NRMA to build Australia's largest fast charging network

My guess is Armidale.

 

Yep, looks like Armidale is active on the NRMA's own website map, not yet on Plugshare.

Screenshot of the map at this point in time:

 

Looks like Armidale though a few unsuccessful check-ins today (2 NRMA vehicles spotted).

Photo added for Jerilderie on PlugShare also shows it as near complete.

 

And a successful checkin for Armidale at 8pm (thanks buzzgoatley)

 

To help Jason66 i just did trip to Renmark and on way back to Adelaide i checked Berri. Looks like power is on but no line marking but looks pretty much ready. Had covers over plugs. Outside dentist, across road from woolworths and pub.

 

You might want to add some of those pics to Plugshare
PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

(Or say Yes, and I'm sure a few here can do it for you)

And thanks for doing the side trip

 

Yep happy for someone to put them up.

 

Added 2 pictures to the PlugShare location.

 

You're a good man AndrewSa! Thank you thank you thank you!

 

As a curiosity, I used A Better Route Planner to see if would be possible to drive my 6-year old degraded-battery LEAF from Sydney to the far north coast of NSW using public DC chargers, assuming you didn’t care if it took all day.

The answer is no. And there is a single leg that makes it impossible - Sydney to Newcastle! There is no Chademo charger between them. Even a brand new battery in the LEAF would not be able to cover that distance (about 160 km) even driving at 80 km/h.

At face value, that seems like a fairly extraordinary gap in the public charging network. And somewhat ironic, if I could actually get my LEAF to Newcastle the rest of the trip would be possible. You would ordinarily think the further you got away from Sydney the harder such a trip would get, but no, with NRMA, Chargefox and Evie, there is an impressive array of options now in the regions.

Even if there was a Chademo charger on the Central Coast I still would not try such a trip. But for EV drivers who have no other choice it is a strange omission.

 

Yes - considering that Sydney to Newcastle is not much shorter than Sydney to Goulburn (~170km vs ~195km), and the Southern Highlands has two NRMA chargers. It might just be down to the attitude of the particular councils though, since those chargers are always done in partnership with the LGA.

 

I do keep hearing rumours that one of either Evie or ChargeFox will be opening a fast charger location at the M1 twin servos at Wyong, unsure of the legitimacy of it. However, they are Caltex and Evie has recently partnered with them (Seven Hills for example with Caltex branding on the chargers).

 

I’d be nervous about the LEAF reaching Ourimbah let alone Wyong! The M1 terrain is brutal for a low-capacity battery.

It’s all academic, as I won’t ever try it, but it really highlights the limitations of the 1st gen LEAF. Doubling its range to 200 km (as in current gen LEAF) would massively increase its utility beyond a city car.

 

Anywhere between Mooney Mooney and Kariong would be good. The twin servos are too far North. Lots of Sydney people go for the day or weekend to Central Coast. They would use Kariong or Tuggerah exits.

 

Separate installations at Kariong and Ourimbah would probably be cheaper and easier than an isolated site at Mount White or Calga. There’s no infrastructure there!

 

Kariong and Ourimbah are both great options.

 

I was chatting to someone who works at a charging network about the Central Coast problem, he said as well as the usual constraints (plenty of parking, electrical grid capacity, supportive property owner, etc) many of the sites immediately adjacent to the highway were only accessible either north-bound or south-bound, so selecting one of those sites would necessitate building two charging locations (which of course costs twice as much). It'd be possible to install something away from the highway but if you're driving a short range vehicle (e.g. Leaf as per @Vostok's example) you don't want to waste valuable kilometres doing that!

That example was an ultra-rapid site, NRMA installing single 50 kW chargers may have a better range of sites, although they tend to go for public car parks (council owned) rather than highway service centres/service stations. Having said that they do tend to deploy in areas which have limited commercial viability, so they may be intentionally leaving the Sydney-Newcastle route to commercial operators.

 

The Ourimbah rest area is accessible from both directions and immediately adjacent to the M1. It’s a nice spot with picnic tables and a public toilet. Don’t know what the power supply there is like, but there’s significant services (petrol station, supermarket, etc) not far away.

 

When I said Kariong or Ourimbah I was thinking of the servos not far from the freeway. A servo had plenty of juice to run at least 1x50kW unit without a second thought. Probably several.

 

Considering there is an Ausgrid depot and substation within 300 meters of the Ourimbah freeway interchange I'm sure they could run a lead there.