Supercharger - Gundagai NSW

[louco73]

I had to wait at Goulburn, Gundagai (twice), Wodonga (twice), Macquarie, Maclean and got the last stall at Port Macquarie and Heatherbrae.

The only Supercharger that activated any limit was Macquarie where it was set to 80% and I was the only car waiting. All others would have let me go to 100%.

A lady with a Model X was baffled when I asked how long she was going to be since we were sharing at Heatherbrae. She genuinely didn't know about the stall sharing.

I did look at other options, but nearly all the third-party chargers I looked at had one stall down or bad reviews on problems getting charging working properly. E.g. in Newcastle I went to a free NRMA charger after the kids were in bed. I was only getting 30 kW and the Model 3 next to me was getting 9.x kW. There was some reports of this problem on the Plugshare App. I couldn't take that risk when on the move during the day, so stuck to superchargers.

I think a limit of 90% and a target arrival charge of 15% (seems to be around 20% now) would help move things along. That said, I'd much rather have a surplus of options that means there are no restrictions, otherwise people are not going to want to do road trips over peak periods in EVs.

 

[ausevdriver]

Or to give themselves time to get back to the charger before incurring idle fees.

are charging to 100% to soak up time while they have wandered off somewhere.

Wodonga at least has toilets near by. But we had to go all the way across to the main road to get something to eat. Same at Goulburn.

I’m surprised no food trucks have tried setting up near these chargers. A van selling coffee, donuts and hot dogs would make a lot of money at some of these chargers.

 

[ausevdriver]

This is something that people need to get used to. We've never put just enough fuel in our ICE cars to get to the next stop

The other thing people need to get used to is what “just enough fuel” actually is.

Our first trip to Melbourne was the longest trip we had done at that point and so we overfilled as we weren’t quite sure how much to trust the navigation. (Also the aforementioned long walks to food)

In the end the most we used in an SR was 59% between Gundagai and Wodonga.

Our return trip home we charge only to 70-75% at each stop and had no issues, so hopefully most people learn that lesson before the next holiday period.

 

[Onshore]

I’m surprised no food trucks have tried setting up near these chargers. A van selling coffee, donuts and hot dogs would make a lot of money at some of these chargers.

Yep good idea. Dunnies need to be part of the “template” too

Bathurst is an example of one of the better setups.

 

[Maximillan]

But we had to go all the way across to the main road to get something to eat. Same at Goulburn.

When in Goulburn last week I used the toilets in the Visitors Information Centre next to the chargers, they were in a good state and we ended up buying some small gifts from the shop. I'm not sure that they'd be an option outside of business hours.

 

[Vostok]

I had to wait at Goulburn, Gundagai (twice), Wodonga (twice), Macquarie, Maclean and got the last stall at Port Macquarie and Heatherbrae.

What was your longest wait?

In NSW at least, a big chunk of money has been proactively thrown at this issue. Round 1 grant results announced 86 new fast charging sites (with up to 15 stalls) and Round 2 grants are aiming for another 180 charging stations. Over 4 years, around 1000 new DCFCs will be built in NSW which is about 10x the current number.

It’s hard to know whether that will be enough to prevent most queuing at the worst peak holiday times, as in 4 years there could be 10x the number of BEVs on the road as well, but at least they are having a crack.

And this is why I don’t resent the RUC that is coming into effect in NSW in 2027. The money has to come from somewhere to make this sustainable.

 

[louco73]

What was your longest wait?

The longest wait was at Gundagai from the photo I posted in this thread when I was 8th in the queue. That was on the way back from VIC. The wait was at least 20 mins long, but I didn't time it. Unfortunately the invoice doesn't show the time, only the date, otherwise I could have used that and the time of the photo to determine how long it was.

 

[doggy1]

Imagine what this holiday break would have been like if there were NO Tesla Superchargers in Australia!

 

[Loxmyf]

58 minute wait to charge at Gundagai yesterday. My own damn fault though for not charging as much as I'd planned to at Barnawatha north. I planned to stop there to relieve and rest, and then after relieving, forgot the rest bit and left with just enough to get to Gundagai, and ignored the car suggesting I stop at Wodonga.

signed
I R idiot.

 

[moa999]

What time was that ? And how many cars in the queue initially?

 

[Loxmyf]

What time was that ? And how many cars in the queue initially?

Joined the queue at 16:29, started charging at 17:28 according to Teslafi data

 

[moa999]

Quite late in the day then.. I'd have expected the busiest times to be somewhat earlier when the Melbourne and Sydney traffic starts running into each other or vice versa.

 

[whoistheg]

Good Friday/Easter 2022 was the start of the busy Supercharge/Holiday experience. this was before the Model Y and we waited a few times along the Hume. It was not bad 10min max.. and then Boom.. July/Aug comes the Model Y and well now it will be catchup for a few years

 

[moa999]

All depends how quickly these part NSW Govt funded sites get built including 15-stalls in Gundagai Town.

Wollongong Figtree went up pretty quickly for example.

 

[Zoltrix77]

Tesla sold a lot of cars in Australia this year, they get the benefit of the doubt, next year, not so much. We buy Tesla because of the Supercharger network.

 

[rx80]

All depends how quickly these part NSW Govt funded sites get built including 15-stalls in Gundagai Town

I'm seriously hoping they're looking at the data and prioritise those in Marulan/Gundagai/Taree/Coffs before the upcoming Easter break.
Getting regular news in Daily Fail is starting to get tiring.

 

[gm12]

This was on TOCA Facebook page:

 

[Vostok]

I'm seriously hoping they're looking at the data and prioritise those in Marulan/Gundagai/Taree/Coffs before the upcoming Easter break.

Don’t forget the 15-staller in Raymond Terrace! It will be in a good spot, too.

All the queuing seems to have happened on the Hume and Pacific Highway sites. Which is not surprising really. No queuing anywhere else as far as I know.

When I charged at Evie Taree at Easter last year, no queue for me, but there was a big queue for petrol

 

[moa999]

I'm seriously hoping they're looking at the data and prioritise those in Marulan/Gundagai/Taree/Coffs before the upcoming Easter break.

Not always under Tesla's control. Particularly with power upgrades.

On the Chargefox site at Gundagai, that's been out since Boxing Day.. I wonder if this is because the Tesla site has been hammered so much that Chargefox hasn't received sufficient power.

I recall they had a rather interesting power agreement that took spare capacity after Tesla. Described in this doc.

https://arena.gov.au/assets/2021/02/chargefox-fast-charging-site-selection-guide.pdf

 

[Chuq]

Don’t forget the 15-staller in Raymond Terrace!

Plus Yass, Albury and Ballina!

In fact on the Hume+Pacific route, from Wodonga to the Qld border, not counting urban Sydney, there are currently 6+6+8 (south) and 6+6+6+6+4+6 (north) - total of 54 stalls.

The new ones planned are Albury (15)+Gundagai (12)+Yass (12)+Marulan (15)+Raymond Terrace (15)+Taree (12)+Coffs (15)+Ballina (12). So at least 108 stalls - plus whatever is planned for Holbrook (capacity unknown). At least a tripling of capacity. But is it going to be enough before next Christmas?