NSW EV charging master plan

[moa999]

Agreed. Albeit the two govt gents on Tom's stream did seem pretty on the ball and I'd guess fairly senior in the project team, and I'd be surprised if they hadn't had direct discussions with Tesla.

Eg. They said Tritium, ABB and Kempower chargers would be used by the other operators.

(Also much more useful to watch the replay with Live Chat turned on)

I guess we will see soon given Tenterfield and Woolongong will have to start construction soon if they are to meet the Q4 2022 date listed on the Tesla map - albeit the guys on the stream said first one might be 12 months away.

CHAdeMO is interesting as the signalling protocol is different to CCS.
Tesla obviously have some experience with CHAdeMO as they have an adapter for both TPS (the US Socket) and the modified Type 2 (for S and X) - and indeed older S/X needed a chip upgrade to handle CCS.

So will definitely be interesting to see how Tesla do it.

Also interesting requirement to install AC chargers alongside the DC.
In my view the utility of this is site dependent.

An AC charger at a 15-stall Tesla site at Gundagai doesn't add much imho, but say 6 AC chargers at Bondi Junction (or the existing Macquarie site) would be a great addition.

 

[RichardV]

No one has mentioned the pin yet for Girilambone. Population 86 at the last Census. I am all for regional charging infrastructure but this site might be a bit premature. Would assume Nyngan would be a more strategic location servicing both the Barrier and Mitchell highways.

Looks like Girilambone was a furphy. It did not appear on the text listing nor on the government approved fast chargers map. Did not seem like it would fit this round of funding.

Found out the source of this mysterious pin location in the original map. Enter NSW in google maps and try to navigate there. It sends you to Girilambone. So someone in generating a map entered an address of NSW for the charger location and a pin ended up here.

 

[cafz]

So someone in generating a map entered an address of NSW for the charger location and a pin ended up here.

Probably the same reason there appears to be a wallpaper store out there in the scrub.

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

You can, but the roads turn into a weird one-way arrangement before you reach the service centre. I'd be seriously concerned about head-ons, even at low speed. Technically you're supposed to do a lap of an industrial part of town to enter the service centre from the south.

Update: I tried this lap. It’s blocked. You either have to enter the service centre off the highway or drive around a no entry sign.

I hope they keep both. The Jerrys Plains site is good for heading to Dubbo and south, Muswellbrook is good for heading to Tamworth and north. It is a fiddly detour to go to one when you are heading for the other.

I don’t see why they’d move superchargers unless the site host wanted them gone. I also don’t see why they’d hold off installing superchargers near other superchargers if the hardware and a willing site host exists. This shouldn’t be considered a zero sum game. I’ll take every stall we can get!

 

[moa999]

Update: I tried this lap. It’s blocked. You either have to enter the service centre off the highway or drive around a no entry sign.

Just hope that the Tesla navigation reflects this.

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

Just hope that the Tesla navigation reflects this.

Indeed. But I’m sure it’s never enforced. The Marulan South off-ramp is much newer than the new roadhouses, and I’m quite sure all the staff drive straight in. It’s only a few metres from there to the car park.

Though if it does route you correctly, I think it’s more likely to keep routing you through Goulburn.

The main reason for so many northbound stalls at Marulan is surely at the end of long weekends when every man and his dog is driving northbound at the exact same time, clogging the freeway. No way will the current infrastructure handle that. It barely does now.

 

[moa999]

If going Southbound I assume you'd take the Marulan exit, under the tunnel, left on George St.. through the roundabout.

Oh. I see what you mean - you can access KFC. But there is a No entry sign for the petrol station weirdly which is where the superchargers will be. (Agreed that many would ignore it).

Exiting and returning southbound it looks like one could take a shortcut across the northbound highway, rather than going up to Marulan, under the highway, and the loop at the weighbridge.

My main concern with navigation is that it might direct someone to go the other direction down that cross road, which would be ridiculously dangerous turning into it from the fast lane (though no signage against it from what I can see) - particularly when the far safer route has that No Entry sign

 

[RichardV]

Exiting and returning southbound it looks like one could take a shortcut across the northbound highway, rather than going up to Marulan, under the highway, and the loop at the weighbridge.
View attachment 873103

That google street view image is from 14 years ago.

The current one shows this is now No Entry. When two no entries are not enough.

(realised after I posted this that one of the three no entries is a google street view duplicate artifact. )

 

[moa999]

And in the other direction?
From the muddy tire tracks on the road look like a few people take an unmarked slip road and cross the other way.

 

[RichardV]

And in the other direction?
From the muddy tire tracks on the road look like a few people take an unmarked slip road and cross the other way.

You don't really gain much from taking the link. Crossing from South service centre to North service centre. Would be easier just to exit near the weigh station. My guess would be that it is either service centre staff crossing from one centre to another or locals coming in from green hills road.

 

[moa999]

Agreed you don't gain much in time, but you seemingly avoid having to ignore the No Entry sign on George St just past the KFC.

 

[RichardV]

Agreed you don't gain much in time, but you seemingly avoid having to ignore the No Entry sign on George St just past the KFC.

You still need to ignore the no entry sign to enter the North side service centre. The crossing to the other side take you to the round about on george street, KFC and the service centre are further to the left from the round about.

 

[Lachlan Smith]

This is the way OSRM which I assume tesla navigation is based on suggests.

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.

www.openstreetmap.org

Google is more sensible and takes you to Marulan South Road exit

Marulan to 15666 Hume Hwy

www.google.com

 

[Chuq]

This is the way OSRM which I assume tesla navigation is based on suggests.

Slightly off-topic, but I just compared an OSRM and Google Map route with a route that the Tesla nav gave me earlier this evening. The Tesla route matched Google, the OSRM route was different.

 

[Vostok]

The current one shows this is now No Entry. When two no entries are not enough.

FYI, Apple Maps “look around” street imagery is much higher resolution than Google’s

 

[Vostok]

My main concern with navigation is that it might direct someone to go the other direction down that cross road, which would be ridiculously dangerous turning into it from the fast lane (though no signage against it from what I can see) - particularly when the far safer route has that No Entry sign

There are “No Right Turn” signs on both carriageways of the highway before this narrow link road. So, not permitted. Looks like it can only lawfully be used to cross the highway from the gravel road outside the southbound service centre to go into town via the roundabout. The Apple “look around” car actually took that crossing too!

 

[cafz]

Slightly off-topic, but I just compared an OSRM and Google Map route with a route that the Tesla nav gave me earlier this evening. The Tesla route matched Google, the OSRM route was different.

There's an odd routing in the Tesla nav that I've only previously been able to reproduce in TomTom's navigation engine. For the Marulan Northbound service centre, it produces the same routing as Google, using the overpass.

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

Also interesting requirement to install AC chargers alongside the DC.
In my view the utility of this is site dependent.

An AC charger at a 15-stall Tesla site at Gundagai doesn't add much imho, but say 6 AC chargers at Bondi Junction (or the existing Macquarie site) would be a great addition.

On the contrary there should be AC chargers next to every DC charger. There are vehicles that can’t charge on DC. The Renault Zoe (models without tech boost). The Savic motorcycles. Some antique BMW i3’s that weren’t appropriately spec’d by the dealership.

Heck, the one and only time I let my Tesla run out of power the only way to get it charging again was to start on AC - the DC charger just couldn’t negotiate with the car (even with the jumpstart unit on its 12V battery). Tow truck had to re-load my car and take me to an AC charger instead.

 

[Vostok]

On the contrary there should be AC chargers next to every DC charger. There are vehicles that can’t charge on DC. The Renault Zoe (models without tech boost). The Savic motorcycles. Some antique BMW i3’s that weren’t appropriately spec’d by the dealership.

I’d have to go back and check the documentation for the NSW EV charging master plan, but backup AC charging at a site was either mandatory or highly recommended.

As a robustness measure, it becomes increasingly moot as stalls per site goes up. Even if an individual DCFC has a 50% chance of being faulty, provided faults occur randomly at a future 15 stall site, the chance all 15 would be out is 0.003%.

There are other reasons for having AC charging though - to cater for some legacy vehicles as you say or for people who want to dwell longer.

 

[Loxmyf]

Went for a drive up to Marulan today. There's been no activity at either site since the last photos on plugshare from early October. I added mine from today there.

I did note that the No Entry sign on the northbound side near KFC has been flattened.