SYD - BNE Supercharger Route

[Chuq]

The first regional SC in 2015 (Goulburn) wasn't completed until the second half of the year. The other three were done pretty quickly after that.

Don't forget that Elon said they would double what they have *now*. That includes already planned SCs in the "doubling". There were eight in Australia at the time he announced that, so eight more would mean the four more which are part of the route to Brisbane, and then only four new locations in 2017. (Of course, the "double" is internationally, doesn't necessarily mean double in Australia).

with some new announcements regarding Melbounre-Adelaide and other areas, perhaps Tas, Regional Victoria, North of Brisbane.

Snooping around has found that Melbourne to Adelaide (via Horsham, Keith, and most likely Ballarat) is planned. Also something is being investigated in Dubbo (by extension, Bathurst which is mid way between Dubbo and Sydney, is also likely).

I have a soft spot for one in Tassie (naturally ) at Campbell Town. It would make sense to have SCs fan out around Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in each direction (so, for example: Geelong/Morwell; Ulladulla/Bathurst; Toowoomba/Gympie)

 

[Zoltrix77]

The first regional SC in 2015 (Goulburn) wasn't completed until the second half of the year. The other three were done pretty quickly after that.

Don't forget that Elon said they would double what they have *now*. That includes already planned SCs in the "doubling". There were eight in Australia at the time he announced that, so eight more would mean the four more which are part of the route to Brisbane, and then only four new locations in 2017. (Of course, the "double" is internationally, doesn't necessarily mean double in Australia).

Snooping around has found that Melbourne to Adelaide (via Horsham, Keith, and most likely Ballarat) is planned. Also something is being investigated in Dubbo (by extension, Bathurst which is mid way between Dubbo and Sydney, is also likely).

I have a soft spot for one in Tassie (naturally ) at Campbell Town. It would make sense to have SCs fan out around Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in each direction (so, for example: Geelong/Morwell; Ulladulla/Bathurst; Toowoomba/Gympie)

Well, yes, I didn't expect "double" to mean not including the already planned ones. Just at a glance, it almost needs 50% more Superchargers in the USA to cover what they had planned to the end of 2016. There are so many Interstate routes not yet covered over there, but most are supposed to be covered by the end of the year, they'll need their skates on.

I'm still not sure how Australia will work out over the longer term, you just need so many to cover such a huge low population nation. It remains to be seen who is going to put the required non Telsa DCFC in places that are not on capital to capital routes. I guess in the whole scheme of things, it's easier than building petrol stations!

I have read the small details of the Adeliade route on these forums, I think Tesla could do its self a favour and put them their planned map. Perhaps it's just marketing, you can create a another news Item if you announce it after the Brisbane corridor is opened!

Adam.

 

[lennier]

We might also hope that a global doubling would be weighted towards the less developed networks where there's a lot more need. The US network and a lot of Europe scarcely needs to be doubled, they already cover most of the country at usable density. So we may more than double in the projected period. Fingers crossed

 

[Chuq]

We might also hope that a global doubling would be weighted towards the less developed networks where there's a lot more need.

Going down that same path... there are many countries where there is no SC network. India and New Zealand in particular have specifically been named by Elon on twitter. The other countries where they recently launched (South Africa, South Korea, Brazil, etc) are also possibilities.

and a lot of Europe scarcely needs to be doubled

This reminds me.. on a news article comment thread recently: Someone in Germany noticed a SC in a town with a similar name to his town, and lamented "oh, shame it isn't [my town], they would have been perfect." I looked up his town and it has 7 SCs within 100km from him. Talk about greedy!

 

[Zoltrix77]

Going down that same path... there are many countries where there is no SC network. India and New Zealand in particular have specifically been named by Elon on twitter. The other countries where they recently launched (South Africa, South Korea, Brazil, etc) are also possibilities.

This reminds me.. on a news article comment thread recently: Someone in Germany noticed a SC in a town with a similar name to his town, and lamented "oh, shame it isn't [my town], they would have been perfect." I looked up his town and it has 7 SCs within 100km from him. Talk about greedy!

New Zealand is a slam dunk to me, its the perfect EV country, relatively small, lost of renewable energy! Easy to place 10 superchargers and have full coverage.

Yeah, Germany is saturated, but Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Eastern Europe even France, needs more work.

 

[lennier]

The construction point Zoltrix makes is a good one. Because of the relatively slow rollout here we tend to think of supercharger sites as a big deal but really the construction side of them is pretty trivial if the required power is available. They're basically just big fancy power points and some concrete and asphalt. What takes all the time is site determination and relevant negotiations. Hopefully that side gets easier with time as Tesla's popularity means more and more places are not only willing but keen to have superchargers located there.

 

[garyjac]

Yes we can hope. I may have started in the wrong part of the world (West of Toowoomba), talking to the Council at Dalby and Bunya Mountains cabins, but, honestly, I've never struck a more backward bunch. Any excuse will do, including, "I'm not an electrician. I'm not sure we have the right power points." Can't use the Showgrounds? Why? Just because...that's why? I've left them politely with the knowledge that Tesla will give them a destination charger and Mitchell Baxter's email address, so it will be interesting to see if any of them take up the offer.

 

[miimura]

Elon will need to go double fast to get double the network (as promised this year) in half the time.

Elon's promise to double the SuperCharger network was stated as by the time Model 3 ships, which is the end of 2017. Also, the Brisbane leg of the network was always stated as being completed in 2016. That is quite doable at this point.

 

[WA-T3sla]

The key here is the variable 'by the time the model 3 ships'. I doubt if we will see RHD cars until sometime in 2019 at the earliest

 

[Brian May]

Did Elon promise the double the supercharger network in *Australia*?

 

[meloccom]

Did Elon promise the double the supercharger network in *Australia*?

He didn't specify in the Model 3 release presentation but I believe he meant that they would double Superchargers World Wide. That can mean lots more in the USA, Europe and China but no more here; however I think they will be guided by sales and Model 3 reservations. Given the lines at each Tesla store here at the beginning of the month I would be surprised if they didn't link up Melbourne to Adelaide but its not something that has been promised.
Still if you hold Elon firmly to promise to be able to buy service and have Superchargers at all large cities, even Darwin might be in line for some Tesla love.

 

[baillies]

I think Darwin is still a way off, would need a lot more than doubling to cover the whole east coast from hobart to Cairns first. Also a few people in Perth will be annoyed if they announce coverage to Adelaide before anything there...

List of cities in Australia by population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rank GCCSA/SUA State/Territory June 2014[1]
population Percentage of
national population
1 Sydney New South Wales 4,840,628 20.61%
2 Melbourne Victoria 4,440,328 18.90%
3 Brisbane Queensland 2,274,560 9.68%
4 Perth Western Australia 2,021,203 8.60%
5 Adelaide South Australia 1,304,631 5.55%
6 Gold Coast-Tweed Heads Queensland/New South Wales 614,379 2.62%
7 Newcastle-Maitland New South Wales 430,755 1.83%
8 Canberra-Queanbeyan Australian Capital Territory/New South Wales 422,510 1.80%
* Australian Capital Territory Australian Capital Territory[a] 386,000 1.64%
9 Sunshine Coast Queensland 297,380 1.27%
10 Wollongong New South Wales 289,236 1.23%
11 Hobart Tasmania 219,243 0.93%
12 Geelong Victoria 184,182 0.78%
13 Townsville Queensland 178,649 0.76%
14 Cairns Queensland 146,778 0.62%
15 Darwin Northern Territory 140,386 0.60%
16 Toowoomba Queensland 113,625 0.48%
17 Ballarat

 

[LGGD]

I think Perth people are pretty happy with the RAC Electric Highway. I can't imagine Perth will ever be connected to the rest of Australia via Superchargers.

 

[WA-T3sla]

I think Perth people are pretty happy with the RAC Electric Highway. I can't imagine Perth will ever be connected to the rest of Australia via Superchargers.

It's not about being connected to the rest of Aus, it's about long distance travel to often visited locations out of the metro area. The RAC Electric Highway fills a need but has issues
- There is only 1 charge point each location (Supercharger locations have 2-8)
- Charging is max 50kW (120kW for Supercharger) and requires purchase of CHAdeMO adaptor at exorbitant cost
- Cost is 45c per kWh + $1.00 per charging session (supercharger is 'free', meaning we have already paid for it)

 

[Blue heaven]

I think Perth people are pretty happy with the RAC Electric Highway. I can't imagine Perth will ever be connected to the rest of Australia via Superchargers.

Very true LGGD, the electric highway is a handy set up whilst not having a supercharger network.
Although Superchargers across the Nullabor will get far less use than East coast chargers Tesla connecting the East and West coast will be a huge publicity boost, it can be done it's just trying to get the Nullabor roadhouses to realise it's in their best interests to for drivers stop for 20 minutes and buy food and drink.

 

[baillies]

Sorry still off topic, happy for this to be split off to a WA supercharger thread...

I thought most of the roadhouses are off grid and probably use diesel for power, I guess the Tesla owner who crossed the Nullarbor could confirm. This should mean they would be interested in solar and powerpacks if the economics works (I think it may well unless the diesel is a really cheap input given their business but would be better sold to customers). Would be a marketing win for Tesla and the sa/wa governments so it could happen sometime after 2020 when model 3 is proven successful here! May need to be earlier as some other battery providers may get the business first based on payback. Of course they need to get supercharges outside of Bri to Mel first! Esp to Adelaide.

I think Tesla could shore up a lot of market share if they keep extending the supercharger network, with destination chargers as well, they already control a large percentage of charging infrastructure here and given the lack of competition they could become the sole volume EV provider in Aus for a long time...

 

[Blue heaven]

Sorry still off topic, happy for this to be split off to a WA supercharger thread...

I thought most of the roadhouses are off grid and probably use diesel for power, I guess the Tesla owner who crossed the Nullarbor could confirm. This should mean they would be interested in solar and powerpacks if the economics works (I think it may well unless the diesel is a really cheap input given their business but would be better sold to customers). Would be a marketing win for Tesla and the sa/wa governments so it could happen sometime after 2020 when model 3 is proven successful here! May need to be earlier as some other battery providers may get the business first based on payback. Of course they need to get supercharges outside of Bri to Mel first! Esp to Adelaide.

I think Tesla could shore up a lot of market share if they keep extending the supercharger network, with destination chargers as well, they already control a large percentage of charging infrastructure here and given the lack of competition they could become the sole volume EV provider in Aus for a long time...

And that diesel powered electricity gets more expensive the further away from the fuel terminal, offsetting some of the diesel consumption with solar and battery storage has got to be economic by now, especially as roadhouses add more overnight accomodation with Aircon and RV/tent sites with 15amp plugs.

 

[eclectricdave]

The Nullabor caravan parks are definitely Diesel based with at least one running a parallel solar system. Most Diesels will be running three phase although the outlet is probably on or near the set itself. I may do this trip myself in the future but wouldnt do it unless I could charge at least at 7.5 kW. The Tesla owner I heard about did it at 10 or 15A. and travelled at 50kph day time only. Busy time is in the cooler times of the year "Grey Nomad" times. They are likely to want $1 per kWhr based on an enquiry I made.

 

[Blue heaven]

I guess the roadhouses can add a hefty premium to the power cost as there's really no other alternative at this time, although $1.00 per kWh is still cheaper than driving a family size ICE across the country.
Which roadhouse is running a parallel solar system?

 

[NovoCasGreeny]

Surely The Nullabor is the perfect opportunity to install a few solar superchargers? Space them a bit further apart, say 400 km apart. Put 50 kW of solar and a few PowerPacks, you would not be charging many cars and can always add extra later once established if needed. A massive publicity opportunity as almost all very remote power is diesel generated therefore negating a lot of the benefit of EVs. The original investment for the superchargers was included in the Model S price at around $3,000 a car to so they should have some spare cash to deploy into this with over 500 Model S in Australia already.