Great Ocean Road

[Tozla]

I'm going to be staying in Lorne for 4 days in September. Looks like we'll be staying at the Cumberland which has 2 destination chargers. Any day trip tips for the great ocean road? How far can I venture to have enough juice for a return trip in an MX 90D?

Google maps tells me that the Lorne to Cape Otway Lighthouse is 78km (1 hr 33 mins)? I should be Ok for the return trip back to Lorne. Perhaps I should stop at the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse in Apollo Bay for a bite to eat and a charge up.

I get terrible range anxiety even when I know I should be fine.

Any other day trip tips with Lorne as the base?

 

[conman]

If it's for the drive experience in addition to the scenery, the 20 something km after Lorne to Kennett river are much more fun than the drive to Lorne itself since the traffic to Lorne these days make the drive pretty boring and most stop at Lorne.

 

[Aussie Yank]

unless it has been upgraded, the brew house in Apollo bay is VERY slow. we were getting about 30km/hr charge six months ago.

 

[Mark E]

The destination chargers should mean that you have either a full range charge or a 90% daily charge in the morning - so you have at least 350km of autonomy each day. That return trip would use about 31-35kWh. If you are paranoid about range then it's worthwhile using sites like evtripplanner EV Trip Planner or "a better route planner" A Better Routeplanner

In the links you can see that I've already entered your trip for you. If you leave Lorne with 90% i.e. daily charge, then you should have just under 50% range remaining in a return trip to the lighthouse.

 

[Tozla]

unless it has been upgraded, the brew house in Apollo bay is VERY slow. we were getting about 30km/hr charge six months ago.

Psychologically 30km could ease my range anxiety.

 

[lennier]

Not exactly a long drive from Lorne but the Wye River General Store is a great spot for food and good coffee.

 

[Chuq]

While you're in the area, keep an eye out for a potential supercharger location - Tesla has Lorne on their list to be done this year! (Technically it's called "Great Ocean Road" so it could be another town)

 

[Dborn]

The visitor information centers are usually not bad places for a supercharger.

Do you have a 1772 adaptor cable? I did use it down there last year. Look up plugshare as well. You get non Tesla locations. I had no issue with my road trip from Sydney, great ocean road, mornington peninsula and back. I do carry a boot load of adaptors though.

 

[Tozla]

Anyone driven from Lorne to Twelve Apostles and back? Is it doable or does it require a stop?

 

[Dborn]

The entire road, from one end to the other is doable on a range charge. Obviously, though, not the return trip.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Psychologically 30km could ease my range anxiety.

You'll get an easy 300km on a full charge.
Just set your charge target to 90% then in the morning when you wake up set to 100%. It'll be done by the time you head off, and you'll have tons of range.

 

[Tozla]

You'll get an easy 300km on a full charge.
Just set your charge target to 90% then in the morning when you wake up set to 100%. It'll be done by the time you head off, and you'll have tons of range.

My round trip from Lorne to the 12 Apostles is about 260kms. I just get a little antsy with so few options in the area. With the exception of what the car came with I don't have any other adapters.

I think I'll stop in Apollo Bay at the Brewhouse for a bite to eat on the way back to Lorne to give myself a little bit of extra juice and some peace of mind.

 

[ixat]

Go visit the redwood forest and Houpton falls: Google Maps

Bit of a dirt track but a model x will handle that easily.

 

[Shock-On-T]

My round trip from Lorne to the 12 Apostles is about 260kms. I just get a little antsy with so few options in the area. With the exception of what the car came with I don't have any other adapters.

I think I'll stop in Apollo Bay at the Brewhouse for a bite to eat on the way back to Lorne to give myself a little bit of extra juice and some peace of mind.

It's always nice to give some business to places with destination chargers, so go right ahead!
Just on your range anxiety, I really wouldn't stress out too much.
Put your destination in the car's nav, and see what the 'return % charge' comes to. This is usually a conservative estimate.
Also, you can always slow down a bit to stretch out your range.

 

[lennier]

When are you heading there @Tozla? I may well be down there this weekend.

 

[Tozla]

When are you heading there @Tozla? I may well be down there this weekend.

I'm going late September.

Thanks for your advice.

Part of my range anxiety stems from not understanding the whole rated/actual thing.

I'm still a relative novice. I naively thought a range of 480km plus would give you at least 400 km to play with. Turns out it's a lot less than that.

I'm not complaining. I absolutely love the car. I just don't want to get stranded. I've used a lot of the online and app planners but I'm worried they're not so accurate because different apps give different results.

Also my car can sit in the driveway and lose kms.

 

[Shock-On-T]

I'm going late September.

Thanks for your advice.

Part of my range anxiety stems from not understanding the whole rated/actual thing.

I'm still a relative novice. I naively thought a range of 480km plus would give you at least 400 km to play with. Turns out it's a lot less than that.

I'm not complaining. I absolutely love the car. I just don't want to get stranded. I've used a lot of the online and app planners but I'm worried they're not so accurate because different apps give different results.

Also my car can sit in the driveway and lose kms.

Switch to "typical" range, it's much closer to realistic.
Using the navigator is very useful, it will tell you % at destination and % if returning to start point. It's pretty accurate.

 

[Dborn]

Go visit the redwood forest and Houpton falls: Google Maps

Bit of a dirt track but a model x will handle that easily.

Agree. Did that in my S no problem.

 

[Dborn]

Switch to "typical" range, it's much closer to realistic.
Using the navigator is very useful, it will tell you % at destination and % if returning to start point. It's pretty accurate.

Agree.

 

[lennier]

I'm going late September.

Thanks for your advice.

Part of my range anxiety stems from not understanding the whole rated/actual thing.

I'm still a relative novice. I naively thought a range of 480km plus would give you at least 400 km to play with. Turns out it's a lot less than that.

I'm not complaining. I absolutely love the car. I just don't want to get stranded. I've used a lot of the online and app planners but I'm worried they're not so accurate because different apps give different results.

Also my car can sit in the driveway and lose kms.

As per others' advice, use 'Typical' not 'Rated' and you'll get range indications far closer to reality. It's quite possible to achieve 'typical' kms in highway cruising if conditions are good.

EVTripPlanner is also pretty accurate in predicting usage and can account for several factors (like temp), wind being the main exception. If you plan trips using that with a bit of a safety buffer you'll generally be fine. The key thing to remember is that you can always gain a *lot* of range by slowing down a bit, so on highway trips watching how your remaining trip distance is tracking against the indicated remaining range you can judge when to slow down a bit if necessary. Even 5kmh slower makes a significant difference at highway speeds.