Doing Auckland to Wellington-ish and back in a rented model 3 over the next few days visiting a couple of customers along the way. Won't be going for any efficiency records, getting back to Auckland to have the car back before 5pm is going to be a long enough day as it is. Weather forecast looks like it will give me a chance to shout "2 bacon" at the rental car along the desert road and see if it understands.
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New Zealand Road Trips
- Thread starter Miggy
- Start date
I noticed some of the destination chargers are tesla plugs not CCS like all the new cars have fitted, we have 3 days booked in Crowne Plaza Queenstown next week for our anniversary and we booked specifically for the easy charging option. I guess I shouldnt have assumed !
Anyway I dont see any option for a tesla->ccs adaptor so I was wondering if this just out of date info and have they been updated to CCS? Anyone know ?
Anyway I dont see any option for a tesla->ccs adaptor so I was wondering if this just out of date info and have they been updated to CCS? Anyone know ?
If you are looking this up on PlugShare, they assume All Tesla Wall Connectors are fitted with Tesla proprietary world wide, or they don’t have a way of indicating the difference. The wall connector sold in NZ by Tesla has a type 2 plug, and will fit a NZ spec Tesla of any type. It’s listed specifically as a Tesla plug as it may not charge another brand of car even if the plug type is physically compatible.
Edit:
Just looked up the Crowne Plaza Queenstown on the Tesla charging website so it’s officially supplied so it will be a type 2 plug.
Audietron
Active Member
I went to far north from Auckland and found chargers at every 50-100 KM distance... all Mitre10 across the country and most Pack & Save got Tesla charger to use for free, Many New World got Chargenet, At Paihia 60-70% hotels had chargers there... so network is not as bad as one pump in a city - unless you were referring to super-charger or 100KW plus chargers only.
Similar experience towards central north island on different trip.
There are no Tesla plugs in NZ, all are Mennekes Type 2 / CCS2 the only place you'll find a Tesla connector is on imported cars
All Tesla destination chargers are Mennekes Type 2
All supercharges are Mennekes Type 2 / CCS2, except for V3 I think these are CCS2 only
Anything that's Type 2 / CCS2 you'll be able to use although some AC charges are BYO cable
Do you not have have plugshare app
it's not that bad, although the wait time can be a pain with more EV's on the road every month
You can plan your trip with ABRP also has an app
The 10 day trip went great and car behaved beautifully and nothing at all to worry about in the end, all the EV charging stations were working and mostly not occupied and we never went below 42% charge for any part of the trip (mainly because we were being cautious)
We stayed at a hotels with destination chargers in Christchurch, Wanaka and Queenstown all without a hitch (and no other EVs), and a nice hotel, the Mantra in Lake Tekapo which had lovely town houses amazingly good value with internal access garages with a 10A sockets you could plug your charger into.
I did try the supercharger in Omarama its on an unsealed gravel parking area, the hot tubs and cafe they were adjacent to were nice (you should book ahead if you want the hot tubs) but I would have thought Tesla could do a bit better with the presentation, they had two types of plug and of course I picked the wrong one first (glad nobody was looking). All OK, a bit of a mehhh experience though, the chargenet location was better if you are not in a rush as it has sealed parking, is cheaper and more cafes to choose from.
I was also told (from the "internet") that there were parking spots with power points at the Hermitage Hotel in Mount Cook and I even enquired for them before my booking and they said yes, but when I got there, the receptionists scratched their heads and I found out it was basically the area they store pallets and stores and it was occupied with a quad bike and a pile of something.. Also had a big "no parking" sign in front, so nahh. Minus 2 degrees at night up there so you wouldnt want to spend too many nights there without a charger as it did loose about 25KM overnight. Spectacular views and drive made it worth the diversion.
Hanmer springs was used as a stop over on the way back, but you need to bring your own CCS adaptor cable to use the free chargers by the pool and they only gave 7KW not 22KW as "the Internet" said, but hey they were right by the pools and 4 hours free parking/electricity so sweet. We go there several times a year so worth the investment for us if I can take the model3 rather than the UTE. Also had a tesla commando 16A adaptor on hand as a few stops on plugshare had power points but we never took it out of its packing.
Cruise control was a bit hit and miss. I learnt to turn it off or cover the gas pedal on roads bending to the left on hills or passing cars as it went bat-*sugar*-crazy a few times with braking and collision alerts, cruise worked completely fine on our run home from Kaikoura to Blenhiem at night though, I think because we only passed 6 cars! (Only in NZ). Navigation was better but I had to ignore several attempts to take me off the state highway only to join it again a few kilometers down the road. If you want a laugh try using voice to "navigate to Wanaka" or "Navigate to Hanmer Springs" Also maps could really also do with showing the local EV chargers on it rather than having to use your phone. (I bet theres a setting!)
Range Estimate was a little bit optimistic but not overly so, and I eventually felt confident using it. Coming from a nissan leaf here!
Anyway, total charging costs Blenheim to Milford Sounds return $77 and could easily have done it for half that if we were not so cautious.. Next time we will add an extra couple of days and go back the west coast route, that should be fun.
We stayed at a hotels with destination chargers in Christchurch, Wanaka and Queenstown all without a hitch (and no other EVs), and a nice hotel, the Mantra in Lake Tekapo which had lovely town houses amazingly good value with internal access garages with a 10A sockets you could plug your charger into.
I did try the supercharger in Omarama its on an unsealed gravel parking area, the hot tubs and cafe they were adjacent to were nice (you should book ahead if you want the hot tubs) but I would have thought Tesla could do a bit better with the presentation, they had two types of plug and of course I picked the wrong one first (glad nobody was looking). All OK, a bit of a mehhh experience though, the chargenet location was better if you are not in a rush as it has sealed parking, is cheaper and more cafes to choose from.
I was also told (from the "internet") that there were parking spots with power points at the Hermitage Hotel in Mount Cook and I even enquired for them before my booking and they said yes, but when I got there, the receptionists scratched their heads and I found out it was basically the area they store pallets and stores and it was occupied with a quad bike and a pile of something.. Also had a big "no parking" sign in front, so nahh. Minus 2 degrees at night up there so you wouldnt want to spend too many nights there without a charger as it did loose about 25KM overnight. Spectacular views and drive made it worth the diversion.
Hanmer springs was used as a stop over on the way back, but you need to bring your own CCS adaptor cable to use the free chargers by the pool and they only gave 7KW not 22KW as "the Internet" said, but hey they were right by the pools and 4 hours free parking/electricity so sweet. We go there several times a year so worth the investment for us if I can take the model3 rather than the UTE. Also had a tesla commando 16A adaptor on hand as a few stops on plugshare had power points but we never took it out of its packing.
Cruise control was a bit hit and miss. I learnt to turn it off or cover the gas pedal on roads bending to the left on hills or passing cars as it went bat-*sugar*-crazy a few times with braking and collision alerts, cruise worked completely fine on our run home from Kaikoura to Blenhiem at night though, I think because we only passed 6 cars! (Only in NZ). Navigation was better but I had to ignore several attempts to take me off the state highway only to join it again a few kilometers down the road. If you want a laugh try using voice to "navigate to Wanaka" or "Navigate to Hanmer Springs" Also maps could really also do with showing the local EV chargers on it rather than having to use your phone. (I bet theres a setting!)
Range Estimate was a little bit optimistic but not overly so, and I eventually felt confident using it. Coming from a nissan leaf here!
Anyway, total charging costs Blenheim to Milford Sounds return $77 and could easily have done it for half that if we were not so cautious.. Next time we will add an extra couple of days and go back the west coast route, that should be fun.
Epic fail today - feeling quite disillusioned. Hamilton to Taupo in 10-15 deg with some rain, demister on for some of the trip, average speed about 90kmh. The range estimator said 25% remaining (from 80% SOC). We arrived with 15%. I’ve never known it to be soooo wrong before at such slow speeds. 2019 SR+.
After recent observations, I feel Tesla have changed their range algorithm for marketing purposes. It’s now completely unreliable in my opinion. I would consider a Polestar2 but it’s efficiency looks even worse and the base model eligible for the rebate is not great value for money.
After recent observations, I feel Tesla have changed their range algorithm for marketing purposes. It’s now completely unreliable in my opinion. I would consider a Polestar2 but it’s efficiency looks even worse and the base model eligible for the rebate is not great value for money.
My 2020 SR+ efficiency is terrible in winter. Just toodling around Wellington on my usual commute - mixed motorway and steep hills, I am using 12-15% instead of the 8-10% during summer.
I just looked at my last winter trip in July 2021 - Wellington to Auckland to Wellington:
1.575 kms
235kwh used
149 wh/km
Didn’t seem that bad to be honest.
I just looked at my last winter trip in July 2021 - Wellington to Auckland to Wellington:
1.575 kms
235kwh used
149 wh/km
Didn’t seem that bad to be honest.
Audietron
Active Member
anyone noticed water puddle it makes when parked in garage and kids playing games? probably aircon doing that.
I had major issues reversing the car when on slop... car had no response and it was falling down the steep driveway... luckily they open the gate in time so I can drive down the slop, else I was either stuck there or crashing in the gate when trying to go reverse (as in stead of reverse it kept on going forward)
two things learned on trip...
I had major issues reversing the car when on slop... car had no response and it was falling down the steep driveway... luckily they open the gate in time so I can drive down the slop, else I was either stuck there or crashing in the gate when trying to go reverse (as in stead of reverse it kept on going forward)
two things learned on trip...
Audietron
Active Member
Puddle I tested again and it's Aircon.... didn't had same issue with any earlier car, but every car is different... I wish Tesla was using that water in some way instead of making mess.
I have car on hold settings, when putting in reverse on slop, it rolls forward before giving up and keep rolling.... it doesn't hold nicely as well, had to step on breaks heavy to get some response from car.
On the way home once it pulled in front of truck for no reason....
recently visited service centre for all these issues and service centre senior guy said, it's not yet perfect car so all of these expected... in future if I don't want issues I should avoid using self driving and reversing on slop... most honest statement coming from first tesla employee.
Audietron
Active Member
Dry ground...
Steep slop leading to gated downward road...
I had to stop at gate and honk to try and get attention and get gate open...
When stopping at gate, normal hold doesn't hold and car keep rolling.
Pumped breaks all the way to finally stop car rolling
as no response, I am trying to reverse to get away from gate
When in reverse, releasing the breaks so that I can drive simply makes car rolling forward...
Luckily by that time I got attention of property owner (as car is silent... no mega engine sound)
gate open and I slowly drove downwards as very little control on car... it just want to roll down...
owner says, few people in past had similar issues (It's holiday home and he had few Tesla and other EV owners visiting in past)
his opinion, including tesla, all EV failed to reverse in time... no issues ever with any combustion engine (even tiny engines)
I’m not sure if Model 3 is the same as my Model S but the hill hold feature doesn’t seem to use the park/emergency brake callipers, it appears to use the regular brake callipers to hold the car. It uses the brake pressure you applied to come to a stop for the hill hold feature and that works on small slopes, however on steep hills you have to press a bit harder for hill hold to work.
it’s caught me out a few times when I come up a steep hill near me and have to stop at some traffic lights at the top of the hill. I don’t need much pressure on the brake to stop at the lights and if I just lift off the pedal and expect hill hold to work it will roll back; your next reaction after letting off the brake is to hit the brake again to hold it which stops the car but is also the signal for hill hold to turn off, so if you let go again it rolls back again and at first you wonder what is the matter with the car.
The next time you come to a stop on a steep hill, press the brake pedal somewhat harder before letting go the first time and hill hold will work, it just can’t increase the pressure on the brakes on its own, it can only use the pressure supplied by your foot.
Hope that makes sense and hope it helps.
Audietron
Active Member
makes total sense... It was mostly combination of feature exchange and me not flooring the breaks in first place... too much expectations I was keeping on car as in past it always worked - but in past with combustion cars I always had hand break used by hill-hold feature....
However, not being able to go reverse is something appears to be common with most EV, including tesla... as property owner mentioned earlier instances and I had same issue few times...
That's why shared for others to consider if running into similar scenario.... beats crashing the car simply due to over confidence on it.
A function of Plugshares US centric-ness (so it's a bit of a workaround)
And Tesla's weird decision to not work by default with all Type 2 cars (Gen 1 and early Gen2 chargers have a legacy mode, later Gen2 there is no such mode,Gen 3 has All Vehicles mode ).
So best practice with destination chargers in Au/ NZ
- if it's Tesla only - just use the TPC (Tesla plug)
- if it's all Type 2 cars - use TPC and Type 2
That way Plugshare remains accurate for other Type 2 cars.
Just got back from a trip; Pukekohe to Taupo return. 541km with a total use of 78 kWh / Avg. Energy 144 Wh/km
Did one charge at the Taupo Tesla Charger for $28.08
Home with 26% and on 3 hours of free charge now.
Did one charge at the Taupo Tesla Charger for $28.08
Home with 26% and on 3 hours of free charge now.
Better off going to the chargeNet HPC chargers, faster, better located if you want a drink or a bite to eat, and cheaper.
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