Australian Supercharger network

[alexeiw123]

The map looks great, putting in some fine work, and I hope that whoever is doing the planning in Tesla keeps a close eye on it.

My suggestion would be that for the Sydney to Brisbane run, keep in mind that there are major cities along the inland route, which is quite popular. Careful consideration of Pacific Highway and New England highway supercharger locations would probably just allow for access between the two routes.

I'd suggest instead of Taree and Urunga, that Port Macquarie/Wauchope and Grafton would service the pacific well, while allowing the distance to make it over the (winding) ranges, which are fantastic drivers routes.

Walcha/Uralla/Bendimeer would service the new England region between Armidale and Tamworth. Tenterfield maybe could allow new england travellers to reach both Brisbane and Toowoomba, with range to reach Lismore, Inverell with ease.

Basically, I'm saying that two or so superchargers on the New England, and relocation of two on the pacific highway could open up a lot of towns/routes for MS drivers.

 

[MangroveMike]

The map looks great, putting in some fine work, and I hope that whoever is doing the planning in Tesla keeps a close eye on it.

My suggestion would be that for the Sydney to Brisbane run, keep in mind that there are major cities along the inland route, which is quite popular. Careful consideration of Pacific Highway and New England highway supercharger locations would probably just allow for access between the two routes.

I'd suggest instead of Taree and Urunga, that Port Macquarie/Wauchope and Grafton would service the pacific well, while allowing the distance to make it over the (winding) ranges, which are fantastic drivers routes.

Walcha/Uralla/Bendimeer would service the new England region between Armidale and Tamworth. Tenterfield maybe could allow new england travellers to reach both Brisbane and Toowoomba, with range to reach Lismore, Inverell with ease.

Basically, I'm saying that two or so superchargers on the New England, and relocation of two on the pacific highway could open up a lot of towns/routes for MS drivers.

I think moving Taree would make the stretch from Freemans to Port Macquarie too far, especially considering the impact that the Buladelah mountains would have on range. It might be OK for 85's but not for 60's.

Good idea at opening up that route though - what about somewhere near Armidale?

 

[heosat]

The map looks great, putting in some fine work, and I hope that whoever is doing the planning in Tesla keeps a close eye on it.

My suggestion would be that for the Sydney to Brisbane run, keep in mind that there are major cities along the inland route, which is quite popular. Careful consideration of Pacific Highway and New England highway supercharger locations would probably just allow for access between the two routes.

I'd suggest instead of Taree and Urunga, that Port Macquarie/Wauchope and Grafton would service the pacific well, while allowing the distance to make it over the (winding) ranges, which are fantastic drivers routes.

Walcha/Uralla/Bendimeer would service the new England region between Armidale and Tamworth. Tenterfield maybe could allow new england travellers to reach both Brisbane and Toowoomba, with range to reach Lismore, Inverell with ease.

Basically, I'm saying that two or so superchargers on the New England, and relocation of two on the pacific highway could open up a lot of towns/routes for MS drivers.

I actually think I might tweak the New England path a bit as it would be very handy for many people to have an SC at Armidale, but I think Thunderbolts Way is asking too much. Yes it's a brilliant route to drive but it isn't frequented enough to warrant dedicated infrastructure right now.

 

[alexeiw123]

I think moving Taree would make the stretch from Freemans to Port Macquarie too far, especially considering the impact that the Buladelah mountains would have on range. It might be OK for 85's but not for 60's.

Good idea at opening up that route though - what about somewhere near Armidale?

Yes, I know it was discussed much earlier, but I think that north of Newcastle would suit better, as I think that charging infrastructure withing Sydney, supercharger or not, is a given with time, not to mention service centres. Sydney to Newcastle would be an easy distance, I guess. That's just my opinion though.

Regarding near Armidale, I think Uralla is a good spot. Walcha would be good, but probably too far from the new England to be convenient. Bendemeer would suit, but maybe too small to find something to eat/do.

 

[alexeiw123]

I actually think I might tweak the New England path a bit as it would be very handy for many people to have an SC at Armidale, but I think Thunderbolts Way is asking too much. Yes it's a brilliant route to drive but it isn't frequented enough to warrant dedicated infrastructure right now.

Ah yes thunderbolts far too minor a route for SC's, I'm suggesting Oxley highway would be opened up with a SC near armidale (Uralla) and relocation of the Taree SC a touch further north. Maybe Kew?

Similar thoughts with the Gwydir between Glen Innes and Grafton.

Those highway interconnections between the New England and Pacific highways are quite frequented, and tremendous drives. It would be great to be able to cross the range in an EV, even with a degree of planning.

 

[heosat]

Yes, I know it was discussed much earlier, but I think that north of Newcastle would suit better, as I think that charging infrastructure withing Sydney, supercharger or not, is a given with time, not to mention service centres. Sydney to Newcastle would be an easy distance, I guess. That's just my opinion though.

Regarding near Armidale, I think Uralla is a good spot. Walcha would be good, but probably too far from the new England to be convenient. Bendemeer would suit, but maybe too small to find something to eat/do.

I've given a lot of consideration to an SC location north of Newcastle and I keep coming back to the Sydney -> Hunter -> Sydney trip, which is extremely frequent, and it's just not feasible on an S60 and not insanely comfortable on an S85. Also, if you want to skip Sydney and go Goulburn -> north of Newcastle, then that's not comfortable on an S85 either. However, Freemans Waterhole is perfect for both.

I've tweaked my New England route to have Murrurundi and Armidale. That gives good coverage over nearly all the region and allows Sydney -> Tamworth/Armidale in 1 stop for an S85.

Updated map attached:

 

[JOH]

Really nice map! Thanks for the time and thought. One suggestion would be to move the Tweed location slightly north to the Gold Coast. Would provide slightly more even spacing from location north of Lismore and I think the Gold Coast is a desirable location for many, thus addressing part of the concern for visitors (ok, and a bit selfish as well, although frankly, I'd rather charge at home than drive an hour to the SC to get free electricity!).

The other comment I'd have is that if Tesla must prioritise, then it appears your locations along the coast would cover max population as a first run. The more inland locations do provide good overlap, but would seem to be secondary in terms of population and detonation/route coverage.

 

[wpapua]

Definitely, I want to drive it in my S. How much does the SC at Geelong help or are more needed?

Given that most owners will be in Melbourne (home charging), with Geelong only about 70 kms away, I doubt Geelong is the right spot for a SC. See the distances applying to the Great Ocean Road in my Post #178. To me, Warrnambool seems the logical spot.
Do understand, I'm talking 85's here. How it applies to 60's I'm not sure.

 

[alexeiw123]

Snip

Updated map attached:

Snip

Looks awesome, a lot of time and thought gone in to this on your part. I hope it's used as a guide for the real deal.

For what it's worth, I plan to add my place on plugshare in Port Macquarie at some point. For the next few years I only have 10A GPOs (could do a 15), so not all that useful for range really, but it's something. I've got PV and generate more than I use, so why not?

I'd like to see a solid plugshare network in aus to supplement the supercharger/public chargepoints, especially in the early days.

 

[wpapua]

Looks awesome, a lot of time and thought gone in to this on your part. I hope it's used as a guide for the real deal.

For what it's worth, I plan to add my place on plugshare in Port Macquarie at some point. For the next few years I only have 10A GPOs (could do a 15), so not all that useful for range really, but it's something. I've got PV and generate more than I use, so why not?

I'd like to see a solid plugshare network in aus to supplement the supercharger/public chargepoints, especially in the early days.

Plugshare. Certainly the way to go. Same here, excess PV going to waste, at least in the daytime, until home power storage added in the future, when the price comes down.

 

[alexeiw123]

Plugshare. Certainly the way to go. Same here, excess PV going to waste, at least in the daytime, until home power storage added in the future, when the price comes down.

In the same boat with storage prices. I have a great gross feed in tariff, so excess power is good, but I don't expect enough people would be using it to really impact too much on that. Greater good...

 

[Ascientist]

Could you include one at the Tesla office in Botany? I think it is reasonable that a country visitor would need to charge in city when visiting.

 

[heosat]

Could you include one at the Tesla office in Botany? I think it is reasonable that a country visitor would need to charge in city when visiting.

Tesla wouldn't install a Supercharger there but I'm sure they would be open to have a 3-phase wall charger available that could charge at 100km/hr.

 

[meloccom]

Could you include one at the Tesla office in Botany? I think it is reasonable that a country visitor would need to charge in city when visiting.

Tesla are looking for a new location for the Service Center, Alexandria was mentioned.
The biggest issue they have is finding somewhere with sufficient power, so I think an HPC is a given once they have relocated.

 

[wpapua]

In the same boat with storage prices. I have a great gross feed in tariff, so excess power is good, but I don't expect enough people would be using it to really impact too much on that. Greater good...

News today re Solar360 home energy storage from the Australian Solar Council (John Grimes) at [email protected]
Who knows how the polluting utilities & our present 'dinosaur' Federal Government are going to react to more available & cheaper home energy storage ? I suspect we should expect some fireworks ! At least, serious attempts to curtail it's growth. However, I think the cat is out of the bag !

 

[alexeiw123]

News today re Solar360 home energy storage from the Australian Solar Council (John Grimes) at [email protected]
Who knows how the polluting utilities & our present 'dinosaur' Federal Government are going to react to more available & cheaper home energy storage ? I suspect we should expect some fireworks ! At least, serious attempts to curtail it's growth. However, I think the cat is out of the bag !

If you refer to reneweconomy, recently in Victoria, one supplier has just introduced a $0.14 per day fixed charge for customers with PV installed. This is madness to me, you do something green, you sell electricity, generally at less than what they sell it to others, and you are punished for it. All this achieves is to drive customers toward grid disconnection, and in turn cause further price rises for the remaining customers. Is it fair? no, but that's the choice the government is making by choosing to invest in coal over renewables.

As an electrical engineer for a poles and wires company, where my job is directly related to forecasting and infrastructure costs, I think I should explicitly state that these are my own personal opinions!

My personal goal in the next 5 years, is to replace both our vehicles with EV's, and be grid disconnected with battery backup covering all daily commuting and household needs.

 

[heosat]

If you refer to reneweconomy, recently in Victoria, one supplier has just introduced a $0.14 per day fixed charge for customers with PV installed. This is madness to me, you do something green, you sell electricity, generally at less than what they sell it to others, and you are punished for it. All this achieves is to drive customers toward grid disconnection, and in turn cause further price rises for the remaining customers. Is it fair? no, but that's the choice the government is making by choosing to invest in coal over renewables.

As an electrical engineer for a poles and wires company, where my job is directly related to forecasting and infrastructure costs, I think I should explicitly state that these are my own personal opinions!

My personal goal in the next 5 years, is to replace both our vehicles with EV's, and be grid disconnected with battery backup covering all daily commuting and household needs.

An enviable goal. Will you be installing your own storage?

 

[alexeiw123]

An enviable goal. Will you be installing your own storage?

More than likely. The goal is still a pipe dream at current prices vs income ha! But I expect that to change in the near future. I'm also in the lucky position where a family member owns a long standing solar (water & PV) supply and installation business, so may be able to get favourable prices, although currently there's other suppliers that can do better in regards to batteries. Here's hoping.

 

[heosat]

More than likely. The goal is still a pipe dream at current prices vs income ha! But I expect that to change in the near future. I'm also in the lucky position where a family member owns a long standing solar (water & PV) supply and installation business, so may be able to get favourable prices, although currently there's other suppliers that can do better in regards to batteries. Here's hoping.

It's going to be big business soon enough and an area I'm possibly interested in getting into, capital willing.

 

[Dborn]

Tesla are looking for a new location for the Service Center, Alexandria was mentioned.
The biggest issue they have is finding somewhere with sufficient power, so I think an HPC is a given once they have relocated.

Probably multiple units - they have to charge both pre delivery cars and cars in for service.