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Melbourne to Sydney via Destination Charger in a MY RWD

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Last year we visited my in-laws in Melbourne in our Model 3, and some of you will remember that I documented that trip here. I obviously didn't behave myself in 2022, and as punishment I was again forced to visit my in-laws in Melbourne. This time we did it in the Model Y RWD, and I decided to document what it's like touring in the fat Model 3 (MY).

Before the journey this time around I was concerned about whether the Model Y’s (MY) range and efficiency would be a noticeable step down from the Unicorn. Whilst the MY was clearly going to provide more luggage space (my in-laws managed to pack it to the brim with “stuff”) and rear passenger seat comfort, there was some doubt whether it would outweigh the loss of range and performance. Doing some scenario planning indicated that the impact in loss of range would be noticeable, as both ABRP and the in-car nav were predicting significantly higher consumption than I’d experienced in the M3.

Like last year I decided to document my real world results, and you can assume that the car was driven at the exact speed limit at all times, that max acceleration was used when needed, tyre pressures were as per recommendation, and that the cabin was kept at 21c.

Getting to Melbourne and living without a home charger
After having been really happy touring with the 2021 Model 3 SR+ 60kWh, I was pleasantly surprised with the MY RWD averaging similar numbers to the M3. Our first leg from Sydney to Albury used 152Wh/km over 553kms of mainly 110km/h freeway running, and the overall road trip ended up being 3,333km at 150Wh/km. Impressive numbers for the fat Model 3.

In Albury we stayed at the Artura Hotel due its destination charger, and whilst the rooms were a little tired the charger was always available (and the staff very accommodating about using it) and the hotel was well located to walking through the centre of town. All parking spots including the Tesla charger are uncovered.

Living in Melbourne without access to a home charger again, compared to 12 months I noticed that a) there are more charging options popping up all over Melbourne, and b) there are a lot more EVs than last year using those charges. Whilst I was the there the new Box Hill supercharger came on line, and it was great to have this as an option. I found that the chargers at the shopping centres were almost always taken, whereas the council supplied AC charging options were more viable. I suspect that council supplied signage (see below) encourages people to do the right thing (along with the chargers stopping after a set time period) compared to the shopping centre options. I found that the street charging always had strangers stopping to observe the car charging and ask questions, so they’re playing a role in demystifying EVs. Going out to slow charge was a good way of getting my own time and space, and I spent hours and hours in the MY and never once felt sore from the seats.

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During our time in Melbourne we went as far south as Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Peninsula, and TACC was heavily relied upon to keep me out of trouble in the speed camera capital of Australia.

Melbourne to Wangaratta
As per last year, I selected the accommodation options for the return trip to Sydney based on those that had Tesla Destination Chargers, and for this trip the Gateway Wangaratta was selected as the stop. I decided that the route we'd be taking is to leave Melbourne and head for the Yarra Valley, then do a fly-by of the Yea Supercharger on the way to Mansfield for lunch. From there we would go via some of the wineries in King Valley before arriving at Wangaratta.
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Melbourne to Yarra Valley
Leaving Melbourne our first stop was the Chocolate Factory in Yarra Valley, with most of the journey being in 60 and 80 km/h zones. Despite these slower speeds, I was pleasantly surprised at the efficiency results given that I battled the Melbourne traffic lights in a fully loaded MY. It’s remarkable how much gear an MY can swallow, I estimated that it could take double the amount of gear that my brother-in-law’s GLB250 could manage.

Distance: 57 km
Temp: 18c
Avg. Energy - 116 Wh/km (!!)

Yarra Valley to Mansfield
So far I was really happy with the route, with roads typical of the Australia bush. We sailed past the Yea Supercharger with the car at 75% SoC, and it was great to experience the serenity of Bonnie Doon we glided past. Mansfield is a beautiful town and worth the trip.

Whilst the traffic was light, when called upon it's obvious that the MY lacks the M3 Unicorn's punch when overtaking in 100km/h highways in the opposing lane. Compared to the Unicorn, the MY requires more caution when overtaking on the opposing lane, however I never felt that I missed an overtaking opportunity because of the lack of the Tesla Thump. What you do miss out on is spending a few seconds less on the wrong side of the road.

Distance - 132km
Temp: 31c
Avg. Energy - 150Wh/km
SoC upon arrival - 54%

Mansfield to King Valley
King Valley is famous for its Italian produce and wine, and it didn't disappoint. The drive there over the mountains was scenic, and if wine isn't your thing then there's two destination chargers at Dal Zotto wines along with other refreshment options.

Distance - 64 km
Temp: 33c
Avg. Energy - 141 Wh/km
SoC upon arrival - 36%
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King Valley to Wangaratta
Given that I knew I might be arriving with a low SoC in Wangaratta, the day before I'd called the Gateway Wangaratta to check all was ok with the Destination Chargers (they have two). Not a problem, and they said that they'd reserve the charger parking spot for me on arrival. Nice. What was even better is that overnight they cleaned the windscreen of the car and left a little note, very nice touch. I'd recommend staying here for the modern rooms, undercover parking, great pool, and the great restaurant.

Distance: 49 km
Temperature: 35c
Avg Consumption: 147 Wh/km
Arrival SoC: 25%

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The fat Model 3 exceeded my expectations as a road trip vehicle, it does 90% of everything the Model 3 does so well and then adds improved comfort for the rear seat passengers and more luggage capacity. If you’re hauling kids, it’s a brutally efficient way to get around as it does everything so well.

That’s the first part of the trip home, I’ll update this thread with the Wangaratta to Sydney leg in the coming days.
 
Nice write up! Will be doing Syd-Melb later this year in my m3lr as a first proper long drive

I probably should’ve gone for a Y for the extra space but the P is too expensive and I can’t let go of the silly power I have currently
 
Nice write up!! Could I ask when you ordered your MY and when you received it?
12:30pm the day orders opened up, so at least a couple of hours late. ;)
As with your M3 report trip, this one is enjoyable to read too.
Maybe next do a Bjorn style video :)
Thank you. I prefer to write when I get in the mood, I'll leave the video to the experts as it's a lot of work to produce good quality content. I would however love to see someone try the Sydney - Gundagai non-stop in a MY RWD, I used 57kWh so it's doable.
Nice write up! Will be doing Syd-Melb later this year in my m3lr as a first proper long drive
If you're looking for somewhere to stop in regional Victoria, I'd recommend Chateau Tahblik for lunch or the town of Beechworth.
 
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Useful write up. My road trips have been confined to the Supercharger Coast (tm) so far: Bris-Syd and a bit of the south coast of NSW. They were so uneventful that they didn't warrant writing up in detail. But they did remind me that destination chargers are still rare, and they're never where you want to stay overnight.
 
Wangaratta to Gundagai
After sitting on the destination charger at the Gateway Hotel Wangaratta overnight, we departed on a hot morning with 100% SoC. The plan was to head to Gundagai non-stop, and to get there for an early lunch and hopefully avoid a lunchtime queue for the Superchargers as had been seen post Boxing Day. The drive was almost entirely on the Hume at 110km/h, and the number of cars on the motorway cleared post Albury.

This leg would have been uneventful except for one point when whilst executing an auto lane change, just as Autopilot was moving into the overtaking lane, a small road joining both sides of the freeway appeared on the right hand side. The lines of the middle road must have confused Autopilot, causing it to dramatically turn to the right as if it was going to try to execute a 90 degree turn at 110km/h. I managed to resume control without over correcting the steer in the other direction, however it was enough to scare both passengers who wanted to know what had happened. One of those moments when you intensely curse the Tesla team who allowed this feature to make it to customers.

Arriving at Gundagai at 11:40am, my concerns about charging queues were proven to be unfounded. Not a single EV at the entire site. I jumped on the Chargefox charger (that's my MY on the far left below), and in the process of doing this missed the opportunity to dig into the high Wh/km for this leg. As for the following leg into Goulburn, I suspect it was due to an increase in elevation.

Distance - 305 km
Temp: 30c
Avg. Energy - 168 Wh/km
SoC upon arrival - 36%

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Gundagai to Goulburn
In order to share the drive, my wife drove this leg. Having seen the challenges with Autopilot, she only used TACC which on it's own caught her out a couple of times with phantom braking and with overly conservative braking caused by a ute crossing the freeway. At one point whilst we were overtaking a truck I warned her to be prepared for TACC to cautiously brake whilst doing so, to which she remarked "every other car that I've driven with cruise control has you being ready to brake, this is the first one where you need to be ready to accelerate."

Only one other Tesla was charging at the Goulburn Superchargers on arrival, and we had a quick toilet stop at the Visitor Centre before heading off.

Distance - 173 km
Temp: 28c
Avg. Energy - 175 Wh/km
SoC upon arrival - 35%

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Goulburn to Sydney
Our final destination was Chatswood, and for some reason the nav was insisting that we had another stop at the Macquarie Supercharger before arriving home just 5 kms away. The final leg was uneventful except for trying to get out of the way of the afternoon tradie grand prix, and we had relatively light traffic for arrival into Sydney at 4:30pm.

Distance - 215 km
Temp: 27c
Avg. Energy - 131 Wh/km
SoC upon arrival - 27%

Overall Melbourne Road Trip Numbers

Distance: 3,333km
Total Energy: 500kWh
Avg. Energy - 150Wh/km
Total Energy Spend: $93.71
 
Again, great write-up!

I'm planning my first daytrip for when I pick up on the 27th. Penrith - Goulburn - Bathurst (plus Mt Panorama ;)) - Penrith. I can't wait to check the stats, etc.
That's a great way to get to know your car. If you're gentle with the throttle, you should be able to get (glide) from Katoomba to Penrith using around 2% battery. In case you're looking for a stop on the way home, they'll turn on the Tesla Destination Charger for you at the Hydro Majestic Cafe if you order something to eat from them.
 
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That's a great way to get to know your car. If you're gentle with the throttle, you should be able to get (glide) from Katoomba to Penrith using around 2% battery. In case you're looking for a stop on the way home, they'll turn on the Tesla Destination Charger for you at the Hydro Majestic Cafe if you order something to eat from them.
I just had a look at the ABRP graph and it's predicting a 6% drop in SoC from Katoomba to Penrith. It'll be interesting to see the real world usage
 
I just had a look at the ABRP graph and it's predicting a 6% drop in SoC from Katoomba to Penrith. It'll be interesting to see the real world usage

I’ve driven from Mt Victoria to Lapstone and my SoC went up 😄

And the photographic proof was in my road trip report from last year 😉

 
I just did Mel-Syd-Mel over the weekend in my M3LR, 2 passengers plus luggage.

The Mel-Syd leg required 3 stops, Euroa, Gundagai and Goulburn.

The return leg only needed two stops, Gundagai and Euroa. We departed Sydney with 95% because the hotel (Novotel) had destination chargers.

On the way to Sydney about 30kms north of Albury the nav suddenly panicked and recalculated wanting me to do a u-turn and back track to Wodonga to charge. It was estimating a 5% SOC on arrival to Gundagai, I decided to risk it and continue on. I ended up arriving into Gundagai with 8%. The only reason I could see for the sudden change in the route plan was that the temp outside suddenly dropped by 10 degrees and the estimated SOC for arrival went from 15% to 5%.