Superchargers in Australia

[Chuq]

The AU find us is now showing all the coming soon SC's.
They really need one between Rocky and Mackay, too. It's a long leg at 330-ish km. But I'm not grumbling, at least I can get up to the Whitsundays with little or no reliance on QESH...

Interesting pattern, similar to how it was before (except with Rocky at the end point. They’ve filled in the long gap (Miriam Vale) and extended it (to Mackay).

I guess the thought is that it extends the furthest reach of the network, even if some of the older cars won’t be able to do it, most will. My 2022 RWD should be capable of a 330 km highway leg.

 

[brainrevisited]

I think more what we need is superchargers on arterial routes in and out of the city. Which is why I think Maroondah Highway / M3 route is ripe for one. If you’re heading out to the Yarra valley, there is nothing for you.

Superchargers are not useful for shoppers.

 

[aegidius]

even if some of the older cars won’t be able to do it, most will.

There are two QESH's in between, so there's some backup. Carry your Type2-Type2 cable in case you have to AC it.

 

[technerdx6000]

They really need one between Rocky and Mackay

The issue will be power between those locations. Very sparse population. I would bet the current QESH chargers in Carmila and Marlborough use more power than the entire town when charging.

In my opinion the best they could do is move the Mackay charger to Sarina which is bang on 300km from Rockhampton and put another one in Proserpine. Probably still slightly too far though.

 

[moa999]

Superchargers are not useful for shoppers.

And yet the busiest superchargers are in shopping centres.
There is seemingly a decent percentage of Tesla owners who don't have easy or regular access to home or work charging.

 

[Vostok]

Superchargers are not useful for shoppers.

Agree. I’ve used the Superchargers at Broadway twice, and both times I had to race back to the car after barely 15 minutes in the shopping centre to avoid idle fees. Not convenient at all. Since then, if I plug in at the EV charging area down there, I use an AC charger if available. Which there often isn’t now with a growing army of EV drivers.

 

[Vostok]

And yet the busiest superchargers are in shopping centres.

Correlation is not causation. I think they would still be busy if they weren’t in the shopping centre. Offstreet parking in inner Sydney is fairly rare so public EV chargers are in high demand wherever they are. There are a few Model 3s in my suburb and surrounding areas that I have seen that live on the street.

 

[scully]

They could do with some of those 72kW city ones in there to give people options

 

[Onshore]

And yet the busiest superchargers are in shopping centres.
There is seemingly a decent percentage of Tesla owners who don't have easy or regular access to home or work charging.

I think a big use case for these is also for drivers visiting Sydney from regional areas.

Need more on the outskirts like they have done at Kirrawee.

 

[scully]

Need more on the outskirts

Campbelltown and Blaxland are good spots. Just need Berowra- ish to the north

 

[Blue heaven]

And yet the busiest superchargers are in shopping centres.
There is seemingly a decent percentage of Tesla owners who don't have easy or regular access to home or work charging.

Let me throw this theory in, the shopping centre SCs are busy because those needing the time to shop set charging to 100% to stretch the charging time resulting in the supercharger parking spots not being used to their best potential. SCs on highways with basic facilities would get mostly 10-70% charging.

 

[Zoltrix77]

Agree. I’ve used the Superchargers at Broadway twice, and both times I had to race back to the car after barely 15 minutes in the shopping centre to avoid idle fees. Not convenient at all. Since then, if I plug in at the EV charging area down there, I use an AC charger if available. Which there often isn’t now with a growing army of EV drivers.

Agreed, PAID 11kW-22kW AC chargers need deploying en masse in shopping centres and other medium term car parks. I'm talking in the regional of 50 at a time.

 

[Jarrodbarr]

Agreed with the above. We need a *sugar* load more chargers everywhere. Within 12 -24 months there will be 10s of thousands of teslas / ev’s around.
I get 90% of charging is done at home but it’s also hard for apartment dwellers

 

[Vostok]

Let me throw this theory in, the shopping centre SCs are busy because those needing the time to shop set charging to 100% to stretch the charging time resulting in the supercharger parking spots not being used to their best potential.

That would absolutely work for shoppers and it is a waste of a Supercharger. I’ve charged to 100% on a SC only once, and my goodness it was painfully slow towards the end. The App was hopeless at estimating how much longer charging would go for. It said 5 minutes but the last few percent took half an hour, the SC tapered all the way down to 1 kW.

 

[moa999]

Agreed, PAID 11kW-22kW AC chargers

And hopefully the recent tests of paid V3 Tesla Wall Connectors is rolled out quickly.

 

[moa999]

Report on Facebook about Kirrawee Supercharger rates moving from $0.57/kWh 5 days ago to $0.69/kWh today.

So possibly another price increase.

Last price increase was late May per post #817.

If anyone is in their car tonight worth tapping on a few superchargers.

 

[Chuq]

Can confirm Vic/Tas sites:

69c: Devonport, Moe, Mornington, Geelong, Colac, Moonee Ponds, Richmond, Yea, Euroa, Wodonga, Bendigo, Ballarat
68c: Warrnambool, Camberwell, Ovens, Horsham

And all other sites around the country are 68c or 69c, similar ratio to above, no obvious pattern (V2/V3, state, urban/regional, etc)

 

[ST1986]

That would absolutely work for shoppers and it is a waste of a Supercharger. I’ve charged to 100% on a SC only once, and my goodness it was painfully slow towards the end. The App was hopeless at estimating how much longer charging would go for. It said 5 minutes but the last few percent took half an hour, the SC tapered all the way down to 1 kW.

Perhaps superchargers should cost a different rate based on your SOC. For example. 60c/kwh up to 80% SOC, $1.50/kwh from 80-90%, $3/kwh from 90-95%, and $10/kwh above 95% This would discourage charging above 80% at superchargers (unless you really need it for a trip), and keep the Superchargers available for those that do really need them.

 

[Vostok]

Perhaps superchargers should cost a different rate based on your SOC. For example. 60c/kwh up to 80% SOC, $1.50/kwh from 80-90%, $3/kwh from 90-95%, and $10/kwh above 95% This would discourage charging above 80% at superchargers (unless you really need it for a trip), and keep the Superchargers available for those that do really need them.

That would certainly stop people who set the charge limit to 100% purely to spin out the charge time so that they don’t get hit with idle fees while they have lunch / watch a movie / go shopping.

FWIW, I did this charging to 100% at Dubbo Supercharger and I was the only car there for the entire time. The SC was about 150m away from my motel. I parked the car, walked back to the motel for nearly and hour, then when the App said 5 min to go, walked back. I ended up waiting for another 30 minutes for charging to stop. I was morbidly curious as to how long it would take.

After that experience, I will now only ever charge to 100% on AC and when I’m asleep.

 

[RareEarth]

The new Tuggeranong Superchargers seem to fit the above points.

They are not really on any main route in / out of Canberra although perhaps those traveling through will look at the Majura SCs, see that they are busy and divert to Tuggeranong.

They are in a busy shopping centre carpark so will attract the 'charge to 100% while we have lunch / go shopping crowd' (plus ICErs unfortunately).

Tuggeranong township is surrounded by suburbs full of houses, most EV owners there will charge at home. However within the town centre itself there are loads of apartments being built so there may be Tesla owners who don't have a charging spot.

For me the idea of high power multi operator charging plazas (will need to be big and make room for future electric trucks, people towing etc) on a city's entry / exit points plus a large (as in at least 50) number of AC chargers at each of these shopping centres is the way to go.

For Canberra, high power chargers on the Monaro Highway heading south (Hume is an ideal location, near the 24 hour servo) and on the Barton Highway heading to Yass (maybe around Hall / Gold Creek Village) plus expansion of facilities around Majura are what is needed. Edit: forgot about the King's Highway, Queanbeyan would be the go.