Australian Supercharger network

[doctorwho]

I'm not sure that this will really make a difference. The superchargers themselves don't actually need anyone in attendance to function, as long as they are accessible. Obviously having a business nearby selling coffees/food etc with a toilet are highly desirable.

Regional councils in these country towns would probably be happy to support a supercharger there if they don't have to pay for it - I'm thinking of the rest areas that are all over the place, including little places like Holbrook that have been bypassed by the freeway. If they are not open at 2am then it's not a biggie provided there are toilets open! Having a quick power nap in the car while supercharging at night may not be a bad thing.

Lithgow is a logical place for it since it's in the middle of the blue mountains etc and has a heap of tourist areas.

Of course, most of this is moot until we actually see what Tesla Aus are planning, but conversations I have had indicate that they will be looking (sensibly) at a combination of supercharging and destination charging - much cheaper.

I'd also expect that the superchargers would be spaced a bit wider since you can travel 300km with ease in a Model S - we drove Sydney to Canberra still with just on 100km remaining in a Roadster. Admittedly that was driving much slower than I'd usually drive (the cruise was set at 105km/h). I'd expect the Model S to get around 400km real world normal driving, so 280-320km spacing should be doable, depending on the elevation changes.

I'd also expect that the roll-out will initially be driven by the feedback of the owners. I've been to Melbourne and Brisbane from Sydney around 8 times this year, but haven't driven to either in years! I'd pretty well always fly unless I had loads of time, but always tend to drive to Canberra, Coffs Harbour, Orange, Hunter Valley etc. A supercharger near Canberra - Goulbourn or even Yass is good - would enable day trips. Overnight you can charge at Crowne using 32A, and I;m sure that there are other places there to charge.

Taree would make a lot of sense as well - depending on how much the climb affects usage. Supercharge at Taree and then destination charge at Coffs.

Something that I'd really like to see is a way to find places that have a 20, 32 or greater capacity for charging easily. That way we could actually see where we can go.

Out of interest, does anyone know how much charge you can expect to pull from a 15A circuit? A mate of mine in Orange has one and it would be interesting to see how much charge can be had with it. The rule of thumb appears to be about 5km/kWh, so does 15km/h seem reasonable?

Superchargers don't need 'pump attendants' but they do need security. Best to avoid isolated areas and best to have CCTV monitoring (from the experience of Moreland Council)

 

[Jmac]

ME - 32 is the most commonly deployed - so that should always be the sought after - just like we used in Canberra - it also allows stake holders to easily "upgrade" to a public charging station or HPC or the like down the track when they see the amount of customers driving Telsa or any EV for that matter.....

btw - 15A will give you roughly 3.6kW per hour - low charge you will hit that every time - after 75% the rate will drop - have to get you the charge flowrate chart so you can see.

 

[meloccom]

Open letter to Elon and Tesla Motors.
I know this forum is viewed by employees of Tesla Motors so i will put this out there in the hope it will influence the decision to support Supercharging in Australia.
Of a population of 23 Million in Australia (Source ABS 2013) 15.4 million are considered to be Internet users and 76% of those shopped on-line in 2012\13. Source
Despite the low population size a significant proportion are located around the South Eastern seaboard including more than 12 million in the major capital cities of Sydney Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. Source
I believe that the vast majority of current and potential customers would be well supported by a supercharger network that stretched from Brisbane to Adelaide a distance of 2,500 Kms or 1570 miles, this could be spanned by about 10 to 12 Supercharging stations with optionally another 2 or 3 surrounding Perth in Western Australia.
Despite the current government noise, Australia has a low Govt defect of 23% of GDP and a generally well educated and extensive upper an middle class that would be a good source of current and future sales.
My anecdotal experience indicates that Australians tend to hold off on technology until they can actually experience it and I believe there will be a significant uptick in sales of Model S once the car is available for testing locally. This is demonstrated by the significant penetration of smartphones and tablet computers in the Australian Marketplace.
I don't expect Superchargers to be installed along with or soon after the first deliveries but as you make final decisions surrounding the charging options of the Australian Model I would strongly urge you to include Supercharging even if this is on an optional basis.

 

[heosat]

Hey HeoSat - looking good....let me know if you could do with my Roadster Eastern Seaboard Charging Points (Tas to Port Douglas) to assist - Jmac

I didn't see this earlier but I'd love to see the location of the Roadster chargers.

 

[alexeiw123]

In the meantime, before there's a supercharger network, it would be great to see plugshare usage take off. I don't have an EV, but I do have solar and would happily allow some use of a plug at my house. 15A wouldn't be of huge use to MS owners though haha. For people that install HPWC's it could be a great way to promote longer distance travel. I guess there's always caravan parks too..

 

[doctorwho]

It would be great to see both. I'll be installing a home charger in the Ovens Valley NE Vic, good for those going to/coming from Mt Hotham or Falls creek

 

[heosat]

In the meantime, before there's a supercharger network, it would be great to see plugshare usage take off. I don't have an EV, but I do have solar and would happily allow some use of a plug at my house. 15A wouldn't be of huge use to MS owners though haha. For people that install HPWC's it could be a great way to promote longer distance travel. I guess there's always caravan parks too..

Sadly the Aussie Model S won't be able to use 3 phase at launch so caravan parks aren't too useful.

 

[timpoo]

I did some calculations and planning for a potential phase 1 Supercharger rollout for Australia.

Underpinning this planning were some basic assumptions that people would:

• Be using 85kWh Model S
• Want to travel between capital cities
• Want to travel to popular tourist destinations

So, here's map:

View attachment 46602

The routes and Supercharger locations (Supercharger locations are bolded):

• Sydney -> Goulburn -> Gundagai -> Wangaratta -> Melbourne (I would have liked to do this in 2 but the elevation changes are a killer).
• Sydney -> Goulburn -> Canberra
• Sydney -> Goulburn -> Jindabyne
• Sydney -> Lithgow -> Bathurst/Parkes/Dubbo/Mudgee/Orange
• Sydney -> Wallsend -> Port Macquarie -> Grafton -> Gold Coast/Brisbane
• Sydney -> Wallsend -> Cessnock/Tamworth/Armidale
• Melbourne -> Wangaratta -> Mount Hotham
• Melbourne -> Horsham -> Mildura/Adelaide
• Anywhere in Tasmania -> Campbell Town ​(optional)

So that makes 8 mainland Superchargers to cover the primary travel corridors.

Obvious locations that Superchargers would be useful in the future:

• Bendigo, Vic
• Dalby, Qld
• Port Augusta, SA
• Clare, SA
• Entire north coast of Queensland

Let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions as I'm happy to adjust locations!

Hey great work Heosat! I also think there should be superchargers inside the capital cities. What do you think?

 

[heosat]

Hey great work Heosat! I also think there should be superchargers inside the capital cities. What do you think?

When approaching a capital city I see two routes:
- You're driving through so use the next SC on the other side.
- You're stopping so use one of the chargers already available in the city.

Therefore I see no reason for SC's in capital cities.

 

[doctorwho]

Sadly the Aussie Model S won't be able to use 3 phase at launch so caravan parks aren't too useful.

How do you know that?

 

[salamagd]

Therefore I see no reason for SC's in capital cities.

I think one in each of, say, Melbourne and Sydney would be great for people that haven't yet got charging available in their homes or workplaces, or can't easily get it installed (eg. apartment buildings, etc).

 

[Dborn]

How do you know that?

Stone has told me that at launch, we will be getting a low power wall connector with the car. A universal charging cable like in the States has not been decided upon. The car will require a wall box for 3 phase which has, as yet, not been developed. We are getting type 2 connectors on the car, so maybe Mennekes equipment will work. The low power wall connector is being developed in house and will be up to 40 amps.

 

[doctorwho]

3 phase tariffs are much higher:cursing:

 

[Tasdevil]

Sadly the Aussie Model S won't be able to use 3 phase at launch so caravan parks aren't too useful.

Bjorn has made his own 32A 3phase plug charger. You can see it in his latest video at 2:25

But in terms of charging at home majority of people will just use 40a single phase.

 

[Lerxt]

Stone has told me that at launch, we will be getting a low power wall connector with the car. A universal charging cable like in the States has not been decided upon. The car will require a wall box for 3 phase which has, as yet, not been developed. We are getting type 2 connectors on the car, so maybe Mennekes equipment will work. The low power wall connector is being developed in house and will be up to 40 amps.

Looks like Australia is getting what Hong Kong and the UK are getting. There is a link to the Wall Unit installation manual at the HK forum. It is single phase. There are aftermarket UMC's available but they are about $800 USD from Mennekes so in Australia about $1600. May not be worth getting considering how much its used.

 

[Mark E]

Looks like Australia is getting what Hong Kong and the UK are getting. There is a link to the Wall Unit installation manual at the HK forum. It is single phase. There are aftermarket UMC's available but they are about $800 USD from Mennekes so in Australia about $1600. May not be worth getting considering how much its used.

It's going to be pretty annoying if the car here requires a specialised connector at a house for charging. The Roadster could plug in anywhere and that was a massive benefit. The car will be largely useless without a UMC as there won't be the chargers around to support it. As an example, I have a friend in Orange who I'd like to visit. He has a 15A circuit at his house, but it won't make any sense to install a specialised wall connector. It also means that caravan parks with 15A would be unavailable. I'd much prefer a UMC so that I just have to put a standard high power circuit in my garage and can use any power available.

 

[Lerxt]

If it's what it appears to be there will be no UMC and there is no point in fighting them about it. We tried that in HK. You will have to get an electrician ( at outrageous expense in Australia) to install yoru Wall Connector at home. I think a UMC would be essential in OZ given that there is no interest in setting up charging infrastructure at the moment. Keep in mind that if you are plugging into 15a it wil take a full day to charge your car so it is of limited use.

 

[Mark E]

Keep in mind that if you are plugging into 15a it wil take a full day to charge your car so it is of limited use.

Actually its of enormous use - from my house to Orange is about 280km. If I'm visiting it will be overnight, so if I get there at 1pm (about 3.5 hours from home) and leave the next day at 1pm the car will have had 24 hours @ 15A. That should work out to something like 300km added back - allowing some slowing of charge as it gets closer to 100% and also losses in the system.

Without that connector, I simply can't take the car out of the city, nor can I plug in anywhere that there is a 10A powerpoint to maintain the charge. Even with a standard 10A plug I'd expect that the car would be putting 2kW, or about 10km/h into the car. So at someone else's house without the 15A I'd probably still be able to top up at around 10km/h - so in the above example I might have to wait until 5pm but could still do it.

Without the UMC there would need to be a supercharger at Lithgow, and even then it'd be nerve racking going somewhere without a way to charge when you get there.

 

[doctorwho]

If it's what it appears to be there will be no UMC and there is no point in fighting them about it. We tried that in HK. You will have to get an electrician ( at outrageous expense in Australia) to install you Wall Connector at home. I think a UMC would be essential in OZ given that there is no interest in setting up charging infrastructure at the moment. Keep in mind that if you are plugging into 15a it wil take a full day to charge your car so it is of limited use.

Great, I'm going to need 2 wall connectors, one at my city apartment, one at my country house:scared:

 

[miimura]

Great, I'm going to need 2 wall connectors, one at my city apartment, one at my country house:scared:

You could install appropriate industrial high current sockets at each location and put a plug on the wall connector and take it with you - it's not that big. It may not be certified for plug and socket use, but with the proper fittings, it would be safe.

The Mobile Connector has been a hassle for Tesla in the states. They really need to improve the adapter connection to be more robust and worry less about it being small and elegant. It's a high current device, so it needs to be beefy. The sooner they realize that, the better off everyone will be. Anyway, I think that's why they're not distributing it in new markets like HK, CN, UK, JP, etc.