Tesla Model 3 in Australia

[Danforged]

Anyone know approx. how long it takes the cars to get from Sydney to Melbourne for delivery? I'm thinking @Vedaprime probably best placed to answer this?

Just got back from a test drive and far out.. Nothing does it justice like driving one. Haven't driven an electric vehicle until today and it was just out of this world.

One pedal driving, autopilot, the sound system, the acceleration... all amazing

 

[thomasw]

This forum is where insurance talk should go Insurance quotes for Australian M3?
I personally found AIG (via a broker) to be the best, apart from Comminsure who I don't trust

 

[georgedude]

Congrats! Very excited for you. Seems you were about 10 spots ahead of me at St Leonards back in 2016.

So, does it have a DAB+ radio or not?

Does not look like it does... Though didn't really have time to play around yet, tbh... My first priority is too hookup drive or Rasberry PI for sentry/dashcam recording...

 

[1st in Line]

Damn, still waiting (SR+ in Sydney), and it is my Birthday this week. Tell you a story (which you likely won't believe). I was 9. The class had an art contest. I drew a car. It was out in the sun. It was powered by electric motors attached to its wheels and powered by solar panels on its body. It was shaped like a triangle with a tiny stick figure as a driver. I called it the SunDaze (get it?). Anyway, it was 1972. Here I sit 47 years later. Still waiting. Elon, you weren't even born. Can I have a free one for inspiring you? BTW, I got second prize. Elon must have got first prize I guess (time travel likely involved)!

I do believe you ATSC!

I was in my late 20's when I bought my first car and promised myself that my next car would be an electric - or preferably a PV solar powered - car. 25 years after, I was about to purchase a new ICE car as I had almost forgotten about my youthful ambition. Then my son made me aware of Tesla and it was literally a few weeks before the launch of the Model 3, that I started to appreciate the momentous change this car was going to bring to the world of transportation.

Your idea to have PV solar panels power the car is also not so far fetched. Australia's PV Guru Professor Martin Green is tinkering with that idea, and knowing him, I would not be surprised if this was an active area of research for him and his group at UNSW and I am certain that it will become reality one day.

I might have posted this before, but if you are interested, watch the following from 20:40min

Professor Martin Green obviously holds Elon in great regard and if those two sat down for a brainstorming session, I would give anything to be the fly on the wall to hear what ideas they would bounce off each other...

The following song is a bit of an oxymoron. It is called "Believe", yet most lines state "I don't believe in..."

But the key line is:

"I do believe in fantasy
the future's understood"

You believed in your fantasy as a 9 year old, as you must have understood the future!

 

[WoodWombat]

You will use Amphibian adapter if the 15A socket is not good? If that's the case, you can't use Amphibian adapter because it is a 10A -> 15A socket adaptor. It won't fit into the 15A socket. You solution should be reducing the charging current in the car settings.

Different people have different considerations and preferences.

I would go through the followings to decide what I need:

1. Under what circumstances I need to charge with UMC? Do I need an extension cable?
2. Is it fast enough to charge with UMC?
   1. 10A provides 2.4kW power and takes 26 hours to charge Model 3 from 10% -> 90%
   2. 15A provides 3.6kW power and takes 17 hours to charge from 10% to 90%
3. How frequent do I have to charge with UMC?
4. How important for me to carry 1 cable vs 2 cables? Do I need to carry cables everyday?
5. Can I avoid using UMC with destination chargers and superchargers using a good route planner such as ABRP?

For me, I prefer to plan my journey ahead and utilise superchargers, destination chargers & other CCS chargers (such as 50kW & 350kW ChargeFox DC chargers). I will keep the UMC in the trunk for emergencies.

No offence, but it looks like you don't know how Australian/NZ domestic power sockets actually work. As you will see from the AS/NZS 3112 page on wikipedia, the standard power socket is available in 10A (most common), 15A, 20A, 25A and 32A. These are all based on the same general shape, but live, neutral pins and earth pins all change shape and may get larger as you go up in current. This bit of genius means that you can always plug a lower current appliance into a higher current socket. A 10A device can plug into a 25A socket quite happily.

This is why, a 15A heavy duty extension cable with an Amphibian 10A -> 15A adapter provides all of the cable that you need, along with the plugs that come with the UMC. My main problem with the UMC tails is that they look to have right angle plugs on them, which will make the use of waterproof housings for the connection back to the extension cord difficult.

 

[meloccom]

Hey, TaylorP! Thanks very much - so great to see plenty of Canberran orders and scheduling deliveries! Not sure where my first post went... I tried replying to your message about registration (where I wrote the wrong VIN) but it doesn’t look like it appeared.

Mine’s a pearl white SR+, reserved May 2018 and ordered July 2019 with VIN 4613XX. Guessing I need to arrange rego/plates too but haven’t been so by Tesla. Guessing it’s a straight forward process? Just trying to find the right info on Access Canberra so I can actually drive the car once it’s delivered!

Moderators Note:
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Something to keep in mind for new members.
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[raynewman]

As has been said ad nauseum already, that is a bad process and Tesla should do it differently with a rational, good faith customer focus.

I think you are the only 'ad nauseum (sic)' making that comment.
It is what all importers do except for top line units.
Tesla builds 'top line' units to order (or they used to).

 

[meowsers]

ANL Warrnambool now due Friday the 13th at 0400 hours. Further delayed.

Must be a port delay because the ship seems to be hanging around the coast. Can't possibly take 4 days to go from Gold Coast to Sydney.

 

[WoodWombat]

Professor Martin Green obviously holds Elon in great regard and if those two sat down for a brainstorming session, I would give anything to be the fly on the wall to hear what ideas they would bounce off each other...

Firstly, Professor Green is an awesome chap. He actually taught the semiconductor physics class at UNSW when I was there. It was fascinating the way that he started with solar cells and then went on to topics such as bipolar junction transistors, describing then as "solar cells but with a wire where the sun should be". He inspired my interest in renewable power for decades.

As to solar panels on cars, there are economic and practical things at work here, the core being that for a vehicle like a Tesla, the surface area of the car and energy of the sun mean that you can't actually get a huge amount of power. You are much better off spending the money that your on-car solar setup would need on panels for your house which can then kill two birds with one stone.

The exception to this is for super-efficient vehicles such as those being made by companies like Lightyear and Sono motors or for large touring vehicles that can carry more and fancier panels. The latter tends to have larger surface areas and to sit for longer to charge.

 

[Anubis]

Picked up my RWD yesterday from Alexandria (a week ahead of schedule).
View attachment 451586

I just had a look in @Random206's VIN spreadsheet and can't see a delivery for Sydney.
If you haven't already, it would be great for you create/update it with your info.

 

[cs_jacky]

No offence, but it looks like you don't know how Australian/NZ domestic power sockets actually work. As you will see from the AS/NZS 3112 page on wikipedia, the standard power socket is available in 10A (most common), 15A, 20A, 25A and 32A. These are all based on the same general shape, but live, neutral pins and earth pins all change shape and may get larger as you go up in current. This bit of genius means that you can always plug a lower current appliance into a higher current socket. A 10A device can plug into a 25A socket quite happily.

This is why, a 15A heavy duty extension cable with an Amphibian 10A -> 15A adapter provides all of the cable that you need, along with the plugs that come with the UMC. My main problem with the UMC tails is that they look to have right angle plugs on them, which will make the use of waterproof housings for the connection back to the extension cord difficult.

Don't worry. I don't feel offended . I am not an electrician and I can be wrong. I never think I can plug an 10A plug into 15 A socket. Now, I know more on the AU/NZ domestic power socket design philosophy.

 

[Lozza12]

Received a call today. Delivery in 2-4 weeks. VIN4435xx; NZ; SR+

Feeling a bit bummed actually. Up to another month of getting groceries by Uber and quiet weekends!

 

[aroth]

ANL Warrnambool now due Friday the 13th at 0400 hours. Further delayed.

It's just sort of hanging out off the southern end of the Gold Coast. Should make an unplanned stop in Brisbane while it's waiting and save Tesla the trouble of having to truck cars up from NSW.

 

[aegidius]

I was 9. The class had an art contest. I drew a car. It was out in the sun. It was powered by electric motors attached to its wheels and powered by solar panels on its body.

I have a similar recollection... when I was 15, I built my first electric vehicle. It was a slightly dangerous and illegal pump-up scooter, powered by a car starter motor and spare car battery my dad had lying about. We both had a ride on it and I thought: "This is what I want." More projects followed, but still hampered by lack of technology (and lack of money to buy what tech there was!)

Exactly 50 years later, I test drove a Model S, and thought: "It's arrived."

 

[1st in Line]

As to solar panels on cars, there are economic and practical things at work here, the core being that for a vehicle like a Tesla, the surface area of the car and energy of the sun mean that you can't actually get a huge amount of power. You are much better off spending the money that your on-car solar setup would need on panels for your house which can then kill two birds with one stone.

Hi WoodWombat

I too have had the privilege of having been one of Professor Green's students. I actually might have taken the very subject that you described in your post and I probably was one of his worst students ever [since I was a Mechanical Engineering student who become interested in solar cells].

I remember Professor Green talking about solar roof tiles 30 years ago... like the ones Tesla now manufactures.

I must strongly - with every fibre of my being - disagree with your comments about solar panels making more sense on houses than on cars. With that kind of starting point in your thinking, you are killing off progress and innovation. You suffocate people's imagination and their creativity. This kind of thinking leads to brain drain and is handing future technological breakthroughs to overseas competitors.

Yes, integrating PV solar cells into current generation EVs might seem far fetched and impractical. However, we are most likely talking about several decades of development of this concept - just like the PV roof tile idea. Who knows what EVs will look like in 20 years time. With advances in battery technology, a 2040 Tesla Model 3 might only weigh a few hundred kilogram. By then, the incremental cost of the "PV paint" might be so small, that - just like solar roof tiles now - it becomes financially compelling by then.

Unfortunately, I believe Australians have been conditioned over the last coupe of decades that unless something has an immediate financial benefit, it is not worth pursuing. Thank God, people like Professor Green and Elon Musk think decades ahead...

 

[Hairyman]

Triple junction cells would be interesting, but at the moment fantastically expensive.

 

[Priit]

Hi WoodWombat

I too have had the privilege of having been one of Professor Green's students. I actually might have taken the very subject that you described in your post and I probably was one of his worst students ever [since I was a Mechanical Engineering student who become interested in solar cells].

I remember Professor Green talking about solar roof tiles 30 years ago... like the ones Tesla now manufactures.

I must strongly - with every fibre of my being - disagree with your comments about solar panels making more sense on houses than on cars. With that kind of starting point in your thinking, you are killing off progress and innovation. You suffocate people's imagination and their creativity. This kind of thinking leads to brain drain and is handing future technological breakthroughs to overseas competitors.

Yes, integrating PV solar cells into current generation EVs might seem far fetched and impractical. However, we are most likely talking about several decades of development of this concept - just like the PV roof tile idea. Who knows what EVs will look like in 20 years time. With advances in battery technology, a 2040 Tesla Model 3 might only weigh a few hundred kilogram. By then, the incremental cost of the "PV paint" might be so small, that - just like solar roof tiles now - it becomes financially compelling by then.

Unfortunately, I believe Australians have been conditioned over the last coupe of decades that unless something has an immediate financial benefit, it is not worth pursuing. Thank God, people like Professor Green and Elon Musk think decades ahead...

Well solar panel tech has been advancing nicely, but they have a rather large potential to go still. On earth surface the theoretical total energy from the sun is about 1kwh/m2. With the efficiency of the panels currently around 20% it would take huge surface area to provide enough for a Model 3 to just run off the solar, however if the tech would be developed and the efficiency would get closer to 100% then the theoretical maximum amount of power we could get from the sun looking at the size of Model 3 would be about 8.67kwh. If that efficiency could be achieved without adding weight or drag to the car and we could reduce most of the battery weight ,we could be well on our way to running the car off solar most of the time and only use battery when the sun is not visible. So there is a good chance that in the next 20-50 years those sort of breakthroughs may happen.

 

[TH232]

Swung by Autonexus in Perth today. Seems like they are in the process of cleaning the vehicles. The grotty black one with aero wheels and a red performance appear to be inside their workshop...or shipped out already?? Bit worried why some other Perth buyers have got their rego papers last week but nothing as yet for me. Managed to get a reply from Tesla confirming they've received payment but no other info forthcoming. Trying to keep the faith....

 

[khayyam]

Yikes. Good thing this wasn't one of the ships we're tracking!

Crew missing after capsize of Golden Ray, a large vehicle carrier ship in Georgia, USA

 

[WoodWombat]

I must strongly - with every fibre of my being - disagree with your comments about solar panels making more sense on houses than on cars. With that kind of starting point in your thinking, you are killing off progress and innovation. You suffocate people's imagination and their creativity. This kind of thinking leads to brain drain and is handing future technological breakthroughs to overseas competitors.

To quote the great engineer Scotty, "Ye cannae change the laws of physics, captain!" The maximum usable surface area of a car is maybe 6 square metres if you are lucky, which equates to under 2kW of generating capacity even at maximum theoretical efficiency of solar cells. At realistic efficiencies, we are looking at more like 1.2kW. This is not a lot, and modifying every panel to be covered in solar generating capacity is expensive and will make simple smash repairs a complete nightmare.

The same cost would put a system probably 5 times the size on a stationary structure that could be used to feed the grid, charge batteries of vehicles and generally produce an excellent carbon offset. Elon Musk has said as much in the past with respect to Tesla, and he is the sort of person who goes back to the underlying physics before discarding an idea.

This said, solar cells on mobile machines makes sense in many cases. For example, a standard refrigerated trailer (for a semi trailer) has a flat top of 24 square metres or more able to put out a conservative 4.8kW in full sun. This would be enough to offset much of the power (possibly even most) required to keep the contents cool, saving lots of CO2 and shitty unregulated emissions from the small diesels that usually power these.