Not enough Superchargers

[Shock-On-T]

I'll be doing a tour of Europe in a Model X in a few weeks, and as I plan the trip it occurs to me that we are really being under-supported in Australia when it comes to Superchargers.

I acknowledge that Australia is remote, but we buy a lot of Teslas. I see them every day driving around Sydney.

We are down to a single Supercharger station in Sydney, and stations are still incredibly sparse all over the nation.
London has 9 stations, the UK has 39. France has 62 stations. Germany has 59. In almost any direction in any part of Western Europe the spacing is 100km between stations.

We could use 5 stations in Sydney (North, Hills, West, South-west, South) in addition to City and St Leonards.
WA could use at least 5 stations (Perth, Bunbury, Albany, Geraldton, Carnarvon).
We need one on the way to the Hunter Valley (eg. Morisset) because Heatherbrae is not on the way to the Hunter Expressway. Singleton or Muswellbrook.
Need one at Tamworth, Dubbo, Mildura, Griffith.
Need one at Hobart, Devonport, Campbell Town, Strahan.
Need coast road Sydney to Melbourne.
Need Brisbane to Cairns, and Toowoomba, Armidale and Glen Innes.

Come on Tesla, move your a**!

 

[Cosmacelf]

Dude, Australian doesn't have nearly the population of even one typical European country. Take a look at Canada, which is roughly the same size as Australia population wise.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Dude, Australian doesn't have nearly the population of even one typical European country. Take a look at Canada, which is roughly the same size as Australia population wise.

Firstly, I'm in Australia, which makes it extra important
Secondly, it's more about the number of Teslas than the number of people.
Thirdly, Canada has 28 Superchargers, vs 13 in Australia. Toronto has 8 Superchargers in construction whereas Sydney just lost one of only two sites.

 

[ccdisce]

Firstly, I'm in Australia, which makes it extra important
Secondly, it's more about the number of Teslas than the number of people.
Thirdly, Canada has 28 Superchargers, vs 13 in Australia. Toronto has 8 Superchargers in construction whereas Sydney just lost one of only two sites.

talk to the man himself as he will be there soon. or use twitter

 

[Miggy]

How many Tesla's are there in Australia? I can't see any data on this.
In New Zealand there are about 200 Tesla's on the road and one four bay super charger in Hamilton.
We do have about 100 Fast Chargers and a growing number of Tesla Destination Chargers.

 

[baillies]

There are 760 Tesla's in NSW (table115_2017q2.html) and 7500 in Canada (Tesla Supercharger Stats) at q2 2017. Sales in NSW increased significantly this year with 261 registrations YTD. Plenty in Canada are complaining they cannot drive coast to coast with superchargers and considering we should be able to drive from Port Augustu to Rockhampton by Christmas I don't think it is too bad. More would always be better and they have already increased this year above there commitments. QLD is still getting the short straw it seems and hopefully they get a lot next year.

My guess is just over 2000 Tesla's in Aus at end Q2 17.

I think most owners I at the moment in AU are charging at home or work so in city chargers have not been such a high need till recently, although the increase in hire cars and sales means it is now becoming urgent if St Leonard's is always over fulll. I anticipate there will be a second Sydney site in the next 6 months and maybe more if the sales continue at the high rate. I was disappointed with the 2015 and 2016 sales but this year has increased a lot and may have caught Tesla Aus a little by surprise.

Edit: you could also check this video from Teslanimics

 

[BenT]

Over 1000 Teslas in Australia as of February 2017 on the Spotted in Australia and NZ thread. I would think the 2000 estimate is reasonable. Why don't Tesla publish their Australian sales data? I remember previously seeing a chart that showed Supercharger numbers compared to vehicles for various countries and Australia came out pretty well. As others have alluded to there is a difference between the need for close to home charging and the need for long distance charging. Because of Australia's size we will require more chargers per Tesla or per head of population. When you look at places like Norway it is not so much the Supercharger rate but the number of third party charging options that seems to stand out.

 

[Chuq]

I think we're going ok given our population. Bar Perth, the end of this year will see pretty much every major population centre connected.

One thing to their credit - they complete what they say they will do each year in Australia. How long has North Dakota or Turkey been on the "this year" map?

The rate has increased each year - 5 each in 2015 and 2016, and if all of this years sites go as planned, they will have another 11 go live. Another 11 in 2018 and we will have great coverage.

 

[Miggy]

supercharge.info
Look under the charts for more information.
Australia is sitting number 12 in the world for Superchargers.

 

[FlyingKiwi]

How many Tesla's are there in Australia? I can't see any data on this.
In New Zealand there are about 200 Tesla's on the road and one four bay super charger in Hamilton.
We do have about 100 Fast Chargers and a growing number of Tesla Destination Chargers.

Construction of a four bay supercharger site at Taupo has just started..

And calling 50kW DC chargers fast... Hmm, it is pushing it to call them fast when referencing Tesla (and soon others) with 60kWh+ battery packs that are going to take over an hour to reach 90%

 

[Chuq]

Construction of a four bay supercharger site at Taupo has just started..

Thanks for the tip off! New thread: Supercharger - Taupo NZ

 

[meloccom]

Having ordered my Model S before Supercharger support was even announced in Australia I think Tesla is doing pretty well. It's the rest of the industry that is dropping the ball here.
Today I'm on holiday in Sri Lanka and I opened my Plugshare app and was frankly astonished by the CHADEMO coverage in what is supposed to be a third world country. Seeing Nissan Leaves everywhere and not just in the capital Colombo. Why is this not happening in Australia?
Based on the Tesla.com supercharger page we should have access from Gympy to Adelaide by the end of the year which is a pretty good achievement based on about 2000 sales.

 

[Shock-On-T]

How many Tesla's are there in Australia? I can't see any data on this.
In New Zealand there are about 200 Tesla's on the road and one four bay super charger in Hamilton.
We do have about 100 Fast Chargers and a growing number of Tesla Destination Chargers.

Yeah, there's actually an excellent rollout of ChaDeMo stations over there. They are very useful, almost as good as a supercharger. Usually 50kW, whereas Superchargers start at about 100 but drop to 50 and lower once the battery is over about 70% full.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Having ordered my Model S before Supercharger support was even announced in Australia I think Tesla is doing pretty well. It's the rest of the industry that is dropping the ball here.
Today I'm on holiday in Sri Lanka and I opened my Plugshare app and was frankly astonished by the CHADEMO coverage in what is supposed to be a third world country. Seeing Nissan Leaves everywhere and not just in the capital Colombo. Why is this not happening in Australia?
Based on the Tesla.com supercharger page we should have access from Gympy to Adelaide by the end of the year which is a pretty good achievement based on about 2000 sales.

I think it's due to the vast distances.
Still surprising there's not more saturation in the bigger cities.

 

[Mark E]

I think it's due to the vast distances.
Still surprising there's not more saturation in the bigger cities.

Not really. I'd much rather that they put them covering more of the country than filling in the cities. We might need some more options when model 3's start shipping in volume to cater for people without the ability to charge at home, but for now it's OK. If they were to put another one in Sydney, then something in between Penrith and Hornsby would be useful so that people heading north/south can bypass coming through the city.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Not really. I'd much rather that they put them covering more of the country than filling in the cities. We might need some more options when model 3's start shipping in volume to cater for people without the ability to charge at home, but for now it's OK. If they were to put another one in Sydney, then something in between Penrith and Hornsby would be useful so that people heading north/south can bypass coming through the city.

What I mean is that little countries tend to have lots of Nissan Leafs etc and have lots of ChaDeMos.
Australia is too big to make money as a 3rd party provider. You'd never get your money back putting one in Dubbo or Forster or Kiama. Tesla can take a loss on remote sites because they're 'selling' the supercharger network as a package.

But you can make money having a ChaDeMo in shopping centres in Sydney or Melbourne. Not that it's good for all EV drivers, but it's good business. That's why it's strange we don't have much coverage.

 

[Mark E]

Not sure that there is much money to be made offering charging in metro areas other than incidental opportunities to attract customers. Most people won't pay a premium over what it costs at home to charge.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Is it too late to also wish for a knockout blonde and a P100D?
Just seen the site updated with planned super chargers in:
- Tamworth
- Dubbo
- Narooma
- Singleton
- Gold Coast
- Toowoomba
- Traralgon
- Warrnambool
- Bright
- Canberra
- Mansfield
- Perth

Oh Tesla, how could I have doubted thee....

 

[Murbs]

Is it too late to also wish for a knockout blonde and a P100D?
Just seen the site updated with planned super chargers in:
- Tamworth
- Dubbo
- Narooma
- Singleton
- Gold Coast
- Toowoomba
- Traralgon
- Warrnambool
- Bright
- Canberra
- Mansfield
- Perth

Oh Tesla, how could I have doubted thee....

It seems like someone at Tesla read the original post in your thread

 

[Attica04]

So where would we put chargers to link Adelaide and Perth?