Tesla in Western Australia

[cashie]

I'm wondering when we might expect some official Tesla presence in Perth.
Having reserved a Model 3 and considering a Model S I'm pretty concerned by the total lack of Tesla presence in the state. I'm sure this will eventuate but I would have expected at least a shop front somewhere in Perth by now.

 

[Blue heaven]

I'm wondering when we might expect some official Tesla presence in Perth.
Having reserved a Model 3 and considering a Model S I'm pretty concerned by the total lack of Tesla presence in the state. I'm sure this will eventuate but I would have expected at least a shop front somewhere in Perth by now.

I would hazard a guess that Tesla are keen for a presence in Western Australia sooner than later but I would also guess that their flat out busy keeping up with demand across the country, a WA service/sales centre is on a very long to-do list, at the moment customer service for WA owners is excellent, don't worry, just order an S before the factory can't keep up with demand.

 

[WA-T3sla]

I think a service centre will be here around the time of the Model 3 local release. With luck there will be a few superchargers to go with it since by then I doubt the single CHAdeMO chargers at select locations will cope with demand.

 

[JFK]

I'm wondering when we might expect some official Tesla presence in Perth.
Having reserved a Model 3 and considering a Model S I'm pretty concerned by the total lack of Tesla presence in the state. I'm sure this will eventuate but I would have expected at least a shop front somewhere in Perth by now.

Service response for WA is very good based on my experience and that of other Perth owners.

A Tesla service team was in Perth recently for two weeks to conduct an annual services.

 

[cashie]

It sounds like some good interim support is in place for us in Perth.

Out of interest, when they come for the 2 week period to conduct annual services, where do they do these?

 

[Blue heaven]

Best not to say in case Tesla use a different location next time, but in saying that the carpark was full of repaired Porsche motor vehicles after I guess would have been a few enthusiastic test drives.

 

[Chuq]

At the launch Elon said that they are doubling infrastructure and by 2017 you will be able to get your Tesla serviced "if you are near any mid-sized metro area". Based on that I fully expect an Adelaide and Perth sales/service centres by the time of the Model 3 launch.

Go to 14:18 here:

 

[paulp]

The tesla service in Adelaide (no service centre) is vastly better than what any other manufacturer provides.
Nathan and his team in melbourne have it all sorted.

 

[Jays200]

Cashie, I'm so glad you started this thread.

I reached out to Tesla Australia a couple of months ago about Western Australia Superchargers and was a little taken back by the response I received by a senior Tesla Australia employee.

"Why is a supercharger in your town important to ownership? Are you unable to charge at home?"

Seriously! Perth is a city, not a town and of course I'll charge at home but I want supercharger access as I visit Albany and the greater southwest. You don't get a discount on a MS because you don't have access to superchargers.

92% of WA's population of 2.598 million (end of Sept' 2015 ABS) live in the south west.

It also seems like the RAC's electric highway has inadvertently undermined the need for superchargers, in Tesla Australia's eyes anyway.

RAC Electric Highway | RAC WA

There is only one official charge station on the Tesla rollout map and that is the only beacon in the whole of WA. It's a single destination charger at Narrogin.

Surely, a popup service centre for two weeks has to be stop gap measure. What happens if there is a propblem the other 50 weeks of the year? It is very difficult to get the number of Tesla owners in Perth and I hope thousands of Western Australians ordered a M3. That's the only way to get rapid deployment of superchargers and stores/service centres.

 

[Blue heaven]

Cashie, I'm so glad you started this thread.

I reached out to Tesla Australia a couple of months ago about Western Australia Superchargers and was a little taken back by the response I received by a senior Tesla Australia employee.

"Why is a supercharger in your town important to ownership? Are you unable to charge at home?"

Seriously! Perth is a city, not a town and of course I'll charge at home but I want supercharger access as I visit Albany and the greater southwest. You don't get a discount on a MS because you don't have access to superchargers.

92% of WA's population of 2.598 million (end of Sept' 2015 ABS) live in the south west.

It also seems like the RAC's electric highway has inadvertently undermined the need for superchargers, in Tesla Australia's eyes anyway.

RAC Electric Highway | RAC WA

There is only one official charge station on the Tesla rollout map and that is the only beacon in the whole of WA. It's a single destination charger at Narrogin.

Surely, a popup service centre for two weeks has to be stop gap measure. What happens if there is a propblem the other 50 weeks of the year? It is very difficult to get the number of Tesla owners in Perth and I hope thousands of Western Australians ordered a M3. That's the only way to get rapid deployment of superchargers and stores/service centres.

There are 40 Tesla model S cars in Perth and the South West, many of us have been to Albany with no issues, go via the Donnybrook RAC charge station, if your not comfortable driving the 260kms stop at the Walpole destination charger.
Eventually WA will get a service centre and superchargers, it's a long process building a company that half the planet wants a piece of now, the RAC charge stations are a brilliant concept, they may delay the supercharger rollout but Western Australia is in a far better position than the East coast at the moment, the RAC network covers 90% of our population that's a pretty good start in the developement of EVs.
Enjoy your car and take a drive down South, it's a great place to spend The weekend.

 

[jeebb_]

Adelaide and Perth sales/service centres by the time of the Model 3 launch

Brisbane/SE Qld as well! There is permanent staff here but they have no "workplace" - currently at a popup in the shopping centre. At least we know the superchargers are on the way here, thats a start.

 

[Jays200]

There are 40 Tesla model S cars in Perth and the South West, many of us have been to Albany with no issues, go via the Donnybrook RAC charge station, if your not comfortable driving the 260kms stop at the Walpole destination charger.
Eventually WA will get a service centre and superchargers, it's a long process building a company that half the planet wants a piece of now, the RAC charge stations are a brilliant concept, they may delay the supercharger rollout but Western Australia is in a far better position than the East coast at the moment, the RAC network covers 90% of our population that's a pretty good start in the developement of EVs.
Enjoy your car and take a drive down South, it's a great place to spend The weekend.

I appreciate the info on the number of Tesla MS in Perth, ta. I have been studying and researching Tesla for a couple of years and understand the "issues", however, being a native Western Australian, I do get sick of the the whole "West of Australia, Rest of Australia" thing. As an example, I was talking to a senior NBNCo manager based in Australia yesterday joking about daylight saving ending and he couldn't even tell me the time difference in WA compared to NSW.

I'm a non MS owner but a M3 is reserved and will be maxed out on options.

There was a couple of points I was trying to make. One was no indicated plan on the rollout of superchargers in WA and a contrite response from Tesla Australia about it. Perth is a major metropolitan area not a little country town. Western Australia has a unique population spread that should lend itself to a modest number of Tesla infrastructure servicing a large portion of the population.

I travel to Denmark (near Albany that is ) to our family holiday home. As much as I enjoy the Manjimup route, Albany Hwy/Mt Barker is my preferred route and is 420kms. There is no charging at all on the south west's "other" major highway servicing one of our largest regional centres. There is only one official destination charger on Tesla's website and that is in Narrogin. There are specific requirements to be an official destination charger. I am aware of the other "destination" chargers on Plugshare.com

Don't get me wrong, I visited Electrikhana 2016, believe in the EV future, put my money down and can't wait for a M3 P80DL (or whatever it ends up being) and if I was religious Elon would be my mesiah.

 

[Chuq]

Brisbane/SE Qld as well! There is permanent staff here but they have no "workplace" - currently at a popup in the shopping centre. At least we know the superchargers are on the way here, thats a start.

Of course - they slipped my mind, but only because I take a service centre there (for the reasons you mention) as a sure thing

 

[Chuq]

I appreciate the info on the number of Tesla MS in Perth, ta. I have been studying and researching Tesla for a couple of years and understand the "issues", however, being a native Western Australian, I do get sick of the the whole "West of Australia, Rest of Australia" thing.

Certainly understand this point of view, for different reasons!
(<---- see location)

While hints have shown that Melbourne to Adelaide SCs are next in line after Brisbane, I have no doubt that Perth and surrounds will be soon after. The difference is, while the "major routes" are obvious on the east - join one capital to the next - it isn't so obvious in the west. Would they just surround Perth in all directions for a short distance, or build up certain routes (focus on Perth-Bunbury-Albany triangle to start with). My suggestions are purely an armchair expert looking at Google Maps, having never ventured further from Perth than Clarkson - I trust Tesla GPS records provide better data!

East coast SCs also benefit from the network effect - a SC within range of the rest of the network offers increased benefit - being able to advertise the ability to drive 2500 km for free, for example.

(Tassie suffers in a similar way, although if you take the ferry into account, most of northern Tasmania is already within range of the Melbourne SC, and it would only take one more SC site (at Campbell Town) to connect Hobart and the south as well!)

 

[cashie]

Just looking on Google, 2700kms Perth to Adelaide would requite a fair few Superchargers to cover (8-10 I guess)?
Would be totally awesome but unfortunately I can't see this coming in the immediate future.

 

[Chuq]

2700kms Perth to Adelaide would requite a fair few Superchargers to cover (8-10 I guess)

I've had an (armchair) look at this previously. I think the Perth-Norseman and Adelaide-Ceduna routes could be done using the current supercharger format - although not for about 5+ years at current rates. The gap in between these towns is 1200km precisely.

By that time, technology may have changed, perhaps battery swaps will be a realistic option, or superfast-superchargers, or massive ranges will be realistic...

 

[paulp]

Just looking on Google, 2700kms Perth to Adelaide would requite a fair few Superchargers to cover (8-10 I guess)?
Would be totally awesome but unfortunately I can't see this coming in the immediate future.

Thats a very long drive in either direction, and I doubt the number of journeys would justify the expense. Maybe make full use of the qantas club membership instead.

 

[baillies]

I'm wondering when we might expect some official Tesla presence in Perth.
Having reserved a Model 3 and considering a Model S I'm pretty concerned by the total lack of Tesla presence in the state. I'm sure this will eventuate but I would have expected at least a shop front somewhere in Perth by now.

I think when you get close to 100 sales they will start to talk about this, hopefully they will release the 2017 supercharger rollout plan at the gigafactory opening event otherwise it may not be till late this year. I expect the 2017 plan to show a route from Melbourne to Adelaide and 1 hopefully 2 or even more locations in south west WA.

 

[garyjac]

Cashie, I'm so glad you started this thread.

I reached out to Tesla Australia a couple of months ago about Western Australia Superchargers and was a little taken back by the response I received by a senior Tesla Australia employee.

"Why is a supercharger in your town important to ownership? Are you unable to charge at home?"

Seriously! Perth is a city, not a town and of course I'll charge at home but I want supercharger access as I visit Albany and the greater southwest. You don't get a discount on a MS because you don't have access to superchargers.

92% of WA's population of 2.598 million (end of Sept' 2015 ABS) live in the south west.

It also seems like the RAC's electric highway has inadvertently undermined the need for superchargers, in Tesla Australia's eyes anyway.

RAC Electric Highway | RAC WA

There is only one official charge station on the Tesla rollout map and that is the only beacon in the whole of WA. It's a single destination charger at Narrogin.

Surely, a popup service centre for two weeks has to be stop gap measure. What happens if there is a propblem the other 50 weeks of the year? It is very difficult to get the number of Tesla owners in Perth and I hope thousands of Western Australians ordered a M3. That's the only way to get rapid deployment of superchargers and stores/service centres.

Just in regard to the reply you received from Tesla (the two questions quoted above). I would have immediately replied to them in order to remind them of good manners and that the customer is always right (even when they may be wrong - not suggesting that you are wrong, btw). This is a classic example of modern "corporate speak" and I have had to rebuke (sounds messianic doesn't it?) one Tesla service employee about abrupt pejorative questions in reply to customers queries. In short, there are better and more diplomatic ways to have answered your question and that should have been the case. All customers reading this should always insist on proper answers to questions. It is rude and somewhat ignorant to answer a question with a question. Perhaps the younger retailing generation needs a reminder of this, but when you do remind them, do so with courtesy and FIRMNESS!

 

[JFK]

I've visited Denmark several times in the early days of the RAC Electric Highway. The trip was done via Bunbury RAC charger. Yes, it is a longer drive but I enjoy driving this car so much and the route through the forest from Manjimup to Denmark is so nice that I don't mind the extra time and kms. "The journey is the destination" in the Model S!

The lack of a service centre and Supercharger don't worry one bit.

It will happen one day. Perhaps by the time my Model 3 is delivered.