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Supercharger - Maclean , NSW (Prev. Harwood)

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Have you pinged Chargefox to ask them why this particular charger seems to go offline an awful lot?
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.
 
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Besides, they never commissioned the 350's at Gundagai anyway. Only one lonely-looking 50 in the next parking bay.

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?

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

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.
 
Progress! Concreting!

Thanks for visiting the site for us! Good to see movement after several months of nothing.

I still think it's minutely possible that they put this on hold because they wanted it to be V3 but that would require the conduit pattern to have changed to a single V3 supercharger cabinet (powering all 4 stalls), rather than 2x V2 cabinets (powering 2 stalls each)
 
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THEY are the cars of the future and they’re coming to Clarence Valley.
For Harwood Hotel owner Mike Smith, he sees the opening of a Tesla Supercharger Station at his pub as a way of getting in on the ground floor of the electric revolution.
Tesla’s fast-chargers will shortly be up and running, which Mr Smith says will complete the electric vehicle charging corridor along the east coast for Tesla owners.
“This Tesla Supercharger Station completes the link between Cairns and Melbourne. You can drive up and down the coast and there’s charging points all the way along,” he said.
“It’s a real easy link for the highway, and for us it make sense. You’ve always got to be trying something different and reinventing yourself. ”
The Tesla Supercharger Station, of which there are around 35 already in Australia, can charge up to 270kms in half an hour, and Mr Smith said it was a perfect amount of time for people to come into the pub while waiting.
“That’s the idea, come in, have a feed and keep going,” he said.
“You make it a destination – people can look and say we’ll pull in at Harwood and then they’re off again. “We’ve got that position close to the highway, and not everyone wants to pull into a service centre.”
“It’s the way of the future. I heard this morning that by 2030 the entire Sydney bus fleet will be electric, and that’s only nine years away. It’s definitely coming.
“For us, especially after COVID, it’s about adapting. Pubs are not the traditional pubs they used to be, it’s about destinations and food now. The whole landscape has changed.”
The Harwood Hotel Tesla Supercharger station boasts four Superchargers.