Enthusiast from the other side of the Tasman here!
How does this look for a "stage 1"?
I've gone with max distances of 170-180km, with a little lower in the windy/hilly areas.
Locations are (mostly) in a straight line:
North Island - Auckland, Tirau, Turangi, Sanson, Wellington
South Island - Nelson, Picton, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Timaru, Palmerston, Milton, Invercargill - plus Alexandria
I notice Palmerston, Milton and Alexandria make a perfectly spaced little triangle around Dunedin and Queenstown!
View attachment 68434
Some of your locations are good, however you have some in the Major Cities. While this will happen eventually, Wellington, for example, would not make my list initially and I would rather present Tesla with a rollout plan that maximises their resources and works best for the majority of customers. So, I know this is early and if there are any Kiwi’s out there that could improve on the plan then please do. Tesla when you do get here please pay attention.
Here are my thoughts on where to place the first batch of Supercharger stations basically in Chronological order.
Firstly I understand that Tesla will have a Service Centre (prob in Auckland) and they would naturally have some stalls there.
After that the first place I would add would be Taupo. Taupo is a major junction and is less than 300km from Auckland Central so is in reach (I will only refer to accessibility based on the 85 kWh pack) from basically the greater Auckland area. So all these scenarios are now possible with one Station: Auckland to Hawkes Bay, Auckland to Wanganui, Auckland to Palmerston North and all vice-versa.
Taupo to Wellington is doable but not always comfortable and the other way round is probably not advisable so, if you look at the map provided by Chuq, you will see a dot about 20-30kms north-west of Palmerston North and that is where the next station should go. Reasons are that Bulls or Sanson (that is the 2 little towns we are talking about)
are: at a major junction
still on State Highway one and link Wellington to Taupo, so make Auckland to Wellington easy
links Wellington to Taranaki
is about 150km from Wellington
So Wellington, if you want to go to Taupo, skiing up the mountains, to Wanganui or New Plymouth you have to go through Sanson and Bulls.
The 150km is important to as if you are only around 150km from home and you need to charge (because you may not) then the most time you need to stop is 20mins to safely get home.
Next, assuming there are enough South Island customers, I would look at something like Timaru. Timaru links Christchurch and Queenstown and makes day trips between Christchurch and Dunedin Possible.
After that we need to go back to our major population areas the put one between Auckland the Tauranga. I would look at Morrinsville. I was looking at Paeroa or Waihi but via Morrinsville is about the same distance and put Rotorua in mix also.
Next is between Wellington and the Hawkes bay. Woodville is the best spot.
And last on my obvious list is somewhere between Auckland and New Plymouth that accommodates for people from the North who want to head up the mountain(say to Ohakune). My best guess, and I am open to anyone who can suggest better, is Te Kuiti.
So there is my initial list. I will leave the South Island for those who live there, thou Supercharging stations will not come there at a great rate initially. Yes I did not put anything north of Auckland and perhaps some would argue that should come earlier than others I have listed (it would be next on my list), however Auckland to Whangarei is a day trip without charging.
I have done 5 locations in the North Island that I believe gives the best return for the majority of situations, please tell me what you think.
Oh, I would like support for my first 2 locations. If you were going to start with 2 it is those 2 in those locations(Taupo and Sanson/Bulls). When Tesla do get here I want them to do it right.
