Superchargers in Australia

[moa999]

Agreed it's more for the local residents who may not have home charging. (But arguably so are Broadway and Macquarie in Sydney which are extremely busy so there is definitely demand for this.)
Now due to carpark difficulties (time getting in/out etc) I don't think a shopping centre is the ideal location for a supercharger for someone who just wants a quick charge, but I can see why Tesla goes there.

And that is power and space.
Shopping centres typically have a lot of spare car spaces (mostly underutilised other than Xmas peaks), and were either built with excess power capacity for expansion, or have significantly reduced it with the change to LED lights - meaning Tesla can cheaply get access to the power it needs without having to pay for grid expansion.

That said I don't think Superchargers are necessarily right for the Shopping Centre owners. Your typical dwell at a supercharger is probably only 20-30min.

If I was South.Point (or any other shopping centre), I'd be pushing for a combination of superchargers plus slower chargers - eg. The 72kW Urban Superchargers that Tesla has in the US, and lots of Wall Chargers (the V3 units will seemingly soon be able to bill) as part of any install agreement.

 

[RareEarth]

Yes Urban SC's would be a much better fit in mall carparks, not sure there are any in OZ at the moment?

 

[Onshore]

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.

The reason the current Canberra site is so busy is that in addition to road trippers, a surprisingly high amount of use is from Canberra locals who can't charge at home.

Look on plugshare, these are the regulars that complain about super slow charge rates. This is because they are driving 5 km to the chargers on a winter's morning. Tuggeranong gives these guys another option

 

[Lachlan Smith]

Tuggeranong is on the other side of Lake Burley Griffin. Canberrans rarely travel between the north and south sides. In which case, there's a case to install the same in Gungahlin and Belconnen, and even Kingston on the south side.

 

[moa999]

Yes Urban SC's would be a much better fit in mall carparks, not sure there are any in OZ at the moment?

Correct don't believe any have been seen outside the US.
Was more a what's best for a centre/mall operator question, and I'd think they have some leverage at the point Tesla approaches.

The 20-30min supercharge time is good for a quick feed at a foodcourt, but not for a lengthy shop or a movie for example

I note in Margaret River Tesla have installed 3 Wall chargers (currently free) alongside the 3 Superchargers.

..

And given the relative population to other capital cities, think it will be a while until Canberra gets a third.

Interesting that Singapore (pop equivalent to Sydney and Melbourne) already has 9 sites, albeit all 3 stalls and all afaik in malls. But I suspect they have a much higher proportion of buyers in apartments.

 

[Vostok]

Canberrans rarely travel between the north and south sides

What, does Canberra think it’s Sydney?

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

What, does Canberra think it’s Sydney?

Worse. If someone moves to Tuggeranong, they’ll never see their friends again, outside of work (where applicable). It’s great for shut-ins! It’s a really long way, there are risky speed cameras on both the highways headed there, and it’s just so isolated being in its own valley on the far side of a big nature reserve.

 

[rx80]

But I suspect they have a much higher proportion of buyers in apartments.

Yeah also, back when I lived there, it took me probably an hour max from one end to another with traffic (probably a bit more now)
Thus there was no real sense of 'road trip', every car trip we took had a purpose.

 

[moa999]

Now six months since the last new opening at Margaret River.
A big gap given the number of sites planned.

 

[Zoltrix77]

Now six months since the last new opening at Margaret River.
A big gap given the number of sites planned.

I never thought I’d see this roll out slow down so much, pretty disappointing actually.

 

[Vostok]

I never thought I’d see this roll out slow down so much, pretty disappointing actually.

It’s almost like Tesla figures they don’t need to build any DCFCs any more because there are so many Federal, State and Local Council grants going on for other parties to build them

 

[moa999]

Obviously they've pushed a lot back over the past few months but the two known under construction - Tuggeranong and Indooroopilly, have been pretty slow.

 

[Wol747]

It’s a common paradigm that successful companies’ management forget the reason WHY they got so successful.
The single most important thing that propelled Tesla sales in the US, even above the BMS, battery reliability, range and certainly the soon-to-be-happening () FSD was, and is, the Supercharger network.
We’re all familiar with the multiple videos of frustrated non-Tesla EV drivers finding unserviceable chargers, chargers not accepting none of their walletsfull of cards, RFIDS, apps not working, forgotten passwords etc etc.
The Tesla network just, 99.9% of the time - just works. Hence the sales.
This seems to have been forgotten here. We live in a continent, just as Americans do. Granted the population is a fraction but without a nationwide, reliable and trouble free charging network - which historically has only been provided by Tesla - EV takeup, after the early adoption phase - isn’t going anywhere and now that there’s massive competition there’s not the pressure to buy Tesla that there was.
The foresight that built the US network at the beginning of EV adoption - and remember, the buyers actually funded it in large part - seems to have gone. Relying on third parties to stump up massive funding and to maintain their networks isn’t going to help.
Just my ten cents’ worth.

 

[rx80]

The single most important thing that propelled Tesla sales in the US, even above the BMS, battery reliability, range and certainly the soon-to-be-happening () FSD was, and is, the Supercharger network.

I agree.
And I'm also wondering if there's any official way to sort of "remind" them, that we made a decision to purchase Tesla mainly because of its' superchargers, or at least it's one of the key factor.

 

[scully]

They are going for grants in the US that require CCS as well as their own cable. They might apply here for ones requiring chademo? Tesla Obtains Funding to Build Four Massive Superchargers, Including World's Largest

 

[Wol747]

I agree.
And I'm also wondering if there's any official way to sort of "remind" them, that we made a decision to purchase Tesla mainly because of its superchargers, or at least it's one of the key factor.

Only by writing to Musk personally, and I'm sure if you got a reply it'd be from a flunky way down the food chain. They seem to be averse to any form of communication because of the "efficiency" of doing everything online.

 

[Vostok]

They are going for grants in the US that require CCS as well as their own cable. They might apply here for ones requiring chademo? Tesla Obtains Funding to Build Four Massive Superchargers, Including World's Largest

164 stalls? That’s just nuts. If we’re seeing that kind of demand for DCFCs when EVs make up just 3% of the total vehicle fleet in California (the highest in the USA), then this is not scalable to a world where >50% of the fleet is EV. More land would be needed for fast charging stations than is used by fossil fuel service stations. And that is not how I expected this would turn out, given the vast majority of people can charge at home and “road trips” which require DCFCs are a minority of all car travel.

Someone much smarter than I could properly model this to see where it asymptotes.

 

[Wol747]

164 stalls? That’s just nuts. If we’re seeing that kind of demand for DCFCs when EVs make up just 3% of the total vehicle fleet in California (the highest in the USA), then this is not scalable to a world where >50% of the fleet is EV. More land would be needed for fast charging stations than is used by fossil fuel service stations. And that is not how I expected this would turn out, given the vast majority of people can charge at home and “road trips” which require DCFCs are a minority of all car travel.

Someone much smarter than I could properly model this to see where it asymptotes.

We don't need that sort of size, but putting just one or two chargers somewhere, as do some of the 3rd party installers, isn't any sort of answer. It may in a year's time look efficient to THEM but they don't see the queues waiting. Half a dozen is the minimum to be reasonably sure of being able to travel over a couple of hundred miles with ease, and spaced properly - as Tesla have done in the States and Europe.

 

[Onshore]

164 stalls? That’s just nuts. If we’re seeing that kind of demand for DCFCs when EVs make up just 3% of the total vehicle fleet in California (the highest in the USA), then this is not scalable to a world where >50% of the fleet is EV. More land would be needed for fast charging stations than is used by fossil fuel service stations. And that is not how I expected this would turn out, given the vast majority of people can charge at home and “road trips” which require DCFCs are a minority of all car travel.

Someone much smarter than I could properly model this to see where it asymptotes.

The land is already there:

Parking Dominates Our Cities. But Do We Really *See* It?

We don’t pay a ton of attention to parking lots in our day-to-day lives—nobody makes postcards of scenic or historic ones—yet parking dominates and shapes the built environment around us more than any other factor. Here’s how to start seeing parking—and the damage it does when we build too much of

www.strongtowns.org

"There are somewhere between 800 million and 2 billion parking stalls in the United States. There are between 3 and 8 stalls for every registered vehicle. Surface parking lots alone cover more than 5% of all urban land in the United States"

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

If every parking space intended for daytime use (workplaces, parking stations, commuter parking lots, shopping malls, gyms etc had a Level 2 charge point, CA wouldn’t need a lot more superchargers than they already have for a near-100% EV society.

And if it was widely known those chargers were “solar powered” (even if they’re on-grid) and won’t work after 5pm, unless you’re prepared to pay a premium price to keep the juice flowing, people would mostly accept that.