I'm new to Tesla ownership & looking to take a model 3 for a run up the NSW north coast next week. I'm guessing supercharging along the highway will be OK but I'm a bit unsure about charging in the little coastal towns I want to check out along the way. It seems to me that tesla destination chargers in resorts are for the use of resort customers only. Which leaves the non tesla chargers like plugshare or chargepoint I guess? I've bought a type2 to type2 cable for untethered chargers & also a J1772 to type2 adapter but not sure what to expect, in Sydney I just charge at home so a bit of an away-from-home-charging virgin. Looking at some of the apps it seems a lot of the 22kw & smaller chargers are often broken or otherwise unavailable? Just wondering if anyone has ventured off the highway between Sydney & Brisbane for charging recently & what to expect?
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Sydney to Kingscliff off highway charging suggestions
- Thread starter kjm
- Start date
Plugshare isn't a charging operator - it's just an app that aggregates (mostly user-submitted) data on chargers. Very useful, though. Chargepoint is a charging operator but they pulled out of Australia years ago.
The charging networks most relevant to the Sydney-Tweed Heads trip are:
As you can see there's quite a lot of them, though mostly near the main highway. I would still expect you would easily be able to charge enough from these to tour the smaller towns off the highway with no problem - just charge enough before you leave the highway to get back to the next one (and maybe turn off Sentry Mode while you're parked overnight to conserve power). The biggest problem will be at Kingscliff itself - you will probably need to make a quick trip over the border to the Gold Coast Airport charger to fill up there.
I wouldn't worry about the slower AC charging, unless you can find some accomodation with chargers.
The charging networks most relevant to the Sydney-Tweed Heads trip are:
- Tesla: Superchargers at Tuggerah, Heatherbrae, Thrumster (Port Macquarie), Coffs Harbour, Harwood, Knockrow;
- Evie: Ultrafast chargers at Cameron Park, Taree, Macksville, Tyndale and fast chargers at Swansea;
- Chargefox: Ultrafast chargers at Karuah, Thrumster (Port Macquarie), Coffs Harbour and fast chargers at Lismore, Ballina, Byron Bay, Gold Coast Airport;
- NRMA: Fast chargers at Wallsend, Nabiac, Thrumster (Port Macquarie), Grafton, Ewingsdale
As you can see there's quite a lot of them, though mostly near the main highway. I would still expect you would easily be able to charge enough from these to tour the smaller towns off the highway with no problem - just charge enough before you leave the highway to get back to the next one (and maybe turn off Sentry Mode while you're parked overnight to conserve power). The biggest problem will be at Kingscliff itself - you will probably need to make a quick trip over the border to the Gold Coast Airport charger to fill up there.
I wouldn't worry about the slower AC charging, unless you can find some accomodation with chargers.
ChargeFox for example has a filter in the app where you can select the charging port to display locations which support your particular vehicle's charging port. This can also be achieved by uploading your particular vehicle into the app.
A lot of ChargeFox 22kW type 2 chargers are also free!
(Saving you a click: a branch fell off one of the adjacent eucalypts and broke the rear window on a Model Y at the Heatherbrae Supercharger).
That's certainly unfortunate, but if that's the first report like that in the 6+ years it's been open, I think the risk is minimal. Maybe avoid if it's really windy, though!
Sydney to Kingscliff & back via NRMA & Tesla superchargers, no dramas, they just work. Anything else (like BP Pulse Ballina or the ChargeFox in Kingscliff shopping centre) I was unable to charge. Heaps of dudes posting on plugshare saying they've used them but no mention of the magic incantation you have to utter to get electrons (pfaffing around with their clunky apps reminded me of that Utopia episode where the guy is trying to claim a solar rebate online). For tripping around from Kingscliff I ended up using the tesla destination charger at the Murwillumbah arts precinct, again it just works.
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