UK visitor, South Island roadtrip, Hiring an M3

[WannabeOwner]

Planning to visit, from UK, and tour the South Island for 14 days in November with a companion who lives near Auckland (i.e. has a NZ licence).

I've driven Tesla, in UK, since 2015 (S, S+3, S+Y), so I'm comfortable with the driving / owning part. Companion has no EV experience.

I put the journey into ABRP, on the basis that we would go round in a "circle". I expect, in practice, that there will be some out-and-back legs instead, so a few more km / wH. I was just after an initial rough-idea.

In the UK we have loads of Superchargers, and I can't remember the last time I used Some Other Brand. The Other UK Brands are a mishmash of Monopoly-Hopefuls. Our Government has mandated "pay at pump" which companies consider is achieved by "Now you are here download our APP", or they provide card-swipe but not any network connection for the machine. (Some exaggeration, but not much). Maybe NZ is the same?

I'd appreciate any advice please. I've just put the various places we would like to visit into ABRP in order to get an overall rough plan. Travel agent is in charge of the actual itinerary in terms of do-ability in the time available, but any ideas and suggestions are welcome

I have assumed hiring a M3 LR to give us maximum range, and also use of Supercharger network (insofar as any of the sites are not, yet, open-to-all?). But no idea, yet, if hire of M3 LR is even possible; I would consider a different EV brand - but I would want range and ability to charge as my #1 criteria

Networks / APPs to join/download?

Hotels where we might stay and charge? We will want to stay at top end hotels (dunno if that makes EV charger more/less likely). A public charger in walking distance, of hotel, would be equally fine.

The Franz Josef charger looks to be the main bottleneck (and I have read as much browsing threads here earlier). 2 stalls, a 1 hour charge, would seem to be a big risk if there is a queue waiting and the preceding two stops (Greymouth and Murchison) seem to only have a single, 50kW, stall with fallback at Hokitika and Reefton but they are also single stall / slower

EDIT: Having done a bit of Googling for EV Rentals at Queenstown airport ... I may be fresh out of luck on hiring an EV of any brand

 

[Audietron]

Planning to visit, from UK, and tour the South Island for 14 days in November with a companion who lives near Auckland (i.e. has a NZ licence).

I've driven Tesla, in UK, since 2015 (S, S+3, S+Y), so I'm comfortable with the driving / owning part. Companion has no EV experience.

I put the journey into ABRP, on the basis that we would go round in a "circle". I expect, in practice, that there will be some out-and-back legs instead, so a few more km / wH. I was just after an initial rough-idea.

In the UK we have loads of Superchargers, and I can't remember the last time I used Some Other Brand. The Other UK Brands are a mishmash of Monopoly-Hopefuls. Our Government has mandated "pay at pump" which companies consider is achieved by "Now you are here download our APP", or they provide card-swipe but not any network connection for the machine. (Some exaggeration, but not much). Maybe NZ is the same?

View attachment 1072338

I'd appreciate any advice please. I've just put the various places we would like to visit into ABRP in order to get an overall rough plan. Travel agent is in charge of the actual itinerary in terms of do-ability in the time available, but any ideas and suggestions are welcome

I have assumed hiring a M3 LR to give us maximum range, and also use of Supercharger network (insofar as any of the sites are not, yet, open-to-all?). But no idea, yet, if hire of M3 LR is even possible; I would consider a different EV brand - but I would want range and ability to charge as my #1 criteria

Networks / APPs to join/download?

Hotels where we might stay and charge? We will want to stay at top end hotels (dunno if that makes EV charger more/less likely). A public charger in walking distance, of hotel, would be equally fine.

The Franz Josef charger looks to be the main bottleneck (and I have read as much browsing threads here earlier). 2 stalls, a 1 hour charge, would seem to be a big risk if there is a queue waiting and the preceding two stops (Greymouth and Murchison) seem to only have a single, 50kW, stall with fallback at Hokitika and Reefton but they are also single stall / slower

EDIT: Having done a bit of Googling for EV Rentals at Queenstown airport ... I may be fresh out of luck on hiring an EV of any brand

Welcome to New Zealand.

1. Chargenet App and network is your friend... heaps of slow/fast/superfast/ultrafast chargers on network and can show you on location based.
2. BP charge App is super handy - can use as guest... so many BP gas stations got super fast chargers in place and many installing as I write...
3. Warehouse and destination chargers are your free chargers... mostly under 25KW speed but handy when car is anyhow going to be parked around.
4. then you have Tesla's super chargers....

I use them in same order of importance....
in worst case scenario when under super emergency - plugshare app might show someone's private charger available to get those extra KW to reach destination... and make some new friends in process.

There are so many places to hire EV/Tesla from:

• https://www.autoeurope.co.nz
• GO Rentals - Car Rental & Car Hire New Zealand
• Electric Car Hire Australia | Rent a Tesla | Book now with evee
• Cheap Car Hire New Zealand | Budget Car Rental
• PlugN Drive NZ | Hire a Tesla | Electric car rental
• Car Rental and Truck Hire in New Zealand, Book Now & Save | Avis Car Rental
• Car Rental | Rent a Car Deals - Hertz Car Hire in New Zealand
  one of them would have car available for you or can arrange for you.

 

[QtownTaxiGreg]

Aye, Chargenet fills out the map pretty well. Some of theirs are SC.

So many hotels and motels have chargers that you could do a 14 day tour of hotel chargers without public chargers at all.

Tesla is thin on the ground.

GO Rentals have at least one M3 running around out of Queenstown but no idea if it is LR. It know there is at least one because it has big GO Rentals stickers down the side.

Or rent a hybrid Camry. That is what I would do. Shag making charging the first priority everywhere you are going on your trip of a lifetime.

I recommend taking one of the coach tours to Milford Sound. The road is hell scenic at the same time as a very involved drive. You are missing out on scenery or you are a menace on the road. I have driven it many times as well as going passenger.

If you do rent an EV, mind out the km rate. There's 7.6c per km in road tax for starters.

 

[Ecoli]

Chargenet and BP

Plugshare app will show all charges regardless of ownership
While the Chargenet and BP will only show their chargers

In Plugshare You can filter by the type of connection you can use or want to use
It shows which are free or paid
It also has photos and directions
Quite useful when trying to find a charger somewhere you've not been before

PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge

Find EV charging stations with PlugShare, the most complete map of electric vehicle charging stations in the world!Charging tips reviews and photos from the EV community.

www.plugshare.com

 

[Audietron]

Chargenet and BP

Plugshare app will show all charges regardless of ownership
While the Chargenet and BP will only show their chargers

In Plugshare You can filter by the type of connection you can use or want to use
It shows which are free or paid
It also has photos and directions
Quite useful when trying to find a charger somewhere you've not been before

PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge

Find EV charging stations with PlugShare, the most complete map of electric vehicle charging stations in the world!Charging tips reviews and photos from the EV community.

www.plugshare.com

very true... although I never had to use it... partly because always charge at home and partly because I plan trip in advance using Charge net and google before starting any road trips call me lazy but many time I simply search for charge net in Tesla navigation and pick the location I like to go (charge net app helps better)
one of the reason I probably never got to plug share, probably that I don't want to see any non commercial chargers for safety and comfort reasons...

 

[m3lol]

I don’t think a renter is liable for RUCs. Just fuel/electricity.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Thanks. I had spotted that Chargenet was likely to be worthwhile, thanks for confirming,

I don't, yet, share your enthusiasm for do-ability, particularly the Abel Tasman to Wānaka leg.

From what I have found in Plugshare

Golden Bay 1x 50kW, 1x 22kW
Murchison 1x 50kW, 2x 22kW
Refton 1x 25kW
Greymouth 1x 25kW, 1x 50Kw, 4x Type 2
Hokitika 1x 50kW (Plugshare has two PINs, but they are right on top of each other, so perhaps "same site", or maybe "2x 50kW" available)
Franz Josef 2x 25-50kW, 2x Type 2

ABRP says 131 kWh and 780km and looks like I need to add about 135kWh top-up, en route, to get to Franz Josef (arriving "empty")

My concern is that all these "1 stall" places have no fall back if the pump is broken, and in the event that someone else is already charging they are going to need "plenty", same as me, and are going to be there a long time. More than one person waiting and my ability to stick to a reasonable timetable is screwed.

They are also very slow pumps. Although longest stay is "about an hour", and if we found a good restaurant nearby I am sure we could easily dwell for that long, a faster pump would mean that any queue would move along more quickly.

Am I missing anything?

I try to be very eco. Flying to NZ is a difficult decision for me, I haven't flown for 7 years (although there is an overriding reason to see my friend this time). Using an EV would make me a bit more comfortable than ICE ...

Or rent a hybrid Camry. That is what I would do. Shag making charging the first priority everywhere you are going on your trip of a lifetime.

Other than admitting defeat! it is looking like Hybrid is the solution. I don't know anything about them (having been assuming they were sticking-plaster I've only done BEV), but perhaps PHEV with a half decent sized battery might actually mean that considerable amount of the trip was done on plug-in juice.

Probably going to average about 160km per day, half before / after lunch would mean 80 km per stint. A quick Google suggests that there are PHEV models that can do that range from battery - provided that EV-mode isn't sub 20 KPH

 

[Ecoli]

I think chargenet app shows if charger is in use. So does plugshare but plugshare relies on the user signing in etc. Plugshare has very large filtering options, network, type
Plug etc you should be able to filter Plugshare to show your preferred options

Not sure if Tesla Nav shows the in use status of none Tesla charges, prob not

 

[QtownTaxiGreg]

I doubt PHEV are available for rental. The tax regime has them paying exise on fuel and 50% road tax. It is quite costly to run one on fuel, very cheap to run on battery. Rentals are going to run heavy on fuel.

How come you are overlooking accommodation destination chargers? If you are playing the trip by ear I can understand. Petrol hybrid to the rescue.

A whole suite of ChargeNet 150kw chargers just opened in Queenstown out by the airport. Not like Tesla is that busy here but the Polestar brigade will be happy. Tesla discounts their usual rate a few cents here btw.

 

[QtownTaxiGreg]

think chargenet app shows if charger is in use.

Sure does. Also shows duff ones.

BP likewise. 100% duff up the east coast last time I looked. I would not be counting on them unless they have a major upgrade.

Is there a charger up/down stats collector?

 

[Miggy]

You may find this NZ Road Trips thread helpful.

New Zealand Road Trips

Better off going to the chargeNet HPC chargers, faster, better located if you want a drink or a bite to eat, and cheaper. Agree and did try all three charge points available and none would work. I have charged there before a few times. Should have known when only one Tesla M3 was charging and...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[Audietron]

Thanks. I had spotted that Chargenet was likely to be worthwhile, thanks for confirming,

I don't, yet, share your enthusiasm for do-ability, particularly the Abel Tasman to Wānaka leg.

From what I have found in Plugshare

Golden Bay 1x 50kW, 1x 22kW
Murchison 1x 50kW, 2x 22kW
Refton 1x 25kW
Greymouth 1x 25kW, 1x 50Kw, 4x Type 2
Hokitika 1x 50kW (Plugshare has two PINs, but they are right on top of each other, so perhaps "same site", or maybe "2x 50kW" available)
Franz Josef 2x 25-50kW, 2x Type 2

ABRP says 131 kWh and 780km and looks like I need to add about 135kWh top-up, en route, to get to Franz Josef (arriving "empty")

My concern is that all these "1 stall" places have no fall back if the pump is broken, and in the event that someone else is already charging they are going to need "plenty", same as me, and are going to be there a long time. More than one person waiting and my ability to stick to a reasonable timetable is screwed.

They are also very slow pumps. Although longest stay is "about an hour", and if we found a good restaurant nearby I am sure we could easily dwell for that long, a faster pump would mean that any queue would move along more quickly.

Am I missing anything?

I try to be very eco. Flying to NZ is a difficult decision for me, I haven't flown for 7 years (although there is an overriding reason to see my friend this time). Using an EV would make me a bit more comfortable than ICE ...



Other than admitting defeat! it is looking like Hybrid is the solution. I don't know anything about them (having been assuming they were sticking-plaster I've only done BEV), but perhaps PHEV with a half decent sized battery might actually mean that considerable amount of the trip was done on plug-in juice.

Probably going to average about 160km per day, half before / after lunch would mean 80 km per stint. A quick Google suggests that there are PHEV models that can do that range from battery - provided that EV-mode isn't sub 20 KPH

all fair concerns... but it's your vacation and you are visiting beautiful places....

stopping here and there and taking advantage of that break to go for nearby walk or eat tasty takeaway (if no restaurant on site) when watching movie in car are part of taking it easy and enjoying a trip...

there are also destination charger if staying at hotels... most of them got it, means starting in every morning fully charged... very rarely you would make a trip where travelling more than 350KM each way... so technically destination charger overnight (or paid near to hotel) and some fast charger on your way as suits you...

idea is to always keep around 10% reserve unless you know more than one charger side by side.... and make spontaneous stops and enjoy the trip...

however, your trip, your itinerary, your planning... only input myself or others can give is - charge net is fully dependable with live charger fault/in use status... in NZ you always find food, drinks, etc at gas station or dairies... and most of the spontaneous stops are totally worth it.

I myself did both islands in my Model 3 RWD... no long range... no issues... even day trip to Cape reiga from Auckland with no issues and actually free charging at warehouse.

 

[heltok]

We rented Teslas in NZ a few times and did some longer road trips. We found Go Rentals cars to be in bad shape, buttons missing etc. Avis was a lot better.

When roadtripping around south Island there were quite a few times where we ran into issues. Queue at charger, some leaf taking forever, hotel with EV charger were out of solar due to bad weather and refused to let us charge, airbnb refused to let us wall charge, Chargenet stopping mid charge and manually have to go back and reset it multiple times etc. It usually worked out, bit required a bit workarounds which I didn’t mind. The non Tesla EV roadtrippers seemed like they had so many issues.

My advice is to always charge a bit more and often than you need, because you might run into issues later.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Thanks all

How come you are overlooking accommodation destination chargers?

yes, good point. Travel Agent currently still deciding route / hotels. If it turns out that the hotels have a good sprinkling of destination chargers that will frame my EV / PHEV / A.N.Other decision.

For the folk that said "Your holiday, your rules" brief to travel agent is to choose really nice places to stay. If I was going somewhere in UK the brief would be "Must have destination charging"

So I will be pleasantly surprised if destination chargers will solve the problem for us, and I agree, we aren't going to do enough kms daily that will exceed one-overnight-charge. In which case RWD / SR may turn out to be perfectly fine

I'll report back .. .as of now the agent is taking us East coast, rather than original West coast plan, so that may also change things (e.g. number of available charging stalls)

stopping here and there and taking advantage of that break to go for nearby walk or eat tasty takeaway (if no restaurant on site) when watching movie in car are part of taking it easy and enjoying a trip...

I'm not seeing it quite like that. Original plans was "lots of places, one night at each", and getting stuck at a 50kW charger, occupied, with one person waiting in front of us and each dwelling for at least an hour to get enough charge to get to the next place - and only a single stall - would mean we could be twiddling our thumbs for several hours and would missed some of our planned holiday, and that would take the cream off the trip. So, this trip, I'm not prepared to risk that. But that is only an issue if we need (as per the original route plan) to stop at 3 or 4 chargers, in a row, where there is only a single stall, and 50kW Max at that; destination chargers may well solve that.

But we are also considering changing our trip from one-night-at-each stop to a couple-of-nights (and I'll come back to see the rest of your lovely country another time(s!), in which case we might be more tollerent of a charging-delay.

When roadtripping around south Island there were quite a few times where we ran into issues. Queue at charger, some leaf taking forever, hotel with EV charger were out of solar due to bad weather and refused to let us charge, airbnb refused to let us wall charge, Chargenet stopping mid charge and manually have to go back and reset it multiple times etc. It usually worked out, bit required a bit workarounds which I didn’t mind. The non Tesla EV roadtrippers seemed like they had so many issues.

Yup, that's my concern. I've driven over 300km in Tesla's since 2015, so I'm comfortable with the whole EV thing; back then I was out-of-range and stopping to charge at least twice a month. Even with limited infrastructure back then it was fine. But, back then, very few Tesla's in the UK (and only Leafs for company), quite a few Superchargers (Tesla-use-only back then of course), never had to queue, worst case (on V2 chargers) I would PAIR and have reduced kW ... but by the time I had had a pee and got a coffee the car would likely be ready. Back then it was rare to find a Supercharger with less than 4 stalls (I can only think of two UK locations, which I actually used back in 2015, that only had 2 stalls and one of those was an overnight hotel), and peak-charge was around 100kW,

So I reckon sites with a single 50kW stall, shared with other brands that will potentially charge much more slowly or, if Tesla, may well be planning to "fill to the brim", is too large a risk of sitting twiddling thumbs. Here's hoping that destination chargers are the solution

 

[Audietron]

Thanks all



yes, good point. Travel Agent currently still deciding route / hotels. If it turns out that the hotels have a good sprinkling of destination chargers that will frame my EV / PHEV / A.N.Other decision.

For the folk that said "Your holiday, your rules" brief to travel agent is to choose really nice places to stay. If I was going somewhere in UK the brief would be "Must have destination charging"

So I will be pleasantly surprised if destination chargers will solve the problem for us, and I agree, we aren't going to do enough kms daily that will exceed one-overnight-charge. In which case RWD / SR may turn out to be perfectly fine

I'll report back .. .as of now the agent is taking us East coast, rather than original West coast plan, so that may also change things (e.g. number of available charging stalls)



I'm not seeing it quite like that. Original plans was "lots of places, one night at each", and getting stuck at a 50kW charger, occupied, with one person waiting in front of us and each dwelling for at least an hour to get enough charge to get to the next place - and only a single stall - would mean we could be twiddling our thumbs for several hours and would missed some of our planned holiday, and that would take the cream off the trip. So, this trip, I'm not prepared to risk that. But that is only an issue if we need (as per the original route plan) to stop at 3 or 4 chargers, in a row, where there is only a single stall, and 50kW Max at that; destination chargers may well solve that.

But we are also considering changing our trip from one-night-at-each stop to a couple-of-nights (and I'll come back to see the rest of your lovely country another time(s!), in which case we might be more tollerent of a charging-delay.



Yup, that's my concern. I've driven over 300km in Tesla's since 2015, so I'm comfortable with the whole EV thing; back then I was out-of-range and stopping to charge at least twice a month. Even with limited infrastructure back then it was fine. But, back then, very few Tesla's in the UK (and only Leafs for company), quite a few Superchargers (Tesla-use-only back then of course), never had to queue, worst case (on V2 chargers) I would PAIR and have reduced kW ... but by the time I had had a pee and got a coffee the car would likely be ready. Back then it was rare to find a Supercharger with less than 4 stalls (I can only think of two UK locations, which I actually used back in 2015, that only had 2 stalls and one of those was an overnight hotel), and peak-charge was around 100kW,

So I reckon sites with a single 50kW stall, shared with other brands that will potentially charge much more slowly or, if Tesla, may well be planning to "fill to the brim", is too large a risk of sitting twiddling thumbs. Here's hoping that destination chargers are the solution

Also, don't forget upto 300KW capacity (mostly upto 150KW available if other cars charging) BP network... if covering east coast - on top of ChargeNet, Destination chargers, you have BP network scattered everywhere

 

[primedive]

Atlantic Canada sounds similar in that east of Halifax, there’s nothing but slow 50kw chargers and single stalls. It mostly worked out OK but we spent some more time waiting and taking advantage of L2 than we would have liked, while the gas drivers pitied us. Take as much advantage of L2 as you can, and driving at lower speeds + windows open and climate off does make a difference. When you do grab a L3, leave yourself some healthy margin for missed turns, detours etc…

 

[Audietron]

Atlantic Canada sounds similar in that east of Halifax, there’s nothing but slow 50kw chargers and single stalls. It mostly worked out OK but we spent some more time waiting and taking advantage of L2 than we would have liked, while the gas drivers pitied us. Take as much advantage of L2 as you can, and driving at lower speeds + windows open and climate off does make a difference. When you do grab a L3, leave yourself some healthy margin for missed turns, detours etc…

is this posted in wrong post or I am having one of those man-flu day where I don't understand and connect simple things?

 

[QtownTaxiGreg]

is this posted in wrong post or I am having one of those man-flu day where I don't understand and connect simple things?

Man flu. He's talking about a similar geographical distribution of lower power public DC charging.

I don't know that ChargeNet is that badly equipped. They have so many 50w'ers they are piling on with 150W'ers.

 

[E4RTH]

You're probably aware of this but FWIW, on Booking,com you can filter for EV chargers by looking under "Facilities".