Perth to Brisbane

[MDK]

Hi everyone, a quick update on progress so far.

So far we're on schedule, and currently enjoying a full charge in Balladonia before moving on to our overnight spot in Caiguna.
There are no three phase sockets at Caiguna but it's only another ~180km from here, so even on a regular 15A socket we should be able to get back to a full charge before our long-haul to Border village - 351km, our longest leg between Perth and Adelaide.

Yesterday went according to plan, after leaving Perth we enjoyed a nice top-up at the CBH grain silos just outside of Merredin.

While waiting we were able to convince one local business owner in town to get listed on PlugShare, and have a potential lead for another location.

After Merredin we made a brief stop at Southern Cross - just to verify it works and get it listed on Plug Share - before rushing off to Kalgoorlie-Boulder where we had promised the local Main Roads office we would drop in and visit at 4pm.

We arrived at Main Roads with about 11km range (about 1.5km from our charge stop) but after taking people for a short ride around the block, and showing off "Summon" we arrived at our charge stop with 2km remaining.

We were able to grab a ~3h charge at the local netball/basketball courts, certainly the most interesting place I've parked a car, let alone charged at.

We also grabbed a slow 5A trickle charge from our motel window, so were able to leave with a full battery towards Norseman.

We stopped in Norseman for a quick top up while we enjoyed breakfast, and then dashed off towards Balladonia.
On the advice of Balladonia management we brought a 3phase extension lead, but we wanted to see if the power socket could be reached without it.

After threading the needle through a very tight spot and exiting via the passenger side we were able to make it work, but I recommend bringing an extension lead, or a 3phase EVSE with at least 10 metres between wall and car.

That's all for now, tomorrow we cross into South Australia and head out onto the Nullarbor proper - there's still a few trees out here but I expect these will be the last we see for a while.

 

[eclectricdave]

would Matt mdk have time for dinners in melb and syd? folk in those places to organize please. im in melb but will be in syd when matt is so could attend there. im driving to syd via princes hwy. im sure we'd like to talk to mdk about his trip.

 

[AEdennis]

Kudos and safe journey @MDK. Love tracking your trip from as far away as Southern California.

I see that you're logging on Plugshare, how about Open Charge Map. That was started by a fellow Perth resident and could use some support with entries as well.

And when you reach Tesla Destination charging and supercharger locations, Teslarati and its Teslarati App can use some help too.

Your drive puts our US cross country drives to shame and I was wondering if you're carrying a Spare Tire.

The original RWD Model S has plenty of space in the frunk.

IMG_20150412_160748.jpg by Dennis Pascual, on Flickr

Bon voyage! And look forward to your updates. Someone needs to videotape your reactions when you supercharge for the first time after the long haul you're doing with your dual chargers.

 

[Blue heaven]

The planning and persistence of MDK and Technopile is paying off as new Plugshare locations pop up across the Nullabor and towards Adelaide, most of them 32 amp 3 phase, fantastic effort gentlemen.

 

[Davide]

Excellent work! I envy you!

 

[MDK]

On Wednesday Morning, our 15A socket did not quite give us enough charge to make it to the South Australian border - we stopped about 12km short (with 11km range showing, and halfway up a large hill) at Eucla - which turned out to be serendipitous as the Eucla Motor hotel is a nice place with a great view of the Bight.
We plugged into the laundry on a 32A 3phase socket - apparently their clothes dryers use 23kW!

We then made a brief stop at Border Village, South Australia - which had installed the AEVA sponsored 32A socket we'd posted to them, but asked us to only draw 22A as the wiring couldn't handle any more.
After Border Village we made the final dash to Nullarbor Roadhouse, our resting place for the night, and the other recipient of an AEVA sponsored socket

The next morning (Thursday) we waited for an oversize load to get underway - taking up the entire width of the road and under escort of two police cars.

We then headed out onto the treeless plain - which inspired the name of the entire Nullarbor Plain (Nullis Arbor = 0 trees) region.

It was a short drive to Penong, where we charged at the local caravan park and visited their "windmill museum"

We made a quick stop at Ceduna where the local Men's Shed had arranged to install a three-phase socket for us, and then moved to our overnight stop at Poochera Hotel.

Poochera didn't have any 3phase sockets, but are at the centre of the local community so were quickly able to find a suitable charge spot for us.
The owner of the workshop was away, but is a regular at the Hotel's bar so we left him some beer money as reimbursement for the electricity.

This morning we were off to a slow start for Kimba, as it was a very foggy morning with limited visibility.
Once we climbed out of the valley we were able to make good speed into Kimba, where we had arranged to charge at the local Hospital. We had trouble with the hospital's three-phase socket, but Kimba is a small enough town that everybody knows everybody so our contact at the hospital soon had us charging at the local tyre shop.

After Kimba it was an easy run to Port Augusta. We wanted to make a quick stop at the nearest town (Iron Knob) for a cool drink but it was an Iron Ore mining town with a closed mine so most of the place was boarded up and overrun with skittish emus.

Descending the hills from Iron Knob into Port Augusta lead to some spectacular views which my camera doesn't do justice.

And right now the car is charging at a park in the centre of Port Augusta, ready for our final dash to Adelaide in the morning.

 

[paulp]

Thats quite an adventure, the huge pre-planning effort is starting to show too.

 

[RecargoJames]

New HPWC locations just added to PlugShare, to the east of you - hotels which may be of help:

Flinders Hotel
23-31 Cook Street, Flinders, Victoria, Australia, VIC 3929
PlugShare

Terragong 1858 - Bed & Breakfast
467 Jamberoo Road, Jamberoo, New South Wales, Australia, NSW 2026
PlugShare

Bannisters by the Sea
191 Mitchell Parade, Mollymook, New South Wales, Australia, NSW 2539
PlugShare

Bannisters Pavilion
87 Tallwood Avenue, Mollymook, New South Wales, Australia, NSW 2539
PlugShare

 

[Blue heaven]

T for Tesla across Adelaide?

 

[eclectricdave]

A one hour charge at the mitsu chardemo which my Adelaide contact told me cant be used by Teslas.

 

[MDK]

A one hour charge at the mitsu chardemo which my Adelaide contact told me cant be used by Teslas.

Odd, I was told the opposite. One of the local i-MiEV owners said she's glad to see it getting some use.
The last few checkins on Plugshare have all been Teslas, including the first and second to cross the Nullarbor (that we know of)

 

[MDK]

Following on from before...

We had a nice stay in Port Augusta. A couple of the locals came and asked a bunch of questions about the car, and we ran into them again later in the night for more stories.

The following day we had a nice easy run into Adelaide where there are plenty of charging opportunities, and Simon Hackett kindly allowed me to charge at the beautiful Base64 building.

After that AEVA member Sally saw me heading towards the CHAdeMO charger on my tracking map, so came and joined me for a chat.

She brought her car over to Perth for the AEVA AGM last year (via train) and spent some time travelling along the RAC Electric Highway and scouting out new charging locations.

Sunday I got up early to make the long run down to the Coonawarra wine region where Raidis Estate has a Tesla destination charger (only 7kW right now) as well as a 23kW 32A 3-phase socket.

I charged there for a couple of hours while I sampled their excellent wines and then made the short run across the Victorian border to Portland.

The Richmond Henty Hotel also has two Tesla destination chargers, allowing me to charge back up overnight while I met Brewster at their bistro for an awesome chicken parmigiana.

This was the first time I'd charged on a Tesla charger since I left home so out of habit opened the charge port with my keyfob because I forgot there's a button on the plug... Being able to plug straight in without an adapter made for a pleasant change!

Today I made my 355km run into Melbourne - which wouldn't have been a problem except for the stormy weather with 20-25km/h headwinds and very wet roads.
It also had a steep ~200m climb uphill so I had all the typical range-killing factors against me.

I left Portland with a 30km buffer (385km typical range) and kept that buffer intact while driving along the coast to Warnambool before the long climb uphill.
Once I got to the top near Mt Elephant I had an 8km buffer and maintained that all the way down to Melbourne and my first supercharger

I then caught up with a truly amazing guy (Jeff Johnson) who is also driving an electric car across Australia, except he's doing it in a ~130km range Nissan Leaf - and he's doing it for charity.

Truly an inspiring guy, and I wish him the best of luck for his journey across the Nullarbor.

I've travelled 3846km since leaving the West Coast 7.5 days ago (at an average 205Wh/km) and am now taking a short break to play tourist in Melbourne before continuing my journey on Friday.

 

[moemoke]

I'm enjoying your trip reports, it doesn't sound like your charging regime has cost you much time
and you've managed to have a look around instead of been in a mad rush like most peoples trips these days.

I see Eco CloudIT's car in the background at Richmond, looks good.

Curious to know why your car has Vic reg, have you recently moved to the West?

 

[RecargoJames]

How was your first Supercharger experience?

 

[MDK]

In contrast to the Perth->Melbourne portion of my trip, Melbourne to Canberra was a doddle.
When I first arrived in Melbourne on Monday all 4 supercharger bays were full, and when I did get a spot I was sharing a SC with the car next to me so was limited to around 90kW.
By contrast the 3 supercharger sites I visited yesterday I had to myself, so I saw initial charge rates of more than 116kW.

I only stopped at the Euroa site to check it out, and so I didn't have to worry about charging in Melbourne before I left - I think I left with around 80% battery, I have no idea and it was nice not to have to pay close attention to it.

I stopped in Euroa for only around 15 minutes - just enough time to visit the bathroom and buy a takeaway coffee.
That was enough to bump my battery from 38% to 58% giving me plenty of buffer to travel to Wodonga.
I arrived in Wodonga with 21% remaining and decided to stop for an early lunch and a longer charge.
I barely had enough time to finish lunch before the Tesla app alerted me to the fact my supercharging was nearly done, so I wandered back to the car in time to see it stop charging at 90%.

Shortly after leaving Wodonga I crossed the state border with NSW making this the fourth state I've driven in on my journey.

I had to make a minor diversion along the road to Gundagai because the Hume Highway was closed at Woomargama due to a major accident.
Fortunately it only added around 15km to my journey but it was a reminder to charge a bit longer where possible, tempting as it may be to only supercharge between ~5% and ~50% for maximum charging speed.

The Gundagai supercharger is located near the monument of the Dog on the Tuckerbox about which there are many songs and poems in Australian folklore. After making my pilgrimage to the famous site I stopped at Oliver's for a refreshing smoothie and again barely had enough time to finish it by the time supercharging was complete.

I'm in Canberra for a few days, and tomorrow I will bring my car along to the Shannons Wheels car show at the Treasury Building. Canberra is in the Australian Capital Territory so I have now driven in four states and one territory.

On Monday morning I will continue my Eastward journey, with less than 300km before I reach Sydney.

 

[AEdennis]

In contrast to the Perth->Melbourne portion of my trip, Melbourne to Canberra was a doddle.
When I first arrived in Melbourne on Monday all 4 supercharger bays were full, and when I did get a spot I was sharing a SC with the car next to me so was limited to around 90kW.
By contrast the 3 supercharger sites I visited yesterday I had to myself, so I saw initial charge rates of more than 116kW.

I only stopped at the Euroa site to check it out, and so I didn't have to worry about charging in Melbourne before I left - I think I left with around 80% battery, I have no idea and it was nice not to have to pay close attention to it.

View attachment 176487


I stopped in Euroa for only around 15 minutes - just enough time to visit the bathroom and buy a takeaway coffee.
That was enough to bump my battery from 38% to 58% giving me plenty of buffer to travel to Wodonga.
I arrived in Wodonga with 21% remaining and decided to stop for an early lunch and a longer charge.
I barely had enough time to finish lunch before the Tesla app alerted me to the fact my supercharging was nearly done, so I wandered back to the car in time to see it stop charging at 90%.

View attachment 176488

Shortly after leaving Wodonga I crossed the state border with NSW making this the fourth state I've driven in on my journey.

I had to make a minor diversion along the road to Gundagai because the Hume Highway was closed at Woomargama due to a major accident.
Fortunately it only added around 15km to my journey but it was a reminder to charge a bit longer where possible, tempting as it may be to only supercharge between ~5% and ~50% for maximum charging speed.

The Gundagai supercharger is located near the monument of the Dog on the Tuckerbox about which there are many songs and poems in Australian folklore. After making my pilgrimage to the famous site I stopped at Oliver's for a refreshing smoothie and again barely had enough time to finish it by the time supercharging was complete.

View attachment 176489 View attachment 176490

I'm in Canberra for a few days, and tomorrow I will bring my car along to the Shannons Wheels car show at the Treasury Building. Canberra is in the Australian Capital Territory so I have now driven in four states and one territory.

On Monday morning I will continue my Eastward journey, with less than 300km before I reach Sydney.

Checked out the Car show instructions...

So, with a Tesla, are you entering Gate 3 or 4? It is an American Electric Vehicle!

 

[PJF000]

On Monday morning I will continue my Eastward journey, with less than 300km before I reach Sydney.

Don't go too far east or you'll end up in the drink (and lotus mode under water won't work). Suggest you drive in a northerly direction.

 

[Kayto]

MDK will soon be reaching Sydney! I'm organising dinner this Tuesday evening to meet up with MDK and hear about the epic drive from coast to coast. It's 7pm Tuesday 17 May at Balmoral Beach. If you'd like to join us, please RSVP ASAP.

 

[alpal]

Great report @MDK. Keep filling us in on your adventure. Did Melbourne to Coffs Harbour recently, so I know this part of your journey well. Next I am doing Melb to Adel which is slightly more of a challenge and then my next roady will be to WA following in your footsteps. Thanks for all the new plugshares!

 

[MDK]

I'm in Canberra for a few days, and tomorrow I will bring my car along to the Shannons Wheels car show at the Treasury Building. Canberra is in the Australian Capital Territory so I have now driven in four states and one territory.
On Monday morning I will continue my Eastward journey, with less than 300km before I reach Sydney.

The car show was fun; a fellow WA member organised some special custom "number plates" designed to draw attention, and I sure got plenty of questions about my trip!

There were several EVs present, including three Teslas, two Leafs, an i-MiEV and an electric racecar, as well as a go-kart.

This morning's drive to Sydney was uneventful.
I hadn't charged since Friday night because I knew Goulburn supercharger was less than 100km away, and I wanted to stop for breakfast anyway.

Once again I'd barely finished my eggs benedict before my car was calling me, time to go!

Although Sydney isn't my final destination I felt a sense of achievement as I spotted the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

I've come a long way since I first set off from the Indian Ocean two weeks and more than 5000km ago!

Tomorrow I'm booked in for a new set of tyres and am looking forward to dinner with local Teslans, and Wednesday I start heading North!