Tesla Model 3 in Australia

[Chuq]

Have you ever considered how adelaide commodores made their way around the country?

A poor method that Tesla can improve on?

 

[thomasw]

- it is single phase only (although house is 3 phase). It has its own single phase meter.
- the controlled load switching box is rated at 30amps, so subtract your hot water element from this (a small 10amp one in my case) and the remainder should be available for charging (20 amps or 4.8kW in my case). A sparky may tell me that I can only use 80% of this for a constant load which could reduce it to 16 amps. Still fine.

Definitely no problem getting 3 phase controlled load, it is not uncommon when running pools, heated floors, etc.
I have 3 a phase main meter, but single phase controlled load, and not smart meters. I'm in the process of moving to AGL now and their cheapest plan requires smart meters, so they are getting replaced (for free) and I'm am told I can request an upgrade to a three phase controlled load smart meter at the same time for no extra cost too, but yet to be done so am not 100% confident that is true yet. Might be worth you considering too.

In SA at least controlled load circuits are legally limited to 32A max per phase. And only one load is allowed to run at one time. So I've put a wifi switch on my hot water so I can monitor it's typical runtime and control when it runs as well as when the car charges to avoid overlap.
Though the reality is they won't know if you have the car charging at the same time as hot water, and on 3 phase the car is 3.6kw max per phase, and my HW is 3kw, so I'm just at the 32A max for controlled load, so might get away with both at once. Or run the car slightly lower than 11kw and it would be fine.
But I plan to first test wire the wall charger to only 2 controlled load phases first (so not the HW phase) and see if it works and still does 11kw - I have researched and very unclear as it is very unusual to do, but I found one forum that seemed to say it works.

Also planning to put the Tesla wall charger on a manual cutover switch (not expensive apparently) which will allow me to switch it from controlled load to normal 3 phase, for the rare cases I might want to charge during peak times. I'd like a remote controlled way of doing it but can't find anything except high end industrial switchgear at huge prices to do it.

 

[Kiwiadventure]

I am also in NSW and I called Energy Australia about getting an off peak circuit added and they basically told me the same thing that it is only meant for hot water systems. But without actually saying it, I got the impression that you could just tell them it's for a hot water system and use it for the EV.
I decided against it anyway cause it would have put me on a new plan with more expensive peak charge and so the small amount of money it would save me having it on off peak (I estimated with the amount of kilometres I drive per day it would be under 1 dollar a day) I would be paying more then that in peak electricity usage on the higher tarrif.
So instead I'm just going to leave it on my normal plan & that way it can charge during the day when the solar panels are at their peak.

This what I found in Auckland the night rate discount for charging an EV made my daily use more expensive so dropped the night rate.

 

[Priit]

The electricity number should be close, this is using full priced power at 23c per kwh. 250 watt hour per mile, add 10% for charging losses, covert to watt hour per km = 171. Multiplied all out it comes to $589.53 to drive 15000 km.

Also regarding using off peak power I rang our power company to enquire about getting off peak added as we have gas an don't have off peak. They asked what's it for, I said it's to charge an electric car. They said that an electric car is not approved for connection to the off peak supply, only water heaters. She wasn't certain about this but she was fairly sure. This is in NSW - it might be different elsewhere.

Not sure who provides power in NSW but here in QLD Energex allows using Controlled Load for EV Charging:
https://www.energex.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/748792/Annual-Pricing-Proposal-2019-20.pdf
When you look at points:
under 1.6 NTC7300 – Smart Control
(iv) Electricity supply must be permanently connected to the items on the Approved List, except for electric vehicle supply chargers / EV chargers or pool filtration systems which can be supplied through a dedicated socket-outlet.
under 1.7 Approved List
(v) Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EV Chargers).
That kind of covers EV charging?

 

[Vedaprime]

Ship Status

Container Ship (Dates are according to ANL schedule)

Mercur Ocean - Docked Sydney July 12. Possibly the ship these Model 3s spotted yesterday in Sydney. Departed Oakland June 16.

Melina. Departed Oakland June 22, Arrive - Auckland July 17, Sydney July 21 (currently - left Auckland, on way)
ANL Tongala Departed Oakland July 1, Arrive - Auckland July 23, Sydney July 27
Seoul Express Departed Oakland July 8, Arrive - Auckland Aug 2, Sydney Aug 9 (currently moored at Long Beach)
Cap Capricorn Departed Oakland July 12, Arrive - Auckland Aug 5, Sydney Aug 16 (currently anchored off Long Beach)
Kota Ekspres. Departs Oakland July 19, Arrive - Auckland Aug 12, Sydney Aug 23
Brotonne Bridge . Departs Oakland July 26, Arrive - Auckland Aug 20, Sydney Aug 30
ANL Warrnambool. Departs Oakland Aug 7, Arrive - Auckland Sep 3, Sydney Sep 7
Mercur Ocean. Departs Oakland Aug 9 , Arrive - Auckland Sep 2, Sydney Sep 13
Melina. Departs Oakland Aug 16, Arrive - Auckland Sep 9, Sydney Sep 20


For those tracking RoRo (none of these have destinations, and yes, none are on Auckland arrival schedule). All are likely going to Tesla pier 80 SFO. (Previous ships have left for Belgium, and China)

Cosco Tengfei (currently docked at pier 80)
Glovis Champion (due 21 July)
Glovis Prime (due 25 July)
SFL Conductor (due 25 July)

 

[khayyam]

Ship Status

Container Ship (Dates are according to ANL schedule)

Mercur Ocean - Docked Sydney July 12. Possibly the ship these Model 3s spotted yesterday in Sydney. Departed Oakland June 16.

Melina. Departed Oakland June 22, Arrive - Auckland July 17, Sydney July 21 (currently - left Auckland, on way)
ANL Tongala Departed Oakland July 1, Arrive - Auckland July 23, Sydney July 27
Seoul Express Departed Oakland July 8, Arrive - Auckland Aug 2, Sydney Aug 9 (currently moored at Long Beach)
Cap Capricorn Departed Oakland July 12, Arrive - Auckland Aug 5, Sydney Aug 16 (currently anchored off Long Beach)
Kota Ekspres. Departs Oakland July 19, Arrive - Auckland Aug 12, Sydney Aug 23
Brotonne Bridge . Departs Oakland July 26, Arrive - Auckland Aug 20, Sydney Aug 30
ANL Warrnambool. Departs Oakland Aug 7, Arrive - Auckland Sep 3, Sydney Sep 7
Mercur Ocean. Departs Oakland Aug 9 , Arrive - Auckland Sep 2, Sydney Sep 13
Melina. Departs Oakland Aug 16, Arrive - Auckland Sep 9, Sydney Sep 20


For those tracking RoRo (none of these have destinations, and yes, none are on Auckland arrival schedule). All are likely going to Tesla pier 80 SFO. (Previous ships have left for Belgium, and China)

Cosco Tengfei (currently docked at pier 80)
Glovis Champion (due 21 July)
Glovis Prime (due 25 July)
SFL Conductor (due 25 July)

Nice. I don't think that the roro ships not being on the port of Auckland list yet means anything. They could go anywhere.

 

[DKS1]

Guess this is a bit OT... but

moving to AGL now and their cheapest plan requires smart meters, so they are getting replaced (for free) and I'm am told I can request an upgrade to a three phase controlled load smart meter at the same time for no extra cost too

Very interesting! I bit of research on the Whirlpool green tech thread https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/143 shows that controlled load in general seems to be getting marginalised by the retailers as paulp indicates - a bit at odds with the above.

In SA at least controlled load circuits are legally limited to 32A max per phase. And only one load is allowed to run at one time. So I've put a wifi switch on my hot water so I can monitor it's typical runtime and control when it runs as well as when the car charges to avoid overlap.

So they let the consumer comply with this via switching - I guess you will trigger the breaker if you dont.

But I plan to first test wire the wall charger to only 2 controlled load phases first (so not the HW phase) and see if it works and still does 11kw - I have researched and very unclear as it is very unusual to do, but I found one forum that seemed to say it works.

The install manual for the WC is here .. Installation Manuals - Wall Connector Not sure if it answers your question.

Also planning to put the Tesla wall charger on a manual cutover switch (not expensive apparently) which will allow me to switch it from controlled load to normal 3 phase, for the rare cases I might want to charge during peak times. I'd like a remote controlled way of doing it but can't find anything except high end industrial switchgear at huge prices to do it.

I currently switch between peak (excess solar) and CL using a Raspberry Pi which controls the various loads using contactors (Din rail 25Amp with 12V switching). The Pi can both control and monitor loads, including stuff like the hot water temperature. I plan to add to this to control the Tesla Wall Charger circuit which actually would allow the full 32Amp single phase if needed (sparky may still say 80% of this only) in my case. I had assumed the regulations would say a total of 32 amps.

Controlled load is a great way of managing our increasing renewable energy generation (eg. excess wind / solar) so it seems totally brain dead that there are moves to cut it back apparently due to retailers. Sigh.

 

[OzVic]

Guess this is a bit OT... but

Very interesting! I bit of research on the Whirlpool green tech thread https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/143 shows that controlled load in general seems to be getting marginalised by the retailers as paulp indicates - a bit at odds with the above.

Page 28 is quite specific on Electric Vehicle charging is OK on Controlled Load on the Ausgrid network.

https://www.ausgrid.com.au/-/media/Documents/Technical-Documentation/ES/ES7-Network-Price-Guide.pdf

Can the retailers really change the rules? If the electrician didn't mind, I'd just get them to install it anyway.

 

[mattclar]

From my experience with my water heater on a controlled load, with my retailer (Powershop) there is barely a difference between price of off-peak power and controlled load (its a couple of tenths of a cent or less) so if your going to spend any significant money on connecting a controlled load, might just be better to put in a timer or control charging times via app

 

[DKS1]

Page 28 is quite specific on Electric Vehicle charging is OK on Controlled Load on the Ausgrid network.

https://www.ausgrid.com.au/-/media/Documents/Technical-Documentation/ES/ES7-Network-Price-Guide.pdf

Can the retailers really change the rules? If the electrician didn't mind, I'd just get them to install it anyway.

Looks like the distributor not the retailer - possibly worse ... Not so good if you are in Vic under United Energy https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2795503 , or as Paulp says, in SA with a new service with Solar.
Ausgrid in NSW seems OK with controlled load for a hardwired charger.
Starting to look like the case of different road rules in different states. Sigh - again.
I agree that it is really up to the sparky and what he/she will set up for you. I like to do the research, set everything up and then get them to check it all and do the meter box connections ... saves $$.

 

[DKS1]

From my experience with my water heater on a controlled load, with my retailer (Powershop) there is barely a difference between price of off-peak power and controlled load (its a couple of tenths of a cent or less) so if your going to spend any significant money on connecting a controlled load, might just be better to put in a timer or control charging times via app

In SA there are no 'time of use' off peak tariffs which apply to your entire house consumption as far as I am aware. All we have is controlled load / off peak which is its own metered circuit with either a ripple controller or a simple fixed timer.
Then we have the shameful state of play with the different energy plans and discounts to deal with ... I will stop now!
I am looking forward to Westfield and others fitting destination chargers to all shopping centres - do your shopping, lunch / coffee / movie and your car is topped up maybe for free.

 

[paulp]

In SA there are no 'time of use' off peak tariffs which apply to your entire house consumption as far as I am aware. All we have is controlled load / off peak which is its own metered circuit with either a ripple controller or a simple fixed timer.
Then we have the shameful state of play with the different energy plans and discounts to deal with ... I will stop now!
I am looking forward to Westfield and others fitting destination chargers to all shopping centres - do your shopping, lunch / coffee / movie and your car is topped up maybe for free.

My comment about a page back was a reference to peak and off peak. I wasnt referring to controlled load. To my knowledge with new solar meters in SA you cannot have peak and off peak. Controlled load under a different meter isnt something I’m eligable for as I dont have electric hot water. Burnside village has two destination chargers, as does the airport main carpark on level 2.

 

[one4spl]

Guess this is a bit OT... but



Very interesting! I bit of research on the Whirlpool green tech thread https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/143 shows that controlled load in general seems to be getting marginalised by the retailers as paulp indicates - a bit at odds with the above.



So they let the consumer comply with this via switching - I guess you will trigger the breaker if you dont.



The install manual for the WC is here .. Installation Manuals - Wall Connector Not sure if it answers your question.



I currently switch between peak (excess solar) and CL using a Raspberry Pi which controls the various loads using contactors (Din rail 25Amp with 12V switching). The Pi can both control and monitor loads, including stuff like the hot water temperature. I plan to add to this to control the Tesla Wall Charger circuit which actually would allow the full 32Amp single phase if needed (sparky may still say 80% of this only) in my case. I had assumed the regulations would say a total of 32 amps.

Controlled load is a great way of managing our increasing renewable energy generation (eg. excess wind / solar) so it seems totally brain dead that there are moves to cut it back apparently due to retailers. Sigh.

I've just finished installing OpenEVSE and attached it to my EmonCMS logger. It will track charger current to feed in so I can self-consume as much as possible - at least on the days my car is at home.

This is a little test today. The EVSE was set to 'eco'. Once there was sufficient excess the charger turned on at the minimum 6 amps. Then I turned off my pool pump and it bumped up to 12 amps. Note the pilot current is scaled 100x to show it on this graph clearly.

Now I just need a car to plug it into

 

[Priit]

My comment about a page back was a reference to peak and off peak. I wasnt referring to controlled load. To my knowledge with new solar meters in SA you cannot have peak and off peak. Controlled load under a different meter isnt something I’m eligable for as I dont have electric hot water. Burnside village has two destination chargers, as does the airport main carpark on level 2.

Not sure how this works between different states, but I live in QLD and 3 years ago I had 1 tariff Energex NTC9000. Then I got Solar and they replaced the meter but left me with that one incoming tariff for NTC9000 but I got a meter that counted feed-in also. Then a year ago I started the process to get power sorted for preparation to get electric car, I spoke with AGL and they replaced my meter with newer type of meter got my tariffs changed so my main tariff is NTC7000 with time of day use, so from 4PM to 8PM I pay premium rate, but rest of the time it is cheaper rate, same meter also does the controlled load NTC7300 tariff for me that is about 5c p/kw cheaper than the cheaper rate from NTC7000 and they also moved my hot water to the controlled load. So once the car charger arrives that is going on that controlled load also. So far the 4PM to 8PM rate is about 27.8c/kw incl. GST, the rest of the time rate is 19.6c/kw and the controlled load is about 14c/kw. Out of all those rates I get a discount of 28% for all usage charges except the 4PM to 8PM rate. Since I also have solar feeding in, I get 10.6c/kw for feed-in. So if I use the controlled load to charge the car, then after the 28% discount I end up paying 10.1c/kw for drawing the power from controlled load but get 10.6c/kw for feeding solar back, so for me it is cheaper to charge without using my own solar for charging.

 

[TonyEm]

Have reached out to tesla to confirm
1) is June 'Performance minus upgrade' Version the same as the July LR AWD in every way ...
2) Do i get homelink as it was part of premium when i ordered
3) Do i get the $889 reduced price

obviously #2 & #3 above kind of go against each other - but i'll see what they say, no harm in asking.

Wondering whether to save $3k on drive away and go for white now - choices choices !!

At least it'll be easier taking to the insurance company about a 'long range all wheel drive' instead of the 'Performance minus the upgrade'

I called Tesla today as i had now response on email. Their response ...

1) Nearly - the 0 to 100 time is different , and the rated range at 620km.
2) No cars will be getting it - the message was that its too unreliable and so they won't supply it unless it reliable.

Didn't get to #3.

So I've decided to switch from Performance Lite to LR AWD for a couple of reasons :

1) I was never after a crazy acceleration - I wanted the longest range Model 3 I could.
2) I am hoping for some chance of a more favourable insurance quote conversation - although RACV was pretty good anyway (still to do). And i figured removing the word performance from the model name can only help .
3) the delay difference is only likely going to be (original order) late august to (revised order) early September.

So there may be a Blue Performance lite slot opened up in whatever production schedule exists @ Tesla mothership.

(Still would have loved a tow bar option for the occasional family bike outing & weekend dump runs - but hey ho !)

 

[Grenadine]

I look at it differently. a 0 - 100 time of 3.4 seconds beats a significant number of supercars - world class supercars indeed. So this is my mid life crisis AND enivro/cheap to run car. 60km or so of range really is not that much. Anyway, to each their own of course, but you look at the premium every other car manufacturer makes between base models and 'performance' (look at AMG Mercs and M series BMWs....and the mark up for world class speed here is a true bargain.

Yes I realise bargain in this sense is a very first world perspective.

 

[SaturnV]

I called Tesla today as i had now response on email. Their response ...

1) Nearly - the 0 to 100 time is different , and the rated range at 620km.
2) No cars will be getting it - the message was that its too unreliable and so they won't supply it unless it reliable.

Didn't get to #3.

So I've decided to switch from Performance Lite to LR AWD for a couple of reasons :

1) I was never after a crazy acceleration - I wanted the longest range Model 3 I could.
2) I am hoping for some chance of a more favourable insurance quote conversation - although RACV was pretty good anyway (still to do). And i figured removing the word performance from the model name can only help .
3) the delay difference is only likely going to be (original order) late august to (revised order) early September.

So there may be a Blue Performance lite slot opened up in whatever production schedule exists @ Tesla mothership.

(Still would have loved a tow bar option for the occasional family bike outing & weekend dump runs - but hey ho !)

Mmmm, FSD coming but can't open a garage door reliably, that would have been a useful function too.

 

[paulp]

I called Tesla today as i had now response on email. Their response ...

1) Nearly - the 0 to 100 time is different , and the rated range at 620km.
2) No cars will be getting it - the message was that its too unreliable and so they won't supply it unless it reliable.

Didn't get to #3.

So I've decided to switch from Performance Lite to LR AWD for a couple of reasons :

1) I was never after a crazy acceleration - I wanted the longest range Model 3 I could.
2) I am hoping for some chance of a more favourable insurance quote conversation - although RACV was pretty good anyway (still to do). And i figured removing the word performance from the model name can only help .
3) the delay difference is only likely going to be (original order) late august to (revised order) early September.

So there may be a Blue Performance lite slot opened up in whatever production schedule exists @ Tesla mothership.

(Still would have loved a tow bar option for the occasional family bike outing & weekend dump runs - but hey ho !)

I have homelink on two model s. It pops up on the screen every time based on location, and it works every time. I dont have it on auto open / close as other cars / people / pets are often in the way. Not sure why tesla find it unreliable because that certainly isnt my experience.

 

[T3SLA3]

Over in the Model 3 root there are M3P- US deliveries with TRACK MODE!
This is new. It is only since the latest pricing / option change.

I guess it is too much to hope that we may get Track Mode as well.
I ordered the M3P- for the cheaper price, range, 18” wheels, normal ride height and acceleration.
But I was sad to loose Track Mode.

 

[DKS1]

To my knowledge with new solar meters in SA you cannot have peak and off peak. Controlled load under a different meter isnt something I’m eligable for as I dont have electric hot water.

Agreed - I have not seen evidence of anything other than a flat rate plus feedin rate on solar meters in SA. (and I paid a heap to get this dumb meter installed 4 years ago with my solar). You may want to check if an EV charger on its own would enable the install of the controlled load / off peak service. Potential savings are decent in the winter months at least - or if you can't charge during the day even in summer. eg. The difference on a 60kW charge would be around $10 each time.

Burnside village has two destination chargers, as does the airport main carpark on level 2.

Yes - I have been a frequent user of the Type1 charger next to the Tesla chargers at Burnside with my PHEV. I asked them the other day if they could increase their Tesla chargers from the current 3KW (as I understand) they are set to. ( in prep for my M3
I dont understand the use case for an airport carpark charger - if you are travelling then you are unlikely to need to plugged in for the whole of your trip away. People will get peeved if a car is sitting there occupying a charger for days.