Victoria Charging the Regions EV network

[Chuq]

Victorian Government is funding 15 charging stations in NW Victoria, as per this press release:
New Electric Vehicle Charge Stations For North West Victoria | Premier of Victoria

It's a bit light on details. But I've done the homework for you!

No mention of AC or DC charging stations, however:

• "More than 15 new electric vehicle charging stations will be constructed in north western Victorian towns"
• "The Victorian Government is investing $664,000 to build the charging stations"

At an average of $44k per station, this suggests DC fast chargers to me. Just speculation.

As to where, the press release says:

• "New charging stations will be in rural centres including Ouyen, Swan Hill, Kerang, Maryborough and Echuca, as well as smaller rural towns and key tourist sites."

This report from the CVGA is referenced: http://www.cvga.org.au/uploads/9/8/3/8/9838558/81670_ctr_outcomes_va.3_public__1_.pdf

Which includes the following map (cropped to the NW):

One thing that I thought was curious is that of the names provided, not a single one is on the main route to the area from Melbourne (Calder Freeway/Highway) until Ouyen which is 440 km away. But I guess only 5 names were listed out of 15.

 

[Stromi]

Reported at thedriven.io
http://thedriven.io/2020/08/14/victorian-government-to-fund-more-than-15-new-ev-chargers-in-states-north-west/

The Victorian government will fund the deployment of more than 15 additional electric vehicle chargers across the state’s North West region, ...
The chargers will be rolled out across regional hubs, including the towns of Ouyen, Swan Hill, Kerang, Maryborough and Echuca, as well as commonly visited tourist sites ...
The locations of the chargers had previously been identified by a ‘Charging the Regions‘ report, prepared by the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance and the region’s local governments, that sought to identify priority electric vehicle infrastructure needs.

The full report is available:
http://www.cvga.org.au/uploads/9/8/3/8/9838558/81670_ctr_outcomes_va.3_public__1_.pdf

 

[moa999]

See Chuqs post yesterday
New EV Charge Stations For North West Victoria

 

[corndog]

Nice! I wonder what kind of timeline to expect. I've got a construction project up near Mildura next year. A good charger at Ouyen or Wycheproof would make the drive up from Melbourne a lot more comfortable. Wishful thinking :/

 

[Tigger]

Geez, hopefully this announcement gets the Mansfield one moving along.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Nice. I just had my Model S upgraded to allow CCS2 charging.
Looking forward to taking advantage of this on my next post-covid road trip.

 

[Chuq]

Nice. I just had my Model S upgraded to allow CCS2 charging.
Looking forward to taking advantage of this on my next post-covid road trip.

It certainly is becoming more and more useful as the number of third parties building charge networks results in coverage quickly expanding well beyond the supercharger network!

On these NW Vic ones - I got a bit more information regarding this from CVGA's Rob Law on twitter - forgot to share it here:

 

[Chuq]

So the tender document is available - the sites, and respective chargers are:

• 2x 50 kW: Ouyen
• 1x 50 kW: Maryborough, Kerang
• 2x 25 kW: Robinvale, Echuca, Bendigo, Shepparton
• 1x 25 kW: Swan Hill, Cohuna, Inglewood, Newbridge, Wedderburn, Wycheproof, Sea Lake, Castlemaine, Harcourt, Whittlesea, Sale

I've ranted about this in other forums/social media, but this is extremely disappointing.

Remember, the Vic Government is contributing $664k for this.

 

[moa999]

Do 25kW DC chargers even exist?

I've seen 22kW DC which are obviously far cheaper as they can be run off a 3ph 32A supply.

But I'd think that low level of power is better for a destination, rather than a route stop.

 

[Chuq]

Do 25kW DC chargers even exist?

I've seen 22kW DC which are obviously far cheaper as they can be run off a 3ph 32A supply.

But I'd think that low level of power is better for a destination, rather than a route stop.

Yep, all the ones that I've seen are rated at 25 kW but are basically run off a 22 kW supply. I'm guessing that's what these ones are.

PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

 

[rioli33]

So the tender document is available - the sites, and respective chargers are:

• 2x 50 kW: Ouyen
• 1x 50 kW: Maryborough, Kerang
• 2x 25 kW: Robinvale, Echuca, Bendigo, Shepparton
• 1x 25 kW: Swan Hill, Cohuna, Inglewood, Newbridge, Wedderburn, Wycheproof, Sea Lake, Castlemaine, Harcourt, Whittlesea, Sale

I've ranted about this in other forums/social media, but this is extremely disappointing.

Remember, the Vic Government is contributing $664k for this.

Absolute joke

 

[Chuq]

I'm particularly confused by the 2x 25 kW sites. Surely these could support a single 50 kW?

 

[Vostok]

Absolute joke

Clearly they want people to linger longer at Robinvale, Echuca, Bendigo, Shepparton, Swan Hill, Cohuna, Inglewood, Newbridge, Wedderburn, Wycheproof, Sea Lake, Castlemaine, Harcourt, Whittlesea, Sale...

I’ve only been to Ouyen once when I did a road trip from Sydney to Kangaroo Island in 2018. In an ICE, pre-Model 3. A 50kW charger at Ouyen would make that trip feasible in Model 3.

 

[Chuq]

It looks like they checked to see what the existing electrical capacity of their chosen sites were, and limited the installed charger to that. I wonder if anyone involved had the thought to see what chargers would be actually useful.

Did they seriously not find a single suitable Bendigo site for a 50 kW?

It'll be a bit embarrassing when they do a big PR event and try to drive a Kona from Melbourne to the first fast charger on the network (Ouyen) - and find that they can't make it.

 

[cafz]

I’ve only been to Ouyen once when I did a road trip from Sydney to Kangaroo Island in 2018. In an ICE, pre-Model 3. A 50kW charger at Ouyen would make that trip feasible in Model 3.

It's already feasible if you go via Bendigo instead, right?

 

[Chuq]

Just if anyone wants a bit of context:

Blue circles = NRMA sites to be done
Purple circles = CVGA funding - 50 kW sites
Green circles = CVGA funding - 2x25 kW sites, which could be 1x50 kW if someone comes to their senses

 

[RareEarth]

It's already feasible if you go via Bendigo instead, right?

Yes, this is the 'Supercharger route' to Adelaide via Albury, Bendigo, Horsham and Keith. It is longer but is more reliable with each site having multiple chargers.
There is also the 'NRMA route' along the Sturt Highway although Mildura to Adelaide is a bit of a stretch for our X. The new chargers NRMA are putting in at Loxton and Tanunda will fix this. The issue with this route is charger reliability, only one charger in each spot.
Our old 'fossil route' was via Balranald then down to Tooleybuc and across to Adelaide via Ouyen and Pinnaroo. A charger at Ouyen would allow us to use this again.

 

[miimura]

Any site that has a single DC charger should absolutely, without question, have an AC charge point as backup. IMHO, the minimum installation for any rural or small town site along a travel corridor should be two 50kW DC Fast Chargers plus two AC charge points. Even better if those two DC chargers can share power to charge one vehicle faster.

If Australia really has a problem bringing up proper grid connections for DC fast chargers, maybe Tritium should make a charging system like this one.
Boost Charger - FreeWire Technologies
120kW max to one vehicle, 60kW max to two vehicles, 160kWh built-in battery and 27kW or less grid connection.

 

[Chuq]

Any site that has a single DC charger should absolutely, without question, have an AC charge point as backup. IMHO, the minimum installation for any rural or small town site along a travel corridor should be two 50kW DC Fast Chargers plus two AC charge points. Even better if those two DC chargers can share power to charge one vehicle faster.

I would say either 2 DC, or 1 DC + 1 AC; or 1 DC if another public AC charging point exists elsewhere in the town.

Of course - getting a small town to install a DC charger is a huge ask, so I'm happy with any place that installs 1x DC charger. The need for a second charger would depend a lot on traffic levels but also distances to/from the next town along the highway. In the case of the region in this thread, Mildura has 2, Robinvale (90 km away) is getting 2x 25 (which could/should be 1x 50 kW) and then Balranald (another 82 km) has 1x 50 kW. That entire route from Mildura to Narrandera has been a bit risky because of the distances and single stalls, but the Robinvale site should help to negate that.

All CVGA had to do was upgrade the Bendigo site to a 1 or 2x 50 kW (they can't say they struggled to find a location with suitable supply - Tesla managed to install a 6 stall supercharger) and Wycheproof from a 25 kW to a 50 kW and it would have been a functional electric highway.

 

[Vostok]

It's already feasible if you go via Bendigo instead, right?

Yes but that would be quite a detour.

Our old 'fossil route' was via Balranald then down to Tooleybuc and across to Adelaide via Ouyen and Pinnaroo. A charger at Ouyen would allow us to use this again.

That was the way we went in 2018. Crossing the border at Tooleybuc was interesting. I wanted to stay overnight in Ouyen just so I could find out how to pronounce its name . Had a nice meal in the pub.