Not enough Superchargers

[wilsilly]

Thanks for the vote of confidence @RichadMcN
Not sure how many co-drivers but several family members with their hands up for parts of the trip so far. Won't be in any rush. My sister said "Do you really want to see/enjoy Australia OR do you just want to drive your Tesla around Australia?"
My answer is "Both!" I'm sure I can do both.

 

[wilsilly]

Leaving mid to late April and going clockwise @blueheaven so might need to get local advice by the time I get to Perth!

 

[MDK]

"Do you really want to see/enjoy Australia OR do you just want to drive your Tesla around Australia?"
My answer is "Both!" I'm sure I can do both.

Good answer
It's a fantastic way to see the country.

 

[erosco]

Whilst I realise it's still a year away; I'm hoping for superchargers between Brisbane and Cairns.. I'll be living in Cairns so I suspect my first trip will be from the Brisbane Showroom! - I doubt they'll deliver to FNQ - and I think I'd rather see it in the shop first and be picky about the build quality.

Has anyone done the trip from BNE to CNS to date? Keen to know how long it takes if you have to stop for the night every 400km at a caravan park?!

Many Thanks for any info (first post here)

Cheers
erosco

 

[MDK]

I'm hoping for superchargers between Brisbane and Cairns..

The Queensland Electric Highway between Coolangatta & Cairns will be completed by the end of this year, so all you need is a CHAdeMO adapter - no need to stop overnight at caravan parks...

 

[erosco]

Thanks!! - I was just reading about that.. I'm now trying to learn about CHAdeMo and Type 2 adapters.. a lot of learning to do....

 

[RichardMcN]

Whilst I realise it's still a year away; I'm hoping for superchargers between Brisbane and Cairns.. I'll be living in Cairns so I suspect my first trip will be from the Brisbane Showroom! - I doubt they'll deliver to FNQ - and I think I'd rather see it in the shop first and be picky about the build quality.

Has anyone done the trip from BNE to CNS to date? Keen to know how long it takes if you have to stop for the night every 400km at a caravan park?!

Many Thanks for any info (first post here)

Cheers
erosco

Now there is a DC charger at Rockhampton, I reckon If you REALLY pushed it you could even now do Brissie to Cairns in 2 BIG days ...

Day 1 - Brisbane to Mackay (950km):
11 hours driving starting at 100% (400km of range)
3 hours (assuming 17kW onboard charger - 75km/h) 3 phase charging at Maryborough or somewhere to pick up another 225km to get you to Rocky with zero spare
2 hours Chademo charging at Rocky to give you the last 350 to Mackay
0 hours wasted
------------------
16 hours

Day 2 - Mackay to Cairns (735km)
9 hours driving starting at 100% (400km of range)
5 hours 3 phase charging (assuming 17kW onboard charger - 75km/h) along the way (maybe Bowen / Frosty Mango? see www.plugshare.com) to give you another 375km of range.
--------------------
14 hours

But if you are picking your car up in a year the Qld Electric Highway (Chademo DC) will be complete and they will be more relaxed days !

 

[Shock-On-T]

Also depends how far you like driving each day.
If each nights accommodation has destination chargers you can leave with 100% and arrive with 10% (or however fine you like to cut it
That will get you 4 or 5 hours driving without even stopping to charge.

 

[Drone Flyer]

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.

What do you mean by this?

 

[Drone Flyer]

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.

it's because Toronto is more than double the population of Sydney! Toronto's metro population is 9.5 million!
It is now North America's 4th largest city behind only Mexico City, New York and Los Angeles!

 

[Cosmacelf]

What do you mean by this?

I meant that it has taken quite a while for Canada to have even the limited Supercharge infrastructure it now has. Australia was, what 6 months, a year behind getting Model S and X cars behind Canada? It just takes a while to build out infrastructure.

 

[erosco]

Now there is a DC charger at Rockhampton, I reckon If you REALLY pushed it you could even now do Brissie to Cairns in 2 BIG days ...

But if you are picking your car up in a year the Qld Electric Highway (Chademo DC) will be complete and they will be more relaxed days !

Thank you for the detailed response.. I just wish I could get a Model 3 earlier :-(

Can't afford an S or X..

I am really stoked that the Qld Electric Highway is going in.. can't wait to emulate you one day and travel around OZ.

Best Regards
erosco

 

[erosco]

Also depends how far you like driving each day.
If each nights accommodation has destination chargers you can leave with 100% and arrive with 10% (or however fine you like to cut it
That will get you 4 or 5 hours driving without even stopping to charge.

Thanks - was hoping to hit 'like' - but I haven't found the button yet!

 

[Shock-On-T]

Thanks - was hoping to hit 'like' - but I haven't found the button yet!

You're very welcome! I think you need a certain number of posts before some features are available.

 

[WhiteStar]

Also depends how far you like driving each day.
If each nights accommodation has destination chargers you can leave with 100% and arrive with 10% (or however fine you like to cut it
That will get you 4 or 5 hours driving without even stopping to charge.

I was just thinking that this morning after having spent more than half an hour at the PM SC. Destination chargers save time despite being slower than Superchargers, they’re easier on the cells & ultimately they allow you to go further in daylight hours.

 

[Shock-On-T]

I was just thinking that this morning after having spent more than half an hour at the PM SC. Destination chargers save time despite being slower than Superchargers, they’re easier on the cells & ultimately they allow you to go further in daylight hours.

Yep. I remember the last time I drove to Melbourne (from Sydney).
I was planning to sleep at Wodonga (dest charger at Atura).
I thought I'd be supercharging for ages, but because I left home at 100% I could skip Goulburn and only needed about 20 minutes at Gundagai and that was it. I arrived at Wodonga with about 10% and plugged in and checked in.
100% again in the morning meant I needed 15 minutes at Euroa on the way to Melbourne. Could have even skipped that, but needed a coffee.

 

[Candleflame]

i doubt EVs will ever be very popular in australia (including Model 3). gas is too cheap and electricity too expensive.
And there is certainly not that many Teslas in Aus.

 

[Mark E]

i doubt EVs will ever be very popular in australia (including Model 3). gas is too cheap and electricity too expensive.
And there is certainly not that many Teslas in Aus.

I'm not sure where you are getting that impression. Running my MS costs less than 1/10th of buying petrol, and considering the cheapest Tesla is $120k I'd say they've sold pretty well. There are over 2000 of them that we know of. Not surprising is that people didn't buy the Leaf here, especially after 2013 when they were still trying to flog off 2012 build cars at a premium price.

 

[Candleflame]

I'm not sure where you are getting that impression. Running my MS costs less than 1/10th of buying petrol, and considering the cheapest Tesla is $120k I'd say they've sold pretty well. There are over 2000 of them that we know of. Not surprising is that people didn't buy the Leaf here, especially after 2013 when they were still trying to flog off 2012 build cars at a premium price.

If you look at the numbers the savings are far greater in Europe. The only exeption is perhaps if you have access to very cheap electricity (i.e. solar panels).

Gas is even cheaper in america but so is their electricity.

Leaf is obviously unsuitable for australia unless you maybe just drive around in sydney or melbourne and fancy paying for old tech...

 

[Chuq]

If you look at the numbers the savings are far greater in Europe. The only exeption is perhaps if you have access to very cheap electricity (i.e. solar panels).

Gas is even cheaper in america but so is their electricity.

Absolutely worst case scenario (South Australia, most expensive rate - close to 50c/kWh) it is still half the price of petrol.

Here in Tasmania it is costing me about 1/3rd the cost of petrol, and if I change to time-of-use tariff and charged overnight it would be closer to 1/5th the cost.

Leaf is obviously unsuitable for australia unless you maybe just drive around in sydney or melbourne and fancy paying for old tech...

The Leaf is perfectly suitable for Australia, it's just that it was $60k when launched that was the issue. Mine was second hand, cost $23k and even at 80-85% of the original range it's very capable of handling about 90% of our household driving.