@Techno-phile 's report on the trip to Adelaide with
@MDK
Matt and I planned this trip to prove an Electric Vehicle, a Tesla in
particular, could drive from Perth to Adelaide across the Nullarbor, without
purpose built chargers or facilities, and without having to camp in caravan
parks with slow charging. The fastest the car can charge from AC is 32 amp 3
phase which provides 100kms of range per hour, and this is what we wanted to
use.
The Tesla performed brilliantly. We had planned dawn to dusk driving or
charging for the first three days, and all daily destination targets were
achieved. Auto-pilot (Elon) drove most of the way and only faltered when we
crossed into South Australia into the rising sun where the contrast between
the road markings and the surface was very low.
The Tesla national slack group in particular provided much support and live
advice about elevation and windspeeds, as they tracked our progress on
track.menheerse.com.au
On day 1 we charged in Merredin (at CBH grain silo) and at Southern Cross
Town oval.
Merredin Town was the only one to say they could not help, but the CBH
manager lent us his ICE to drive into town whilst the Tesla was charging and
we found 3phase at the Nissan dealer who agreed to allow EVs to use it in
the future.
We then walked round the Town recreation centre and found two 3phase outlets
which the girls on reception said we could use. But we took photos of them
back to the town council to gain official approval for next time.
We had to reach Kalgoorlie by 16:00 for the local press and welcoming
committee at Main roads, and our electrons were running low. Normally we
would just reduce speed from the standard speed limit + 2kph to improve
efficiency but we couldn't do this because of our deadline, so we arrived
with 11 kms in the tank. Matt had to do a few demonstration launches and by
the time we got to our night charger at the Oasis centre we had exactly 1
kms in the tank. Not an electron wasted. We knew we were charging by the
netball court, but we were directed actually onto the courts, which felt
secure with fences round us. When we got back 3.5 hours later the courts
were all full (except ours) and we had to wait until the game on the
neighbouring court finished to drive out.
On day 2 we left 15 minutes late, charged at Norseman Town oval and so got
to Balladonia road house 15 mins late. Here the outlet was in an awkward
location and we wanted to prove that we could still get close enough (rather
than use our new 32 amp 3 phase extension lead). Matt managed to fit into
the tight space with 50mm margin on both sides. The manager Gregg promised
to move the obstruction in time for Matt's visit on the way back and for
future EVs. However, this cost us another 15 minutes so we were 30 mins late
leaving Balladonia.
It was getting near peak roo time so we slowed down, and the car watched the
road ahead and kept us perfectly in lane whilst Matt and I were free to scan
the bushes on either side. No worries in the end, except we arrived an hour
behind schedule in the dark.
But this was actually a problem for the following day since we only had 15
amp single phase charge at Caiguna and we needed a full tank to make the
next 3 phase at Border Village. 14 hours of charging would achieve this but
we only had 13 hours to dawn when we had to leave.
So we left next morning (day 3) missing a few electrons. Although we knew
there was not much altitude difference over the whole day, our power use
initially was too high at speed limit + 2kph. The Tesla slack group noticed
this and started trying to analyse why and give advice. It turned out we
were climbing steeply to the Madura pass before descending the escarpment
into SA. But we don't regen all the extra power we use on the way up, and it
is not comforting when the car is panicking and telling us we will not make
our destination and to turn round NOW. So we reduced speed to 80/85 kph to
hold the kms left on arrival to be greater than zero, and road trains
started whizzing past.
We stopped to spruik Teslas and try to convince the roadhouses on the way to
accept the sockets we were providing free, and are hopeful of Cocklebiddy
and confident of Mundrabilla. Next time this gap will be bridged.
We had now stopped climbing so the power drain was less, so we decided to
catch up to one of those roadtrains which had overtaken us and set the
Auto-pilot to one car gap and accept the slipstream. Magic - our power use
dropped dramatically and we were able hold 102 kph most of the way to Eucla.
The Tesla slack group noticed the big change and speculated we might have
picked up a tailwind, and at Eucla we had 12kms to go to Border Village with
12kms in the tank. We stopped to do some more spruiking and discussed taking
a 15 mins charge even at 15amps or to go very slow climbing through the
Eucla gap.
At Eucla the receptionist said no, they didn't have 3phase power and what
was it anyway, that the manager was not available and that she did not know
about electricity. I asked to speak to the person in charge of maintenance,
and the receptionist said he could be anywhere on site. Did he have a mobile
phone? Yes. Do you want me to ring him? Yes please. But when Dave arrived he
said no worries and plugged us into a beautiful 32 amp 3 phase at the
laundry. The manager Amanda then appeared and we agreed a cost of 88c/kWh
and even persuaded her to accept a free Tesla HPWC for next time (if Tesla
approve this site).
So we arrived in Border Village with plenty of electrons and only did a
courtesy charge there on the socket we had supplied. In fact, we were
restricted to 22amps from this outlet because of doubts about the wiring, so
it was fortunate that we did not actually need a charge here.
We were now 30 minutes behind schedule but arrived at Nullarbor Roadhouse
just before sunset, to plug into another of the sockets we had supplied.
The last two days were planned to be easy, with some spare time in case of
problems in the first three days.
Matt took the manager Ross for a few launches at sunrise the next day (4),
then we left across the true treeless plain to Penong Caravan park where a
20 and a 32 amp 3 phase awaited. We tested both successfully and then
settled on the 32 amp and went to the Penong Hotel for a small pint. Soon
Visible Tesla advised us that charging had ceased, so we rushed back to find
the 32 amp could not hold the current and dialled it down to 26amp. This put
us behind schedule again and we tried pushing back up to 29 amps which held.
The manager Graeme promised to look at this for next time.
At Ceduna Men's shed the reception committee had left, but Matt said he
would catch them on the way back. The car decided the 20 amp socket here was
not fit for more than 15 amps, so we had more time to chat with Rodney and
the local electrician Jamie.
Karen at Poochera Hotel was very welcoming and we were soon plugged into one
of her bar customer's workshop across the road. Although this socket held 20
amps well, we decided to dial it down to 15 amps since this would be
sufficient overnight. Payment for the electricity was by means of a bar tab
with Karen, and she advised that she could ensure a 3 phase outlet would be
available to any future EVs staying with her, on the same basis.
The next day (5) seemed too easy, with the 50 amp outlet on offer at Kimba
hospital and 32 amp at Port Augusta main square. But our 32 amp plug did not
fit into the 50 amp socket, so our hospital contact took us into town to
Bridgestone Tyres where Charlie said no worries. He had just had a new 20amp
5 pin wired up, and by parking in a neighbours drive and snaking our
extension lead, 32 to 20 amp converter/ cut out and 20amp plug through his
workshop we could reach it. However the car did not detect any supply so we
deduced that the neutral had not in fact been connected. Charlie would now
get the sparky back but in the meantime had another 20 amp even deeper in
his workshop. We were now very glad we had bought the 10m 32amp extension
cable the day before we left. After donating a couple of bottles of WA wine
we left with sufficient charge for Port Augusta.
On the way Iron Knob offered cool drinks so we went in to find a ghost town
taken over by Emus, and no functioning facilities.
We arrived in Port Augusta to find the green box housing the 3 phase sockets
locked, and the receptionist at the Town council knowing nothing about it
and not able to contact Daniele. We left a message for him on his mobile and
started to explore the area in 3 phase outlet search mode, soon discovering
a 50 amp attached to the back of some automatic loo facilities. We wanted to
settle the question of 32 amp plugs into 50 amp sockets so plugged in and
after a bit of elbow grease made the connection. We were plugged into our
own facilities, but had to park on the grass to avoid cables across the
footpath. We were also in full view of the Town offices so it wasn't long
before rangers came to protect their grass and their loo. Fortunately we
were able to show our email exchange with Daniele and suddenly the key to
the green box was found and we moved to an official parking spot there,
which only involved a 2 metre cable across the path. We were instructed to
remain with the car at all times and to replace the lock once we were
finished. We charged to 90% hoping to use the Percedos out of the door of
our room at Hotel Flinders to top off overnight (and to avoid the batteries
sitting at 100% for long). Unfortunately we were iced in, although Matt did
manage to add 90 mins of charge at 9 amps early the next morning.
The last day (6) was too easy with a strong tailwind and we drove the 320
kms to Adelaide at the speed limit (no plus offset because of the average
speed cameras) with 60kms to spare. I had been unable to use auto lane
change, and only discovered in Adelaide that I had not enabled this in my
personal driver settings!
The power for this 2850 kms trip was supplied free by all Town councils, but
we paid Balladonia $50, Eucla $44, Kimba 2 bottles of wine and Poochera a
bar tab of $20. A total of $140. We also gave Ceduna Men's shed a donation
of $50 and supplied outlets to NullarborRH and Border Village costing $41
each, and bought the 10m 32 amp 3 phase extension cable for $313.
Although this trip required detailed planning, with several reserve
locations since we were not sure what we would find at each location
(access, wiring, compatible outlets), it should now be easy to replicate
since the details of all visited outlets are on <
http://www.plugshare.com>
www.plugshare.com and a fuller list will be loaded on Damon's map.
The gap between Balladonia and Eucla should be bridged by Mundrabilla and
possibly Cocklebiddy in June2016, so there will be no need to charge on
single phase anywhere between Perth and Adelaide. We took 5 nights on the
way and visited more chargers than necessary (to test them out and spruik
Teslas), but only 4 nights were really required, and less if driving after
dark.
West Australia is now connected to the rest of Australia by fast AC outlets.
