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Supercharger - Port Macquarie NSW

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As pointed out by Colina here - SYD - BNE Supercharger Route - Page 4

Cassegrain Winery, Port Macquarie is the first SC on the Sydney-Brisbane route! Thought I'd make a dedicated thread as we have previously (could a mod make it sticky?)

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I have an update, unfortunately that is I cannot say anything more...but let's just say you won't be disappointed.

When I can say more I suggest we organise an even at the winery...would have to be one of the more beautiful locations for SCs. That and Cassegrain Wines are exceptionally good.

-ECIT
 
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Ya - done it several times in an 85; there currently being a destination charger in Port.


BUT what about if the car is fully laden with a family of 5 plus lots of heavy luggage. Do you make it with lots of battery juice to spare?

Would you charge your battery to 100% to handle that stretch? I routinely charge up to 90% and that claims to give me around 340kms... Does not seem to be enough...
 
BUT what about if the car is fully laden with a family of 5 plus lots of heavy luggage. Do you make it with lots of battery juice to spare?

Would you charge your battery to 100% to handle that stretch? I routinely charge up to 90% and that claims to give me around 340kms... Does not seem to be enough...

Absolutely you'd need 100%. This isn't a problem - allow about an hour before you need to leave on a 32A charger. I use the app to set the new level and come down to the car just in time to drive off at 100%. There isn't an issue with the battery doing this.

If you set the destination in the Nav and drive to keep he average consumption around 200Wh/km then you will get the typical range. The Nav will also tell you if you need to slow down in order to make it. From what I have read Pt. Macquarie is achievable but drive carefully and watch your usage. Quite a few people have made the trip.
 
Absolutely you'd need 100%. This isn't a problem - allow about an hour before you need to leave on a 32A charger. I use the app to set the new level and come down to the car just in time to drive off at 100%. There isn't an issue with the battery doing this.

If you set the destination in the Nav and drive to keep he average consumption around 200Wh/km then you will get the typical range. The Nav will also tell you if you need to slow down in order to make it. From what I have read Pt. Macquarie is achievable but drive carefully and watch your usage. Quite a few people have made the trip.


You know by this logic, you may as well eliminate every second SC between Sydney and Melbourne. Just charge her up 100% and let rip.

But whichever way Tesla spins it, if they don't put an SC between Sydney and Port M, say Newcastle, then the SC network from Syd to Qld will be terribly incomplete. Fancy adding to the stress levels about range anxiety like that to a happy-go-lucky family of travelling Tesla customers. Are we supposed to treat as normal arriving at Port M on 2% battery charge after having already charged to 100%? Do we leave nothing in reserve for contingencies or emergencies? Must the conversation in the car about kids asking if they are there yet become really good questions inspiring hope and fear? Can you actually imagine the real consequences of running out of battery charge a couple of Kms out of Port M by a family on a planned holiday to the Gold Coast and how tragic that would actually be? Are we supposed to ration the Air Con or slow to a snail pace for the last quarter? What a most unnecessary and unpleasantly stressful experience. May as well hire a hybrid Camry. Think of it as travel insurance. Plenty of petrol stations between Sydney and Port M... No need to worry about that.

Do you know how embarrassing it is to explain these fears to innocent non-Tesla experienced enquirers concerned about whether a quarter of a million Aussie bucks taken out of the family budget on a fully spec'd out Tesla at least makes for a pleasant family holiday? I mean if you can't even provide that basic level of comfort for that amount of dosh, how do you argue against taking that amount of money and buying first class return air tickets for the family, and still have enough change to buy a nice Merc or BMW with plenty of change for free gas for years to come.

You see what I am getting at here? A long drive in a luxury Tesla is supposed to be luxurious. SCs are not just comfort stops, they provide essential mental reassurance as well. Without that, the trip is not worth it and can't withstand family scrutiny let alone 3rd party scrutiny. Turns the driver into a Tesla apologist. The driver is forced to take the necessary steps to plan and defend the car because the car can't as yet defend itself.

When we were told that an SC network would be built between Sydney and Brisbane, I'm sure we thought that did not mean that a mere SC would be placed at the absolute extremes of the battery's possible stretch. Who does that? You don't buy a pair of shorts that need to be stretched to maximum at the sacrifice of reasonable comfort. I can only hope that Port M being the first SC out of Sydney is a temporary measure with an intermediate SC to follow in a couple of months..
 
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You know by this logic, you may as well eliminate every second SC between Sydney and Melbourne. Just charge her up 100% and let rip.

But whichever way Tesla spins it, if they don't put an SC between Sydney and Port M, say Newcastle, then the SC network from Syd to Qld will be terribly incomplete. Fancy adding to the stress levels about range anxiety like that to a happy-go-lucky family of travelling Tesla customers. Are we supposed to treat as normal arriving at Port M on 2% battery charge after having already charged to 100%? Do we leave nothing in reserve for contingencies or emergencies? Must the conversation in the car about kids asking if they are there yet become really good questions inspiring hope and fear? Can you actually imagine the real consequences of running out of battery charge a couple of Kms out of Port M by a family on a planned holiday to the Gold Coast and how tragic that would actually be? Are we supposed to ration the Air Con or slow to a snail pace for the last quarter? What a most unnecessary and unpleasantly stressful experience. May as well hire a hybrid Camry. Think of it as travel insurance. Plenty of petrol stations between Sydney and Port M... No need to worry about that.

Do you know how embarrassing it is to explain these fears to innocent non-Tesla experienced enquirers concerned about whether a quarter of a million Aussie bucks taken out of the family budget on a fully spec'd out Tesla at least makes for a pleasant family holiday? I mean if you can't even provide that basic level of comfort for that amount of dosh, how do you argue against taking that amount of money and buying first class return air tickets for the family, and still have enough change to buy a nice Merc or BMW with plenty of change for free gas for years to come.

You see what I am getting at here? A long drive in a luxury Tesla is supposed to be luxurious. SCs are not just comfort stops, they provide essential mental reassurance as well. Without that, the trip is not worth it and can't withstand family scrutiny let alone 3rd party scrutiny. Turns the driver into a Tesla apologist. The driver is forced to take the necessary steps to plan and defend the car because the car can't as yet defend itself.

When we were told that an SC network would be built between Sydney and Brisbane, I'm sure we thought that did not mean that a mere SC would be placed at the absolute extremes of the battery's possible stretch. Who does that? You don't buy a pair of shorts that need to be stretched to maximum at the sacrifice of reasonable comfort. I can only hope that Port M being the first SC out of Sydney is a temporary measure with an intermediate SC to follow in a couple of months..
I don't understand what you are trying to get at but, in any case, there is a SC going into the Raymond Terrace area.
 
+1 to raynewman's reponse - I don't think anyone has said that they expect this to be the only supercharger on this route! Just that it will be the first one, and it will allow some enthusiastic people (such as those on this forum) to make the trip if they wish.

Regarding Raymond Terrace, it's not definite but I expect it is a reference to this article mentioning Heatherbrae, which was shared on this forum last year: Tesla Supercharger network:: Australian plans revealed
 
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I seem to recall the exact same discussions and fears as Mel/Syd was getting built out, just because of the order in which they appeared! Tesla have rolled out every supercharger-enabled route they've done at about the same ~200km or less spacing, so there's no reason to suspect it won't be done exactly the same here.
 
I seem to recall the exact same discussions and fears as Mel/Syd was getting built out, just because of the order in which they appeared! Tesla have rolled out every supercharger-enabled route they've done at about the same ~200km or less spacing, so there's no reason to suspect it won't be done exactly the same here.

Yeah, from other things I've seen/heard (reddit) the biggest hurdle in SC rollout is council approvals. This is probably what we're seeing here, Tesla probably had the least resistance here so things happened faster here. Mainly I'm happy things have started happening and it's still only January!
 
Couldn't ask for a better spot in my opinion...strut on in to the restaurant for a bite whilst drinking some of the great Cassegrain wine's....then go buy a heap of wine in the cellar (and have it sent home - apart from taking what I want to drink at my destination) and then get the manual auto pilot (my wife) in the drivers seat :wink:

I'm going to make a special trip up to install a new system for Thomas Cassegrain (just up the road from the winery) when, or should I say if, the SC's come online :biggrin:

-ECIT
 
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I'll be staying at the Observatory Port Macquarie the first week in April 2016 because it has a destination charger. I booked the room yesterday so for me almost any other spot on the Brisbane Sydney route would have been preferable if the SuperCharger is operational by then. Still if it is I'll get a charge there on the return leg back to Brisbane. So all good really. On the way down I'll leave my Brisbane home on a full charge which will easily get me to The Macadamia Castle, charge for 6 hours or so in the small hours of the morning then a slow drive to Port Macquarie and a night on their destination charger followed by a slow drive to the SuperChargers at St Leonards. Slow because I only have a 70D and both legs are only just within the EPA range for that vehicle. Any suggestions about charging on this trip (other than waiting till the end of the year) are welcome. My longest trip so far has been Brisbane-Toowoomba-Brisbane and that went fine on one charge.
 
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I'll be staying at the Observatory Port Macquarie the first week in April 2016 because it has a destination charger. I booked the room yesterday so for me almost any other spot on the Brisbane Sydney route would have been preferable if the SuperCharger is operational by then. Still if it is I'll get a charge there on the return leg back to Brisbane. So all good really. On the way down I'll leave my Brisbane home on a full charge which will easily get me to The Macadamia Castle, charge for 6 hours or so in the small hours of the morning then a slow drive to Port Macquarie and a night on their destination charger followed by a slow drive to the SuperChargers at St Leonards. Slow because I only have a 70D and both legs are only just within the EPA range for that vehicle. Any suggestions about charging on this trip (other than waiting till the end of the year) are welcome. My longest trip so far has been Brisbane-Toowoomba-Brisbane and that went fine on one charge.
North of Port, there's Coffs show ground and in Newcastle, there's Mangrove Mike's.
 
Any suggestions about charging on this trip (other than waiting till the end of the year) are welcome.

Ray’s suggestion to charge at Coffs Showground is a very good one. With the UMC, the Euro 5-pin tail from Tesla & the UMC adaptors from EVnomics you can charge at 50 km/h at just about any showground or caravan park rather than 30 km/h using a J1772 adaptor at the Maca Castle.


Tesla UMC Adaptor - Twin Pack - 20A + 32A - EVnomics