Supercharger - Maclean , NSW (Prev. Harwood)

I've called support a few times, and I have been active enough on Twitter and Facebook when called for.

But this weekend seems different.

My next question will be about strategy. I think sites should be installed in pairs. For highways that's easy with dual service centres (e.g. northbound and southbound). For Shell Cove I think they need to find a nearby shopping centre or club and install there too - but not too close.

Shellharbour Square is probably worth considering, though it's perhaps too close for local power outages. It has 8 EV chargers already (4 on the northern end of the eastern car park rooftop level, and 4 on the northern end of the western car park rooftop level). Each bank of 4 has 2 ChargePoint J1772's and 2 Tesla destination chargers. Aside from the unfortunate reality they're all running at 7kW, it should be easy enough to sell them on the idea of an upgrade. Especially now that ChargePoint has gone bye-bye.

Warrawong Plaza would also be a good option. Its rooftop car park is never full, it's never locked at night, and there are already 2 Type 2 wall points (BYO cable) at Jax Tyres, right at the far corner of the car park. Installing a few real chargers should be straightforward. It's far enough away that a power outage at one would rarely take out the other. And they're linked by a very good road - so even if you're down to your last 2% you'll still make it from one to the other.

Figtree Plaza would be great, and ChargeFox already have a relationship with them as they have 2 Type 2 wall points there. And it's nice and close to the freeway (unlike Shell Cove). But traffic there is just too congested. Besides, while freeway access is great for 3 out of 4 directions, rejoining the freeway southbound is just awful. You either have to endure the old road to Unanderra, or backtrack half way down Masters Road, or do a lap of Mangerton at 40km/h and rejoin the freeway near the TIGS speed camera.

Woonona-Bulli RSL would be awesome. It's at the northern end of the Northern Distributor (which will still be an off-ramp once they finally extend the distributor to link to the bottom end of the F6 - the Bulli Pass Bypass). It already has an enormous car park. Clubs always want to give people reasons to show up. It's also nice and close to a 24 hour McDonalds.

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Gundagai probably doesn't need a backup as Evie Tarcutta and NRMA Jugiong are close enough. Ditto the Tesla Superchargers next door (for those of us using the right make of EV!). Tarcutta and Jugiong are a little more than 2%, but still close enough. Besides, they never commissioned the 350's at Gundagai anyway. Only one lonely-looking 50 in the next parking bay.

Similar arguments can be made about Chargefox's Pacific Highway chargers that Evie have started to duplicate.

 

Does Chargefox's phone app reliably tell you when a charger is down?

 

There were some successful Plugshare checkins with the 350s. There was some speculation they were moved to the Goulburn site to replace failed units there?

 

Yes. Shell Cove has been a grey icon for almost a week now.

 

I turned up to the Shell Cove one last Friday. The app said it was online, but it wasn't. Called Chargefox and they couldn't remotely get it working. I was out of luck. Luckily I could get to my destination and use a 10a household point, or my weekend would have been ruined.
I think it was marked "out of order" sometime over the weekend.
It Seems outages are NOT automated, relies on someone at Chargefox marking it as broken/unavailable.
So its not reliable/quick enough for my liking. I think Plugshare will be more up to date.

As an aside, I was staying in Robertson for the weekend, and wanted to come back via the Hume Hwy. The Mittagong NRMA charger was also broken. I saw on Plugshare that Mittagong was out, and made sure I had enough charge at my stay before I left.

 

Damn!

Last Friday is when it blew up. Might be related. I assume that was shortly before the massive blackout they had, which took out the shopping centre above and most of the surrounding traffic lights, houses and businesses - at least as far as Barrack Point.

Whenever I'm ubering in the area and Shell Cove isn't an option, I've resolved to just make do with Jax Warrawong. Though if I know it's unavailable and I'm closer to Figtree, I might just go there. Either way, I always carry my cables!

I've gone to NRMA Berry a few times, but really, why bother? By the time I get back to territory I can reliably find uber riders Shellharbour/Shell Cove, I've already lost 10-15% of what I just charged. Assuming I'm starting with 15% and I want to charge to 75% (which is what I'd arrive back with), using a 3-phase charger at Jax Warrawong or Figtree Plaza, that's 3 hours (though I'll always go to 90% which is more like 4 hours). A round trip to Berry is an hour, plus another hour to charge to 90%. Sure, I could get back on the road an hour sooner, but if I pick the 3 hour option, I can sneak in a nap. Or some YouTube. Or a few turns of Civilization VI on the iPad. It's a more efficient use of my time.

The only 3-phase AC nearby that doesn't require BYO cables is the basement of Wollongong Central (Market Street entrance). I'm not a fan, as it's a long way away (may as well go to NRMA Berry), it's closed at night (unlike Warrawong and Figree), and only one of its destination chargers works (last I checked).

Shellharbour Square is closer, and it isn't BYO-cable, but 1 of its 4 destination chargers (western car park closer to the potplants) has been busted for months. The others give me grief since they regularly go above 250v and the car shuts off at 4kW when that happens, goes down to 0kW and starts ramping up again. Over and over. Fortunately all 4 of their ChargePoint units work nicely, provided you have a J1772 adapter.

I hope we're all checking in on PlugShare, especially when a site is down completely! Having some intel (whether good or bad) makes planning a trip easier as you set off.

 

Yes, checking in should be strongly encouraged within the EV community as really good etiquette. I always do it.

 

I messaged the venue a week or two ago asking, they saw my message but never responded.

 

Progress! Concreting!

 

Four chargers?
Or is there more not shown in that pic.

Edit. Going back through the first page of the thread seems the council approval was for four chargers.

Hopefully with that progress it can open for Xmas travel

 

There might be a bit more to the left. Will look when next passing.

 

Now that the Tesla Owners Club of Australia November newsletter is out. This is an extract from that:

"Upcoming Supercharger openings (completion ETA – within the next 2-3 months):

AU:

• Harwood, NSW – Located at the Harwood Hotel, offering greater flexibility while travelling through North Coast NSW (4 post)"

 

Question is whether that's from a Tesla source or someone just interpolating from tragic's pic.

 

Can confirm it's from Tesla themselves (all TOCA newsletters are approved by Tesla before release).

 

Looking forward to it opening, hopefully before Christmas. I've got a drive from Port Macquarie to Mooloolaba and this would be a great spot for lunch saving the need to supercharge at Coffs, while not having to stretch to the farm or macadamia castle.

 

I wrote the Hotel on Facebook and they said they are expecting the station to be open by Friday 18 December! Just missed my drive up to the Goldie but should be able to stop in on the way back!