TesAus
Member
Fantastic to see all eventualities being catered for - a great initiative for WA. If only other states were a bit more proactive?
Do you have to register or pay to use them?
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WA Electric Highway
- Thread starter MDK
- Start date
Fantastic to see all eventualities being catered for - a great initiative for WA. If only other states were a bit more proactive?
Do you have to register or pay to use them?
Right now the charging stations will accept almost any MIFARE compatible RFID card (eg Transperth Smartrider)
I expect shortly we will either need to register our cards or obtain an RAC branded one - to be determined.
They will be free for the first 6 months at least. Early next year each council will have the choice of recouping their costs for power & maintenance (including graffiti removal and other vandalism)
Hopefully they will notice an increase of tourism to compensate for their costs, but even if they decide to charge money I expect it will be significantly cheaper than filling up a petrol car.
It is great to see RACWA get behind this project. I don't currently have any policies with RACWA but encourage all current and future EV owners to support the project through membership or insuring your vehicle with them. If the charger rollout expanded North and East to a unit in York and Moore River or Lancelin I would easily be able to sell the boss on a Model X when it arrives in Aus.
I wonder if the late September batch of car deliveries will arrive in time for a Queen's Birthday long weekend trip down south to try out the Electric Highway....a 'charge' of Tesla's perhaps?
Without getting too far off topic, I don't have an issue paying for my 'fuel' as I think it is a bit short sighted to expect it to be provided for free. Someone has to pay at some point.
Even further off topic, I don't consider superchargers are free as the price of these is built into the price of the cars, meaning us sandgropers are effectively subsidising the supercharger rollout on the east coast and elsewhere in the world. Ultimately long term I see high EV adoption rates will drive a complete shift in the current mechanism of fuel taxes to a km and/or location based tax system for cars as governments try to recover lost revenue from traditional fuel taxes....enjoy your free fuel while you can.
I wonder if the late September batch of car deliveries will arrive in time for a Queen's Birthday long weekend trip down south to try out the Electric Highway....a 'charge' of Tesla's perhaps?
Without getting too far off topic, I don't have an issue paying for my 'fuel' as I think it is a bit short sighted to expect it to be provided for free. Someone has to pay at some point.
Even further off topic, I don't consider superchargers are free as the price of these is built into the price of the cars, meaning us sandgropers are effectively subsidising the supercharger rollout on the east coast and elsewhere in the world. Ultimately long term I see high EV adoption rates will drive a complete shift in the current mechanism of fuel taxes to a km and/or location based tax system for cars as governments try to recover lost revenue from traditional fuel taxes....enjoy your free fuel while you can.
MK makes history. First man to charge on the RAC Electric Highway with his Tesla Model S.
https://www.facebook.com/estation.oz/posts/915651425140272
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RAC Electric Highway now open for business.
Give your batteries a workout.
https://www.facebook.com/estation.oz/posts/915653981806683
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Grand opening of RAC Electric Highway(TM).
Tesla drivers amp it up!
https://www.facebook.com/estation.oz/posts/915649601807121
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E-Station charges four Tesla Model S cars at the same time.
1 on DC via CHAdeMO adaptor.
1 on AC type 2 cable.
1 on J1772 via J1772 adaptor.
1 on 15 amp socket via Tesla mobile cable.
Is this a world record?
https://www.facebook.com/estation.oz/posts/915646638474084
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Map even.
http://chargestar.com.au/rac-electric-highway/
https://www.facebook.com/estation.oz/posts/915651425140272
- - - Updated - - -
RAC Electric Highway now open for business.
Give your batteries a workout.
https://www.facebook.com/estation.oz/posts/915653981806683
- - - Updated - - -
Grand opening of RAC Electric Highway(TM).
Tesla drivers amp it up!
https://www.facebook.com/estation.oz/posts/915649601807121
- - - Updated - - -
E-Station charges four Tesla Model S cars at the same time.
1 on DC via CHAdeMO adaptor.
1 on AC type 2 cable.
1 on J1772 via J1772 adaptor.
1 on 15 amp socket via Tesla mobile cable.
Is this a world record?
https://www.facebook.com/estation.oz/posts/915646638474084
- - - Updated - - -
Map even.
http://chargestar.com.au/rac-electric-highway/
Adapptor
Member
Getting a free fast charge in Busselton overlooking the ocean. Enjoyed a swift bacon and eggs with two other Tesla owners at the nearby cafe.
dhuDz
Member
dhuDz
Member
dhuDz
Member
Pretty sure they already have the mechanism in place for that. They have to monetise it, that's for sure. Unless some form of Ads can recoup that cost.
More driving this week (about 1600km total) and more charger testing for phase two of the RAC Electric Highway rollout.
http://www.plugshare.com/?latitude=-30&longitude=120
We now have excellent coverage of the WA South West, with even an 80km range iMIEV able to drive Perth to Augusta in one day - there's one on its way back from Augusta right now.
Harvey and Donnybrook were commissioned on Wednesday, but the DC charger is throwing an error on start-up, hopefully it won't be too long before that's sorted out.
The Fast AC is working, so Model S can charge there at 12 kW or 24 kW (with dual chargers) without adapter if required.
Nannup and Dunsborough were commissioned on Friday and are working well.
Bridgetown is still waiting on approvals etc, hopefully it will be installed soon as well.
dhuDz
Member
That depends on how you define "better" - Tesla's Melbourne-Sydney route goes 900km but has superchargers spaced every 160-200km - and they have multiple fast chargers per site
The RAC Electric Highway has 9 sites (plus one partially working and two pending) covering a max distance (Perth to Augusta) of ~340km but has to cater for EVs with 80km range
It also has to cater for all possible EV charging standards (J1772, Mennekes, CHAdeMO, Combo/CCS plus a 15A socket for converted EVs etc) whereas Tesla only needs to cater for their own vehicles.
It's still free right now, some of the councils may choose to recover their costs in the new year.
Teslas can charge without any cables or adapters using the "Fast AC" cable (the white plug that can be seen on the front of the station in my above photo) - this plugs directly into our cars and provides up to 63A 3phase. Our cars can charge at either 16A or 32A (~12kW or ~24kW) if you have single or dual chargers on your car.
If you have a CHAdeMO adapter you can DC charge at up to 120A - actual power depends on battery voltage and typically starts at around 42kW when the battery is nearly empty and peaks at ~47kW at 75-80% (when tapering starts)
The fast charge stations can provide AC and DC charging at the same time, so even if another EV is using the CHAdeMO or Combo plug you can grab a reasonably fast charge on the 3phase AC
The smaller bollard on the right-hand side of the photo has a J1772 charger, with one of Timpoo's adapters you can charge there at up to 8kW (32A single phase)
Plus if you're desperate you can use the Tesla supplied Mobile Connector to charge at 2.4kW on the GPO :tongue:
Here's a photo of 4 Teslas charging at the same time (at various speeds) in Margaret River in June:
