Supercharger - Wendouree (Ballarat) VIC

[srwx]

Had a quick chat with Stockland Wendouree management today, they were great and willing to chat. Whilst they were aware of the press recently (thanks to their Google Alerts ) they were fairly certain that superchargers in Wendouree were still in the early decision making stage rather than a sure thing (there was also talk of just having destination chargers). Apparently Stockland are still working on possible expansion plans for the Wendouree location and that work would take priority over superchargers. Basically if the superchargers get approved they could be up by early 2017 but could get pushed to later if Wendouree expansion plans get the go ahead (i.e. done in conjunction with the expansion).

I left my contact details with management and they said they'd keep me up to date with any news and I donated the presence of me and my Tesla at any sort of press opening they might want to do if they do end up with superchargers

 

[bradjc]

Did my home/Euroa/home test run today. Awesome day for it, 28 to 32 degrees, no wind - pretty much ideal conditions. The cars navigation wanted me to go into Melbourne and then back out for a 3h 300km trip getting me there with just 12% remaining. Instead I did the route through Daylesford, Tylden, Woodend, Lancefield, Kilmore and Broadford. Much more direct and a hugely more scenic and interesting drive (i.e. twisty and turny ) with lots of interesting towns to stop in and explore along the way. Much shorter at ~240km and if driven without stopping still gets you to Euroa in 3h.

I charged my 75D to 90% at home and got to Euroa with 29% with a total consumption of 40.4kWh (4kWh of that was getting from my home to Stockland so 36.4kWh for the Wendouree to Euroa leg) at an average of 164Wh/Km (-200m elevation). Total distance 246Km (as mentioned that includes home to Wendouree).

For the return I supercharged at Euroa to 90% again and got to Stockland Wendouree consuming 40.1kWh with an average usage of 171Wh/Km (+200m elevation). Total distance was 234Km (took a slightly different route back - went via Denver on the way to Euroa but via Lyonville and Musk on the way back).

You will definitely be able to bypass Melbourne from Euroa in any Tesla with more than 40kWh if you're heading to Adelaide, unless the weather is so bad you're consuming almost 2x typical

Nice work @srwx ! I always assumed that Seymour would be the location for a SC, but Euroa seems like not a bad spot to jump across from to bypass Melb to Ballarat. I had a similar experience with the nav in the MS on a drive from Portland to Ballan on the weekend, seemed to take some strange options to get me home. Google maps on my phone was pretty spot on, but the Tesla /google map wanted me to go via Geelong /Melb, and not because it was the nearest known charger. It wasn't until I was close to Ballarat before it correct to go from -28% expected at destination to +10%. This has happened a few times in my limited experience.

 

[srwx]

That is one crazy detour! To Geelong and then to Ballan... maybe at a stretch, but also via Werribee?! crazy. I have a feeling that some of the nav data around Ballarat might be "not great" I have had on occasion my in car nav telling me that there is "no route possible" for some fairly basic trips in the area, e.g. trying to get to Romsey.. but then other days it'll offer up a route just fine. It's pretty strange, I'll try and remember to use the "report a bug" command next time it happens.

For the Euroa trip my in car nav was giving all sorts of warnings of "you won't make it" and "do not exceed 85km/h" etc. and wanting me to go via the outskirts of Melbourne until I got past Glenlyon then it finally re-routed to the direct route I was taking and estimated me getting there with 31% remaining. The main route that Google offers is up via Puckapunyal which is shorter again at 230km and 2h50m travel time however I recall from memory that that route includes an unsealed road segment so decided against it. Interestingly Google does also offer the route via the outskirts of Melbourne as an option - I wonder how Tesla are choosing which of the multiple routes is the "best" one, it's certainly different logic to Google.

 

[LGGD]

Tesla uses Navigon navigation. It doesn't take into account traffic and is otherwise useless. Just stick with Waze or Google for your primary navigation. On road trips I also input my destination into the Tesla navigation but then mute the sound, remove it from the dash and ignore it other than for range estimations once I'm near enough a destination that it is showing the same route (or on routes it can't screw up like the Pacific Highway).

 

[lennier]

I still don't understand why they don't simply get route information from google - since that's already integrated - and feed that to the turn by turn navigation - since they clearly have that capability. Then they get all the benefits of the google solution - traffic etc - automatically. The only thing I can think of is that they can't then easily get stuff like the lane advisories, but personally i'd trade that for sensible routing and traffic awareness.

 

[RichardMcN]

Or maybe it has something to do with the route-through-superchargers function where it gives you the "best" route inclusive of SC charging time. Perhaps that can't be integrated with Google.

But even the route-through-superchargers function is not that great. If you put Horsham in the nav (from Sydney) it routes you thru Melbourne rather than direct from Euroa.

 

[lennier]

I would think the google API would allow them to specify routes through superchargers via defined waypoints. Looking at some of their routes I wonder if they've got a hidden preference for autopilot-compatible roads

 

[RichardMcN]

I would think the google API would allow them to specify routes through superchargers via defined waypoints. Looking at some of their routes I wonder if they've got a hidden preference for autopilot-compatible roads

They certainly have a preference for major roads, even when the minor road is 100% suitable and much shorter.

 

[GregHudson]

This one came out of the blue!

Stockland Wendouree
Gillies St N
Wendouree VIC 3355

Six bays - -37.533764, 143.824387




Tesla announces 3 more Supercharger locations for Australia | PerformanceDrive



Tesla's Aussie Supercharger Network (Soon) Stretches To Brisbane

Don't be surprised to see another SC popping up in Horsham Vic (halfway between Keith SA and Ballarat Vic).

 

[Chuq]

Don't be surprised to see another SC popping up in Horsham Vic (halfway between Keith SA and Ballarat Vic).

Yep, there's been several hints referring to that one. Trying to find a precise address but no luck yet! Horsham Regional City Council don't seem to put their DA's online (at least I can't find them!)

 

[baillies]

Can anyone have a look? it seems Ballarat is not showing any details yet but is not a 404 error either. Maybe they have put in a skid like Coffs although the RSS entry below does not indicate a supercharger like Coffs, the LAT long indicates wendouree Stockland

Ballarat via Tesla
Latitude:
-37.534593
Longitude:
143.822666
Timing:
0
Store Region:
asia_pacific

 

[bradjc]

Can anyone have a look? it seems Ballarat is not showing any details yet but is not a 404 error either. Maybe they have put in a skid like Coffs although the RSS entry below does not indicate a supercharger like Coffs, the LAT long indicates wendouree Stockland

Ballarat via Tesla
Latitude:
-37.534593
Longitude:
143.822666
Timing:
0
Store Region:
asia_pacific

I was planning to go for a look tomorrow so will report back. Other reports say not much happening there yet but thought I'd go for a look anyway while in town.

 

[Daemon]

...
Ballarat via Tesla
Latitude:
-37.534593
Longitude:
143.822666
Timing:
0
Store Region:
asia_pacific

Where did you get the Latitude and Longitude from?

 

[baillies]

It is an old RSS feed I cannot find the URL via my iPad on NewsBlur which is where I am subscribed.

 

[srwx]

I drive around Stockland once a week to check, last time was just this past Sunday - still no signs of activity. Based on the time of the year and after my discussion with management of the centre I don't really expect any activity until late Jan 2017.

 

[srwx]

Oh, now that I look more closely at that lat/long it's actually over the road from Stockland and nearer to where Fantastic Furniture is and there they have closed off part of the car park and are doing "works". I did drive slowly past that and wondered what it was but discounted it because I thought Stocklands was the location of the superchargers. It might be worth having a more detailed look at what is being installed there. Basically the section of car park between Fantastic Furniture up to Repco is fenced off and the ground was all ripped up... I might swing by at lunch today and look at that a bit closer and take some photos - this might also be why Stockland management weren't aware of many details.

 

[srwx]

The green box is where I saw construction happening. The red pin is the lat/long from baillies's post.

 

[srwx]

Yup superchargers confirmed, caught one of the workers finishing off the cabinets and now just waiting on the plug units. They are right on the red pin, the works near fantastic furniture seems unrelated. Construction of these started last week.

Twitter

 

[srwx]

More photos: https://goo.gl/photos/mRy6EnTtEUUNYhWF7

They are positioned right on the entrance to the car park outside Super Cheap Auto. The land is owned by Aventus Property and not Stockland which explains why Stockland management not knowing any details. I'll leave it to @Chuq to update supercharge.info

 

[MDK]

It is an old RSS feed I cannot find the URL via my iPad on NewsBlur which is where I am subscribed.

If you do figure out the RSS URL I'd be keen to see it.