Supercharger - Lancelin, WA

[Exadios]

WA is a tough one.
80+% of the state population is in Perth.

The Williams Supercharger (in a town of 400) is way more remote than say Dubbo (38000) and Southern Cross (as a vote winner) (with 700) equally remote.

Suspect in the next few years Tesla will cover Geraldton to Albany, but I think the WA network with its smaller sites will have to do the rest.

Maybe all the way to Kalgoorlie if Southern Cross is any guide.. but look at Qld, nothing West of Toowoomba.

So it has occurred to me that Tesla does not have a great incentive to build Superchargers in WA. It has shown that it can sell plenty of cars without them. And, because of the adoption of the CCS standard, Tesla can ride on the back of the various other charging network programs.

But maybe Tesla will prove me wrong when they announce the installation of their Marble Bar Supercharger.

 

[Chuq]

You seem to be saying that WA, because of its low population, will never be served by Tesla Superchargers. I hope you are wrong but I suspect you are right.

Not saying it will never be served, but that, realistically, an area with 1/10th the population will not get as many superchargers. Some people think that the only reason an area of 2.5 million sq km on the west doesn't get the same coverage as an area of 2.5 million sq km on the east, is because Tesla are just deciding to be mean. Of course they don't really think that, but it's how it is sometimes described.

There is also a bit of a "network effect" thing happening. Extending a continuous supercharger network of over 50 locations will benefit any Tesla owner in that region, making further expansion easier to justify than a continuous network of 4 locations.

Being from Tassie I hope that WA readers will understand that I sympathise with them not getting things the eastern states mainland gets

 

[cafz]

I expect the more populated south will be rolled out sooner - Mandurah and Albany are already listed as planned, and surely Bunbury can't be far behind. After that probably Jurien Bay and Geraldton. Further north than that will probably be a while.

 

[RodDavies]

You seem to be saying that WA, because of its low population, will never be served by Tesla Superchargers. I hope you are wrong but I suspect you are right.

Which is why I always write to Wheels when they inevitably conclude a test of a Tesla or a comparison that includes a Tesla with the words “The Tesla super charger network is why the Tesla wins/is a great buy”…

I always tell them to include “ in the eastern States, WAs “Network” is pretty much non existent

 

[Blue heaven]

Which is why I always write to Wheels when they inevitably conclude a test of a Tesla or a comparison that includes a Tesla with the words “The Tesla super charger network is why the Tesla wins/is a great buy”…

I always tell them to include “ in the eastern States, WAs “Network” is pretty much non existent

It only takes one Tesla Supercharger within reach to give Tesla the advantage over any non Tesla EV. Over 90% of the WA population live within 100kms of a Tesla Supercharger.

 

[Chuq]

I always tell them to include “ in the eastern States, WAs “Network” is pretty much non existent

What Wheels would hear is "even Tesla owners say the Tesla superchargers aren't good enough, lets use that in our next EV FUD article!"

 

[Exadios]

It only takes one Tesla Supercharger within reach to give Tesla the advantage over any non Tesla EV. Over 90% of the WA population live within 100kms of a Tesla Supercharger.

Given that the purpose of Superchargers is to service drivers who are on trips of much greater than 100km I don't understand the point you are trying to make.

 

[Blue heaven]

Given that the purpose of Superchargers is to service drivers who are on trips of much greater than 100km I don't understand the point you are trying to make.

The vast majority of West Australians who venture outside of Perth in a vehicle travel to Dunsborough, Margaret River, Augusta, Bridgetown, Denmark or Albany, all towns accessible via Tesla Superchargers.

 

[Exadios]

The vast majority of West Australians who venture outside of Perth in a vehicle travel to Dunsborough, Margaret River, Augusta, Bridgetown, Denmark or Albany, all towns accessible via Tesla Superchargers.

Not clear what the basis of the claims you are making. When you say "vast majority" how vast is it?

 

[Exadios]

Site works have started:

Site of charger cabinets

Site of charger cabinets

Looking at the latest site plan and the photos I'm now not sure that the Tesla Supercharger site works have started. I think what is happening is that the site is for the transformer for the WA EV Network site that is currently being installed.

So, false alarm. Sorry about that.

 

[cafz]

Looking at the latest site plan and the photos I'm now not sure that the Tesla Supercharger site works have started. I think what is happening is that the site is for the transformer for the WA EV Network site that is currently being installed.

It's likely that the distributor will only put one large distribution sub in to service both sets of chargers.

 

[Exadios]

It's likely that the distributor will only put one large distribution sub in to service both sets of chargers.

I agree. But there is no evidence of any Tesla equipment on site at this time.

Common Tesla, you're been beaten by a government run enterprise!

 

[534D]

Common Tesla, you're been beaten by a government run enterprise!

Won't be the first or last site either, WA EV Network is showing more signs of progress at Albany and will have built Southern Cross before Tesla even turn a shovel. By the time those two are done, we will probably be still sitting around 1:300+ stalls to car ratio.

 

[Exadios]

Won't be the first or last site either, WA EV Network is showing more signs of progress at Albany and will have built Southern Cross before Tesla even turn a shovel. By the time those two are done, we will probably be still sitting around 1:300+ stalls to car ratio.

I suspect that Tesla has decided that Australia in general, and WA in particular, is not a very important market and will not contribute to reducing the 1:300 ratio.

 

[534D]

I suspect that Tesla has decided that Australia in general, and WA in particular, is not a very important market and will not contribute to reducing the 1:300 ratio.

I think Tesla are rolling out quite a few chargers on the East coast partially funded by NSW govt in NSW if I have heard correctly.

I think part of the problem in WA is how long it takes Western Power to do network augmentation such as installing Transformers in preparation for DCFC sites to go in.

It’s taken WA EV Network almost two years to get to the point they are now. If Synergy can’t make Western Power pull their finger out, Tesla have no chance.

May also be less commercial incentive to put in Supercharging going forward if other providers such as WA EV Network or NRMA have already touched most parts of the state. They would just be backfilling in areas they can make a profit from if there is no incentive to do it to sell Tesla cars because the existing owners are already serviced by other means. In some respects we probably got skipped over in the adoption curve because we were fairly late as a state to widely adopt EVs and now that the adoption curve is starting to turn up towards mass adoption, other providers have already started filling the gap that Tesla may have otherwise done themselves.

I won’t be surprised if we see Tesla back off even further in WA once those two State and National funded networks are built out, they may just wait and see where the outstanding demand is for additional SC and then target those areas they think make commercial sense such as backfilling in areas of Perth or any of the larger towns that had a high number of Teslas visiting the area. It’s not like they can’t work it out from location data the cars already provide.

 

[cafz]

I think Tesla are rolling out quite a few chargers on the East coast partially funded by NSW govt in NSW if I have heard correctly.

Yes - there's a sticky post with the list of sites we're watching in this forum, the government funded ones are marked.

 

[Exadios]

I think Tesla are rolling out quite a few chargers on the East coast partially funded by NSW govt in NSW if I have heard correctly.

I think part of the problem in WA is how long it takes Western Power to do network augmentation such as installing Transformers in preparation for DCFC sites to go in.

It’s taken WA EV Network almost two years to get to the point they are now. If Synergy can’t make Western Power pull their finger out, Tesla have no chance.

May also be less commercial incentive to put in Supercharging going forward if other providers such as WA EV Network or NRMA have already touched most parts of the state. They would just be backfilling in areas they can make a profit from if there is no incentive to do it to sell Tesla cars because the existing owners are already serviced by other means. In some respects we probably got skipped over in the adoption curve because we were fairly late as a state to widely adopt EVs and now that the adoption curve is starting to turn up towards mass adoption, other providers have already started filling the gap that Tesla may have otherwise done themselves.

I won’t be surprised if we see Tesla back off even further in WA once those two State and National funded networks are built out, they may just wait and see where the outstanding demand is for additional SC and then target those areas they think make commercial sense such as backfilling in areas of Perth or any of the larger towns that had a high number of Teslas visiting the area. It’s not like they can’t work it out from location data the cars already provide.

I would think that if Tesla where really committed to installing chargers in WA then Western Power's apparent tardiness would cause them to increase the lead time on the sites. After all Tesla is not run by people who are easily dissuaded.

WRT the WA EV Network at May of last year almost none of the sites had been selected by the shires and cities and none of the equipment had been delivered or even ordered. So we cannot blame Western Power for not putting transformers in at unknown locations. We may be able to blame Western Power for being a couple of months late at Jurien and Lancelin - we will see. But, for instance, if Tesla really wish to it could put co located sites in those towns in, say, November. And it could be putting in a site in Albany right now.

As you have identified Tesla feels no necessity to put any more chargers in WA.

 

[Vostok]

As you have identified Tesla feels no necessity to put any more chargers in WA.

Not too long ago I was musing that the build-out of third-party networks that Teslas could natively use (i.e. CCS2) would mean that Tesla would kinda lose interest in expanding the Supercharger network. They seemed to have ‘form’ even in NSW where they were drip-feeding out a few SCs per year.

Then came along the NSW EV strategy in 2021 with a whopping $171M for EV charging infrastructure and boom! Tesla applies for grant money and wins 30+ sites and 500+ stalls. And that’s just Round 1. It’s clearly made a very, very big difference.

Is the WA Electric Highway a grant programme open to all-comers, or is it basically a state-funded, owned and operated network?

 

[OwlDownUnder]

Not too long ago I was musing that the build-out of third-party networks that Teslas could natively use (i.e. CCS2) would mean that Tesla would kinda lose interest in expanding the Supercharger network. They seemed to have ‘form’ even in NSW where they were drip-feeding out a few SCs per year.

Then came along the NSW EV strategy in 2021 with a whopping $171M for EV charging infrastructure and boom! Tesla applies for grant money and wins 30+ sites and 500+ stalls. And that’s just Round 1. It’s clearly made a very, very big difference.

Is the WA Electric Highway a grant programme open to all-comers, or is it basically a state-funded, owned and operated network?

State funded and owned , operated by Chargefox

 

[Exadios]

Not too long ago I was musing that the build-out of third-party networks that Teslas could natively use (i.e. CCS2) would mean that Tesla would kinda lose interest in expanding the Supercharger network. They seemed to have ‘form’ even in NSW where they were drip-feeding out a few SCs per year.

Then came along the NSW EV strategy in 2021 with a whopping $171M for EV charging infrastructure and boom! Tesla applies for grant money and wins 30+ sites and 500+ stalls. And that’s just Round 1. It’s clearly made a very, very big difference.

Is the WA Electric Highway a grant programme open to all-comers, or is it basically a state-funded, owned and operated network?

To expand on what OwlDownUnder has said there are three state organs in the mix: Synergy, Horizon and Western Power.

Synergy operates in the so called "SWIS" (South West Integrated System, aka "the grid") as both a power generator and monopoly seller of power to the general public. The SWIS is physically wired by Western Power and is managed by use of a wholesale market (AEMO).

Horizon operates in that area of the state not covered by the SWIS. It acts as monopoly generator and seller of power. It basically operates a number of isolated mini and micro grids.

The chargers are owned and operated by Synergy within the SWIS and by Horizon otherwise.

I'm not clear what future plans the WA government have WRT the network in particular and EV charging in general. There appears to be some vague hope by government that third parties (Tesla?) will come along and operate competing networks.