With Ausgrid's cooperation with Jolt, they should just put a few chargers into this depot.
Jolt charging network
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NRMA fast charging network
- Thread starter baillies
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- Australia New Zealand
With Ausgrid's cooperation with Jolt, they should just put a few chargers into this depot.
Jolt charging network
Apparently Berry bowlo charger is back on the air.
Just in time for the Xmas rush.
Just in time for the Xmas rush.
Add in the Hornsby-ish charger Evie have on their planned map, plus Ourimbah (hypothetical) and Wallsend (exists but requires de-ICEing), it’ll work eventually.
Is Penrith/Caddens Evie -> Lithgow NRMA -> Mudgee NRMA -> Scone NRMA potentially a viable way to the north of the state? Unlikely but I’ll take your advice on it. Not that I’d trust your LEAF’s air-cooled battery.
It’d be nice if you could make it from Seven Hills Evie up the Putty Road to Pokolbin NRMA. But I assume that’s also kinda impossible.
Is Penrith/Caddens Evie -> Lithgow NRMA -> Mudgee NRMA -> Scone NRMA potentially a viable way to the north of the state? Unlikely but I’ll take your advice on it. Not that I’d trust your LEAF’s air-cooled battery.
It’d be nice if you could make it from Seven Hills Evie up the Putty Road to Pokolbin NRMA. But I assume that’s also kinda impossible.
jason66
Member
Woohoo the Berri SA NRMA charger is now open. Just in time for my trip from Brisbane to Port Augusta starting tomorrow!
PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You
PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You
NRMA Barossa Visitor Centre/Tanunda also marked as open
PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You
PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You
NRMA Mittagong is currently out of service (PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You)- unfortunate timing considering it's the last fast charger before you hit the LGAs currently under interstate COVID travel restrictions (Picton is in Wollondilly Shire).
A Model 3 LR could make it from Heatherbrae to Mittagong, but Goulburn seems like a stretch. The next best option seems to be Heatherbrae to the Berry Supercharger.
A Model 3 LR could make it from Heatherbrae to Mittagong, but Goulburn seems like a stretch. The next best option seems to be Heatherbrae to the Berry Supercharger.
The VIC advice for travelling in NSW has changed recently. A week ago, it was permitted to drive from one “green zone” in NSW to another via Sydney, and enter VIC without quarantine, provided that any stops in Sydney were essential (e.g. toilet stop, food stop, supercharging) and of minimal duration.
But now you’re not even allowed to do that. You can’t even do a ‘virtual’ bypass Sydney via the M1/M7/M5, even if you don’t stop at all. That means any trip in NSW from north to south with the aim of getting to VIC has to go via Bathurst or Dubbo and bypass Sydney completely. A bit of a detour!
The ACT allows transiting Sydney as long as you don't stop at all. However, in the SR+ we are going to have to make the same inland detour - I think probably via Mudgee and Bathurst.
Chuq
Active Member
As well as Homebush, which is regularly busy or ICEd.
A couple of recent reports on Plugshare about Picton and Mittagong having queues of multiple cars near zero SOC, so forced to wait.
NRMA needs to look at expanding these sites and starting paid charging (to deter freeloading)
Meantime one should ensure they have other options for these chargers near Sydney.
A couple of recent reports on Plugshare about Picton and Mittagong having queues of multiple cars near zero SOC, so forced to wait.
NRMA needs to look at expanding these sites and starting paid charging (to deter freeloading)
Meantime one should ensure they have other options for these chargers near Sydney.
In my view, it's a big risk to arrive at a single stall site with a very low charge state. Single point of failure. And even if it's working ok, as you point out there can be a queue, or the site might be ICEd
I agree - NRMA needs to start charging for these. You often see a queue (including Teslas) at the single stall Berry bowlo, when there's 6 Tesla stalls 5 minutes away.
NRMA Mittagong is a problem because it's single-stall & gets busy, but it's not as bad as you'd imagine. You just need to have calm and rational drivers in queue. It's a high-altitude site, so in most directions you're going downhill if you're headed to the next charger. You only need to add 15-20% if you can press on to Picton or Shell Cove and finish charging there. Even Berry is achievable on a tiny top-up. The struggle is if you want a solid charge to reach Goulburn.
One time I was next-in-queue at Mittagong & one driver arrived after me. She was near-empty and only needed a few percent to get home to Hill Top or Colo Vale or something in her LEAF, whereas I wanted a solid charge. It made perfect sense to let her cut in front once the previous person returned & unplugged.
A few weeks ago hilarity ensued when I was finishing up at NRMA Gunnedah, headed from Moree to Sydney. Yes, it's a single-stall site, and I had forgotten to check in. But it was 12:45am. Who'd have guessed that someone in a Model S would arrive at 1:25am headed to Narrabri? Fortunately I was almost done. I just needed to add a little extra to keep the air con running if (err, when) I decided to pull over and nap for an hour before I reached NRMA Scone.
Yeah, umm, the Berry Superchargers are 11 minutes away from NRMA Berry. They may as well be in Bomaderry.
If I'm somewhere around Kiama/Gerringong and needed a rapid charge before Shell Cove was fixed, 22 minutes for a round trip to the Supercharger so that I can charge 20 minutes faster, and pay for the privilege, and burn 2% before I even reach the Berry bypass headed North again, wasn't appealing at all. Especially when just getting from Kiama to Berry was already a 40 minute round trip and required I keep 10+% up my sleeve to get there, and then burn that much again on the way back. A 3-4 hour nap while on three-phase was preferable to 2 hours driving and charging, only to get back with a paltry 80% available.
Thankfully now that Chargefox & The Waterfront have replaced the main breaker to the shopping centre, Chargefox Shell Cove is rock-solid. I use it at least twice a weekend. The cost is quite reasonable. And it's probably helpful that I keep scaring off the hoons who want to burn some rubber in their car park late at night.
Chuq
Active Member
I don't think it's that NRMA needs to install more here; I think it's more that Chargefox or Evie need to thank NRMA for doing free market research for them and install a 2+ stall ultra-rapid site in these locations!
Note that the Future Fuels grant is for fast chargers in various locations in and around major urban centres - in NSW this covers Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and areas surrounding *those* - so fairly wide ranging. Everywhere from Raymond Terrace to Katoomba to Kiama. (Not Mittagong though!)
Another condition of the FF grant is that the sites cannot have been previously announced so I guess that is why they are pretty quiet until the successful applicants are announced...
arena.gov.au
Note that the Future Fuels grant is for fast chargers in various locations in and around major urban centres - in NSW this covers Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and areas surrounding *those* - so fairly wide ranging. Everywhere from Raymond Terrace to Katoomba to Kiama. (Not Mittagong though!)
Another condition of the FF grant is that the sites cannot have been previously announced so I guess that is why they are pretty quiet until the successful applicants are announced...
Future Fuels Fund (Round 1)
The Future Fuels Fund aims to reduce transport sector barriers to businesses and fleets to choose new vehicle technologies.
arena.gov.au
You'd have to admit though that your usage patterns are hardly typical. A trip from Kiama to Berry and back is not typically a trip that would require supercharging.
Most of the weekday traffic passing through the Berry area is headed to, or coming from points further south (which is the whole reason they spent millions on the bypass!).
But the point stands in terms of congested single stall NRMA chargers. A major contributor to the congestion is the fact that they are unsustainably free of charge.
I've also seen the same behaviour at Bathurst and Dubbo - cars waiting for a Tesla to charge at the one NRMA stall, while there's 4-6 Tesla stalls available 50 metres away!
Of course!
I'm just the guy who carries around 50 groups of riders a weekend explaining to them (well, to the ones who ask questions - which is most of them) what's easy about owning and driving an EV. I'll tell them truthfully. If a site is constantly down, or full, or cheap, or expensive... Well, that's what I'll tell people..
But the 22 minute point equally applies to northbound road trippers. If someone arrives at NRMA Berry, headed north, and finds a queue, then a round trip back to the Supercharger will add 22 minutes to their trip (less a few minutes for faster charging, sans a few minutes for wasted charge doubling back). Chargefox Shell Cove is a better option, sure, but they'd need ~15% left (assuming an SR+) to reach it. If they don't, it's probably easier to wait at NRMA Berry.
As with my Mittagong routine that one time, if there's a queue of rationally-minded people there, then...
* Work out who is headed north vs south
* Ensure the northbound folks have Chargefox accounts & have linked their NRMA membership
* Ensure they know how to find the basement at Shell Cove (plot the route on their MCU) & that they have the charge to reach it
* Remind them that using the Windang Bridge is faster than Albion Park Rail any day of the week, whether or not they're charging
* Confirm in-app that the site is active
* Suggest they charge there, so that Southbound drivers can get going sooner too
I agree 100%. It's a bit of a joke. I tend to move on when that situation arises - either immediately or fairly promptly.
Unless it's a PHEV, in which case, stuff em!
Here's hoping that Evie Marulan morphs into Ampol Pheasant's Nest. That'd fix a lot of things, especially for people traveling from Wollongong via Picton Road, who wouldn't be helped by a site at Crossroads.
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