where a guy with a BMW iX with free Chargefox charging using it to power his home via V2H

.. says it saved him hundreds

. I didn’t comment out of politeness.

Vostok · Jul 9, 2023

SPadival said:
Actually, this isn’t the worst. I saw a Facebook post where a guy with a BMW iX with free Chargefox charging using it to power his home via V2H .. says it saved him hundreds . I didn’t comment out of politeness.

What is it about “free” that causes people to behave completely disproportionately to the benefit? Or act like entitled a-holes? A BMW iX 60 is like $230k and the owner is so stingy they want to waste their time to max out their “free” charging for a couple of hundred bucks? How much is their time worth?

Some people really do need a clip around the ears to learn they are not the only person on the planet and a bit of thoughtfulness for others would go a long way

.

moa999 · Jul 9, 2023

It is the problem though with NRMA and the free Chargefox memberships.

OutofSpec has reported on similar issues in the US where certain brands hand out free ElectricityAmerica cards, and similar behaviour occurs at certain chargers.

Any 'free' charging should be limited to say 100+ km from home.

Quickst · Jul 9, 2023

Vostok said:
How much is their time worth?

Likely has too much time on their hands. Think "Passive income"

Tristan888 · Jul 9, 2023

one of the people at the charger who was driving a Model Y who lived close by said that they didn't want to pay extra for the umc so had been exclusively using the NRMA charger, instead drives to the charger and charges for an hour or more each time.

Lachlan Smith · Jul 10, 2023

It is the same thing at a certain shopping centre with free charging (not far from the only NRMA charger in Sydney) that has both tethered and untethered AC charging. The tethered chargers will be first to fill with people too scabby to buy a type 2 cable and will ask you if the cable is worth it, seriously the type 2 cable is only about $200. NRMA aren't the only ones that need to start billing for charging.

Quickst · Jul 10, 2023

Lachlan Smith said:
tethered and untethered AC

Have local shopping centre free charger (ChargeFox type 2 EVLink unit 22kW).
Both sides are tethered. One side is Type 2 to type 2 cables and the other side is type 2 to type 1. However they can be unplugged and BYO cable can be used which is useful for the side with the T2-T1 cable.

I see people waiting to charge even if one bay is available - the one with the tethered T2-T1. The vehicle number plates suggest the EV landed in Australia at least some months ago. Obviously don't have a BYO T2-T2 cable.

Just remove the tethering. Everyone BYO. Especially going by the way some people treat the tethered cables.

Vostok · Jul 10, 2023

Tristan888 said:
one of the people at the charger who was driving a Model Y who lived close by said that they didn't want to pay extra for the umc so had been exclusively using the NRMA charger, instead drives to the charger and charges for an hour or more each time.

We need a “horrified”/“you are kidding me” reaction emoji on this forum!

Quickst · Jul 10, 2023

I went to my local shopping centre at 0700am to get a coffee and use their free charging.

I noticed a fellow drive up in a small ICE. He got out and got into the Model 3 which was charging and left the ICE there. What's the bet that he will return with the Tesla tonight, plug in the charger and drive off in the ICE. No benefit to the shopping centre in term a of spending a few dollars , and no benefit to anyone.

Lachlan Smith · Jul 10, 2023

I've seen people being dropped off/picked up by an ICE at Macquarie Uni late at night (as the gym is open late there).

Futuretech · Jul 11, 2023

Quickst said:
I went to my local shopping centre at 0700am to get a coffee and use their free charging.

I noticed a fellow drive up in a small ICE. He got out and got into the Model 3 which was charging and left the ICE there. What's the bet that he will return with the Tesla tonight, plug in the charger and drive off in the ICE. No benefit to the shopping centre in term a of spending a few dollars , and no benefit to anyone.

They can just discourage parking by charging a prohibitive parking fee for more than a couple of hours and most do do it.

Quickst · Jul 11, 2023

Futuretech said:
They can just discourage parking by charging a prohibitive parking fee for more than a couple of hours and most do do it.

Its free parking at the moment
Would be good to install paid parking for that parking area which is undercover.

Futuretech · Jul 11, 2023

Lachlan Smith said:
It is the same thing at a certain shopping centre with free charging (not far from the only NRMA charger in Sydney) that has both tethered and untethered AC charging. The tethered chargers will be first to fill with people too scabby to buy a type 2 cable and will ask you if the cable is worth it, seriously the type 2 cable is only about $200. NRMA aren't the only ones that need to start billing for charging.

I was there on Saturday morning at 8am, full house with the 8 chargers there (probably the biggest array of destination charging at any given shopping centre in Australia). Unbelievable.

moa999 · Jul 11, 2023

Assume you mean Rhodes - things might change soon - Ampol AmpCharge network

Quickst · Jul 11, 2023

moa999 said:
Rhodes

Though NRMA has AC chargers at Darling harbour P1 and P2 carpark. But I think you are right. Rhodes is terrible place to park a vehicle.

Futuretech · Jul 11, 2023

moa999 said:
Assume you mean Rhodes - things might change soon - Ampol AmpCharge network

Problem is people will still siphon off free ac chargers over paid DC

moa999 · Jul 11, 2023

Who's to say the AC remains free.
If I'm investing say $250k in 4 DC chargers I might get rid of the free AC units
(Ideally imo you'd probably have some AC units priced a little above what home charging would cost)

RichardV · Jul 11, 2023

I think this is the first reported activity on a site from the Federally funded National Fast Charging network.

NRMA has recently added a new Mudgee site to their Coming soon map. Although the map also includes Moree and Narrabri, also named sites in the Federal program, I believe they are under a previous funding round, so like Mudgee may end up with two independent NRMA charging sites. From the recent photos of Moree this would seem to confirm this as they do not appear to meet the more advanced requirements of the Federally funded network.

NRMA have also recently added the new Mudgee site as coming soon to plugshare. Though no date is provided. All other coming soon cites on the map have dates in the next 1-3 months.