Tesla Model 3 in Australia

[aegidius]

If the M3's are all on CCS plugs they can't use the existing supercharger stalls, but they can use Tritiums (Chargefox/NRMA/QldHwy/whatever). That might give Tesla some breathing space in which to build out CCS superchargers. But the cars will all have to come with CCS HPWC's to put in at home, and I have seen no mention of those anywhere. They will need an adapters in both directions

 

[Shock-On-T]

If the M3's are all on CCS plugs they can't use the existing supercharger stalls, but they can use Tritiums (Chargefox/NRMA/QldHwy/whatever). That might give Tesla some breathing space in which to build out CCS superchargers. But the cars will all have to come with CCS HPWC's to put in at home, and I have seen no mention of those anywhere. They will need an adapters in both directions

The CCS port in the car can take Type 2 plugs like the ones on existing HPWCs and destination chargers.

 

[houdini]

It's actually never occurred to me that I don't know how current manufacturers do it!

There’s a large vacant lot out near where I live that fills up with brand new VW’s with plastic wrapping on the bonnets and roofs as for shipping. I gather that lots of cars get delivered to the Melbourne port and need to be moved somewhere temporarily while they sort out which dealers they go to. The same lot every so often has some other manufacturers cars there temporarily also (not VW Audi group cars). I assume they “lend” the space to other manufacturers as well.

I agree with some earlier posters about some things. Firstly the Model 3 will be at 5000 cars per week solid by our delivery time. There’s lots os speculation about how many reserved in Oz but I think the smart money is on around 5000. One week of production! But they won’t turn over the whole factory for us - mores the pity. I would also expect Tesla to send a few hundred cars out here on the first boat. Have a launch, generate publicity etc. A few hundred cars looks good, doesn’t slam the delivery network and charger network.

As mentioned, speculated so many times: the highest profit cars will be delivered first. Why would Tesla as a Company do anything else? I expect the current owners, who are first in the queue, will only take a few hundred cars. And not all of them will be high profit cars so I expect the current owners orders to be filled pretty quickly. That leaves cars for the rest of us. The previously mentioned guy and gal (‽) in the Melbourne queue as far as I remember only reserved one car not two - they were a couple. And they may not take a high profit car anyway. But it’s a moot point as I think what we’re really looking at here is that the first couple of hundred people who reserved on the first day and who order a high profit car will get their cars on the first boat.

The trick will be working out what spec is the high profit car so you can configure and get one of the first ones. Which is actually not even a first one for those who are afraid of being an early adopter as there will already be hundreds of thousands of model 3’s out there in the world by the time we get ours.

 

[paulp]

If the M3's are all on CCS plugs they can't use the existing supercharger stalls, but they can use Tritiums (Chargefox/NRMA/QldHwy/whatever). That might give Tesla some breathing space in which to build out CCS superchargers. But the cars will all have to come with CCS HPWC's to put in at home, and I have seen no mention of those anywhere. They will need an adapters in both directions

Bit trickier for those that live in apartments or rent

 

[paulp]

There’s a large vacant lot out near where I live that fills up with brand new VW’s with plastic wrapping on the bonnets and roofs as for shipping. I gather that lots of cars get delivered to the Melbourne port and need to be moved somewhere temporarily while they sort out which dealers they go to. The same lot every so often has some other manufacturers cars there temporarily also (not VW Audi group cars). I assume they “lend” the space to other manufacturers as well.

I agree with some earlier posters about some things. Firstly the Model 3 will be at 5000 cars per week solid by our delivery time. There’s lots os speculation about how many reserved in Oz but I think the smart money is on around 5000. One week of production! But they won’t turn over the whole factory for us - mores the pity. I would also expect Tesla to send a few hundred cars out here on the first boat. Have a launch, generate publicity etc. A few hundred cars looks good, doesn’t slam the delivery network and charger network.

As mentioned, speculated so many times: the highest profit cars will be delivered first. Why would Tesla as a Company do anything else? I expect the current owners, who are first in the queue, will only take a few hundred cars. And not all of them will be high profit cars so I expect the current owners orders to be filled pretty quickly. That leaves cars for the rest of us. The previously mentioned guy and gal (‽) in the Melbourne queue as far as I remember only reserved one car not two - they were a couple. And they may not take a high profit car anyway. But it’s a moot point as I think what we’re really looking at here is that the first couple of hundred people who reserved on the first day and who order a high profit car will get their cars on the first boat.

The trick will be working out what spec is the high profit car so you can configure and get one of the first ones. Which is actually not even a first one for those who are afraid of being an early adopter as there will already be hundreds of thousands of model 3’s out there in the world by the time we get ours.

There are 3 or 4 major car logistics companies in australia that are in every capital city. They handle the reciept of cars into australia, cleaning, registration, repairs, and delivery to the dealers (pre-delivery services) All car companies, including tesla, use this service. Hence handling a ship full of cars wont be a challenge to these operators.

 

[Candleflame]

I would benefit from a wider footprint, but I think Tesla would benefit from a few more sites in the major cities.
There is going to be a lot of frustration (justified or otherwise) when all the thousands of M3 owners have to queue for St Leonards or Broadway superchargers.

Tesla should focus on getting supercharger coverage for Northern Australia and West to Mid Australa first imho.
There's plenty of CSS/DC fast charging already in the big cities.

 

[nigwil]

Tesla should focus on getting supercharger coverage for ...

One aspect I find fascinating about the Tesla story is the granularity of the Tesla fleet data they are collecting, Tesla would have a unmatched insight into where their fleet is traveling, just by mapping charge events (on or off superchargers). They can easily spot choke points or where to put range extenders to keep most of their customers happy.

 

[Shock-On-T]

There's plenty of CSS/DC fast charging already in the big cities.

No, there isn’t. There is almost none.

In Sydney, a city of 5 million people, there are 3 DC charging stations, two of which are Tesla Superchargers and they are already struggling to keep up with the demand.

There will soon be thousands upon thousands of Model 3s sold in Sydney alone, and many of them will want to use the superchargers. There is an urgent need for more chargers.

 

[PJF000]

Since M3's have no free Supercharging, it just may be that owners will prefer to charge at home with their discounted electricity rate, rather than queue (if any) or use the SC's which will be probably more than their home rate.. On trips out of the city, it is hard to imagine thatb the SC network will be overloaded.

 

[paulp]

Since M3's have no free Supercharging, it just may be that owners will prefer to charge at home with their discounted electricity rate, rather than queue (if any) or use the SC's which will be probably more than their home rate.. On trips out of the city, it is hard to imagine thatb the SC network will be overloaded.

Apartment owners may struggle with at home charging.

 

[Candleflame]

No, there isn’t. There is almost none.

In Sydney, a city of 5 million people, there are 3 DC charging stations, two of which are Tesla Superchargers and they are already struggling to keep up with the demand.

There will soon be thousands upon thousands of Model 3s sold in Sydney alone, and many of them will want to use the superchargers. There is an urgent need for more chargers.

that's great but doesn't sound impressive when people north of Brisbane don't have access to the supercharger network at all.

 

[Fantomsss]

My home rate is $0.24 versus $0.42-0.45 at SC. Also about to install solar. For a house owner, IMHO SC is going to be the last resort when you need a quick top up or traveling.

I’ve been actually using only mobile charger and destination chargers since I got the car. Perfect for a mostly city car. HPWC is to be installed with solar and I’m thinking I will switch to charge every few days install of highly charge right now with mobile charger.

 

[meloccom]

If the M3's are all on CCS plugs they can't use the existing supercharger stalls, but they can use Tritiums (Chargefox/NRMA/QldHwy/whatever). That might give Tesla some breathing space in which to build out CCS superchargers. But the cars will all have to come with CCS HPWC's to put in at home, and I have seen no mention of those anywhere. They will need an adapters in both directions

Tesla will most likely update the Superchargers to the dual cable design they are rolling out in Europe.
https://electrek.co/2018/12/12/tesla-dual-connector-ccs-supercharger/

 

[Shock-On-T]

that's great but doesn't sound impressive when people north of Brisbane don't have access to the supercharger network at all.

Yes, but there aren’t many people north or Brisbane, and there certainly won’t be a queue of disgruntled owners.

 

[Chuq]

But the cars will all have to come with CCS HPWC's to put in at home, and I have seen no mention of those anywhere. They will need an adapters in both directions

That's the genius bit - AC charging is identical between the two. No adaptors or changes required. All HPWCs and destination chargers work the same on Mode S/X and Model 3.

 

[Munka]

But the cars will all have to come with CCS HPWC's to put in at home, and I have seen no mention of those anywhere. They will need an adapters in both directions

That's the genius bit - AC charging is identical between the two. No adaptors or changes required. All HPWCs and destination chargers work the same on Mode S/X and Model 3.

To backup Chuq, yes the top part of CCS Combo type 2 (CCS2 for short) is the combination of a IEC 62196 Type 2 connector (aka mennekes that is installed on the EU and AU spec model S and X) and the 2 prongs below for the high current DC fast charging. The top 3 pins of the mennekes make up only the comms to the fast charger and the bottom 2 pins are DC on fast charging then become redundant when only AC charging.

Sure the most elegant solution would be for everyone to band around the Type 2 connector, but this is a fair second place without everyone bowing to Tesla.

Does anyone know if a Tesla HWPC can AC charge other CCS2 cars?

 

[aegidius]

Does anyone know if a Tesla HWPC can AC charge other CCS2 cars?

I believe so, but I haven't tried it.

 

[Shock-On-T]

To backup Chuq, yes the top part of CCS Combo type 2 (CCS2 for short) is the combination of a IEC 62196 Type 2 connector (aka mennekes that is installed on the EU and AU spec model S and X) and the 2 prongs below for the high current DC fast charging. The top 3 pins of the mennekes make up only the comms to the fast charger and the bottom 2 pins are DC on fast charging then become redundant when only AC charging.

Sure the most elegant solution would be for everyone to band around the Type 2 connector, but this is a fair second place without everyone bowing to Tesla.

Does anyone know if a Tesla HWPC can AC charge other CCS2 cars?

Yes it can, but there is a switch in the HPWC to allow Tesla-only or any Type 2.

 

[Priit]

I don't have any data to back up my hunch but I suspect that everyday use at least in my area (Gold Coast) will not see too many queues at the chargers as most people will have the option to be charging at home way cheaper. Also in apartment buildings they usually have some power sockets at the parking areas, so the owners of the new cars may need to talk to the bodycorp to get permission to use those. It might occur some small fee as those will not have separate power meters but should provide enough power for most to trickle charge overnight.
Now holiday seasons like schoolies or large events where there will be a large influx of visitors to the area may see some queues and unhappy people and this is where I suspect the local council or governments could help by having some of the city parking lots fitted with chargers and possibly have dedicated charging spots added. As they charge a pretty penny for parking anyway, why not add a charge socket to those. I don't expect every car manufacturer that makes electric to have their own, some should be provided by local infrastructure like the roads and parking spots are.
Personally I am waiting to see if Tesla will offer a HPWC with the new car or if they will sell it separately and what would the cost for one be before I decide if to get one for my garage or if I should get a dedicated socket for charging (32amp) and use the adapter that comes with the car to charge from that. Either way my daily charge use will not require use of SC or destination charge network except on the occasional trips.

 

[aegidius]

or if I should get a dedicated socket for charging (32amp) and use the adapter that comes with the car

If you're talking about the UMC, it's limited to 15A, even with a 3-phase tail - but if you have 3-phase power it is faster than single phase. The only way to get more than 15A into the car at home is to use the HPWC, or a (very) expensive EVSE that takes the place of the (free) UMC. The HPWC should come with a new car, and all you have to pay is for a sparky to install it.