Author: Rob Dean

Posted on

Explaining the Nullarbor EV Chargers

As you may have seen in recent news retired engineer Jon Edwards has designed, built and installed a Biofil DC charger at Caiguna on the Western side of the 1200km drive between Ceduna and Norseman, this provides a handy boost for the adventurous EV owners crossing the Nullarbor when border openings allow. Before I continue let’s make one thing very clear, you’re under no obligation to drive across the Nullarbor, commercial air travel is faster, safer and probably cheaper, but as Ferris said “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it”.

Below I’ll discuss the charging available at the locations that are spaced evenly apart.

Before attempting to drive an EV across this part of Australia remember that Plugshare is the only app with the accuracy to plan charging stops, also don’t rely on apps to predict your energy consumption and arrival times, the road surface and wind direction plays a major part in how far you’ll get on a charge, play it safe and always plan to arrive with at least 30kms of range remaining. If you wisely plan your daytime and overnight charging stops the less time you’ll spend topping up the batteries.

Balladonia 22kw CCS2 DC charger

Departing Norseman and driving East the first well spaced charging stop is at the Balladonia Roadhouse, 190kms from Norseman, which has a 22kw CCS2 DC charger plugged into the 32amp 3 phase outlet. Compared to the latest 250-350kw DC chargers popping up close to Australia’s populated areas 22kw appears prehistoric, but in reality they’re a pretty handy short term solution that doubles the charging speed a model 3 can get from the existing 3 phase outlet and better still triple the charging speed available to a Hyundai Kona.

Caiguna, 181kms drive from Balladonia, has a 50kw DC charger powered by a Biofil generator, politely ask the counter staff to start the charger then go and enjoy the air conditioned Cafe.

Madura 22kw CCS2 DC charger

Madura, 157kms drive from Caiguna, has a 22kw DC charger plugged into the 32amp 3 phase outlet, payment is a donation to the Royal Flying Doctor Service tin located in the dining area. Note: as at April 2024 not available due to plug issue.

Mundrabilla, 116kms from Madura and 81kms from Border Villa, now has a 22kw CCS2 DC charger plugged into the 32amp 3 phase outlet. Note: as at April 2024 3 phase only available.

Eucla, this location is 182kms east of Madura, charging is via a 32amp 3 phase outlet in the Laundry of the Eucla Motor Hotel. Be aware that this outlet is not available between 9.00am and 3.00pm, if you expect to arrive at this time maybe use the Border Village charge point, 12kms to the East. Note: this location is no longer available for EV charging.

Nullarbor Roadhouse 32amp 3 phase

Nullarbor Roadhouse, 197kms drive from Eucla, has a 22kw CCS2 DC charger plugged into the 32amp 3 phase outlet at the rear of the building close to the motel units. Note: April 2024 NRMA DC charger now in place.

Penong Caravan Park, 223kms east of the Nullarbor Roadhouse, has a 32amp 3 phase (it has been prone to tripping at 28amps so plan accordingly). Penong is part of the South Australian grid so is likely to get a reasonable speed DC charger before too long.

Cocklebiddy and Border Village also have handy 32amp 3 phase outlets if you want to shorten the driving distances between charge sessions or wish to try different accommodation on the return journey.

Posted on

“The Electric Highway. Plugging the gap!”

This is the latest video from Tesla owner and TOCWA committee member Steve Rogers.

Driving across the Nullarbor can be fun the first time, but requires a huge amount of patience on subsequent trips. An alternative is putting your car on a train to Adelaide and continuing your journey from there.

Currently the journey in EV requires longer stops on AC charging only, this is soon set to change, check out this video to see why.

If you would like to donate to The Big Lap has Gaps fundraiser you can find the link here. If you are not able to donate please share.

Posted on

TOCWA 2021 AGM

The Tesla Owners Club of Western Australia 2021 Annual General Meeting was held today at the Newport Hotel in Fremantle. The Committee was increased by 2 taking it to 9 through to the next AGM in late November 2022. Those Committee members are:

  • Nigel Farrier and Steve Rogers (Newly elected until November 2023)
  • Rob Dean, Martin Kane and Rodney Louden (re-elected until November 2023)
  • Andrew Harvey, Harald Murphy, Peter Petrovsky and Ken Taylor move into year two of their elected term that ends in November 2022.

In the 12 months up until today’s AGM TOCWA held 19 in person events organised directly by TOCWA plus attended at least 11 other events as guests. TOCWA Secretary Harald Murphy conducted 47 Ask Us Anything Zoom sessions on Wednesday evenings totalling over 150 hours of content.

The Tesla Owners Club of Western Australia increased its official membership to 377, up from 142 at the same time last year. This represents approximately 25% of Tesla owners in WA, the average across the 172 official Tesla Owners Club worldwide is 11%.

Thanks to those who attended.

If you would like to become a TOCWA member click here.

Posted on

TOCWA has No Time To Die

Thanks to committee member Pete Petrovsky, Tesla Owners Club of Western Australia (TOCWA) have secured priority parking at Perth’s last remaining drive-In theatre for No Time To Die, the latest James Bond movie which will be released soon.

To secure the best spots and to be among other Teslas, you will need to make a free booking at the link below:

https://www.trybooking.com/BVNGD

TOCWA priority booking is free and the movie entry is only $22 per car which is paid on arrival.

PLEASE NOTE: Only make one booking per car attending.

Date:                    Tuesday 23 November 2021

Time:                    5:15pm for the best spots, 5:45 for 2nd best and 6:15 for general admission

Venue:                 Galaxy Drive In Theatre

Address:              157-167 Goollelal Drive, Kingsley WA 6026

Food:                    The onsite cafe sells Homemade Burgers, Hot Dogs, Hot Chips, Ham + Cheese Toasties, Nuggets & Chips, Chiko Rolls, Confectionary, Milkshakes, Soft Drinks etc.   BYO stronger drinks.

Posted on

Midwest Coastal Trip by Steve Rogers

Leaving behind the plentiful charging options in the city for the countryside can be daunting for an electric car owner.

Spring in the mid-west of Western Australia is a great time to visit and see the bountiful wildflowers so be brave.

A drive north from Perth along the coast offered several reliable charging options for our Tesla 3.

Venturing inland to Pindar, via Mullewa and returning to Perth on the inland route, less so!

The “Electric Car Highway” is in its infancy.

Seeking out chargers will see you searching behind buildings and driving around back streets.

I would love to drive into a town that welcomes RV owners with a prominent “RV friendly town” and see another that says, “EV friendly town”.

I see a day when there will be not just one, but many chargers located prominently in the main street just as there are petrol pumps in a garage.

Standardisation of charging may come too. I carry four cables to cope with whatever I must deal with.

Leaving the city behind it is essential to plan for your next charge and hope that another EV car isn’t occupying the only charger at your destination.

Worst still, an ICE blocking the bay!

When we drove inland from Geraldton via Mullewa to Pindar to see the Wreath Flowers we needed to recharge to return to Geraldton. The Mullewa Caravan Park allowed a charge for $10. This was at a glacial speed. Turning off the air conditioning doubled the charge rate.

After three hours we drove back drafting behind a truck whilst rain bucketed down.

We watched the range decrease arriving back with an insane 19km left!

Won’t do that again.

Mobile phone coverage in the country isn’t great for those, like me, who aren’t with Telstra.

Don’t expect your APPS like Plugshare to work.

I also discovered that a lot of hotels and garages have three phase outlets and will allow you to charge.

Great if you have the correct size three phase plug…apparently there are two sizes!

The TOCWA 50kW fast DC charger at the Fisherman’s Wharf in Geraldton delivers at a reasonable cost.

One catch.

Accessing is via the Nextcharge APP not by using the menu on the charger itself.

Find the code for the padlock on Plugshare.

Driving an electric car on country trips takes a different mind set to that of driving an ICE.

Whereas you might fill up an ICE once a day from one of many garages, in an electric car stopping for coffee whilst you “top up” will become a way of life.

Not a bad life!

Posted on

Around Australia trips in a pure EV

DriverStart/End pointCompletionVehicleNew Usable Capacity
1. Glen GeorgePerthNov 2011MG converted Blue32 kWh
2 Richard McNeallSydneySept 2016Tesla S Blue82 kWh
3. Jeff JohnsonSydneyNov 2016Nissan Leaf Blue * 21 kWh
4. Sylvia WilsonGladstoneJuly 2018Tesla S Blue69 kWh
5. Steve & Keita BurrellPerthAug 2018Tesla S Titanium76 kWh
6. Harald MurphyPerthNov 2018
19 days		Tesla X Titanium82 kWh
7. Wiebe WakkerDarwin/SydneyMarch 2019VW converted Blue22 kWh
8. Richard SmithDarwinApril 2019Tesla X White96 kWh
9. Linda RohrsGold CoastJuly 2019 (inc Tasmania)Tesla S Blue96 kWh
10. Rob & Robin DeanPerthNov 2019 (inc Tasmania)Tesla S Blue76 kWh
11. Peter HayesMelbourneDec 2019Tesla 3 Silver72 kWh
12. John PaulMelbourneMarch 2020Tesla 3 Red72 kWh
13. Jules BoagSydneyMay 2021Tesla S White72 kWh
14. Michelle & Terry ArzanikowBallaratJune 2021Tesla 3 White?
15. David McLeodWarnamboolAug 2021Tesla S Blue96 kWh
16. Phil SmithCairns Aug 2021Tesla 3 Blue 72 kWh
17. David CoatesMelbourneSept 2021Tesla 3 Blue72 kWh
18. Bill Gresham & John PhillipsCanberraJuly 2022Hyundai Ioniq Red38 kWh
19. Jeff & Julie WicksGoldcoastJuly 2022Tesla 3 White?
20. Tiff OvertonCentral Coast NSWAug 2022Mercedes EQC400 Silver Grey80 kWh
21. Harald MurphyPerthSept 2022
14 days		Tesla Y White
#AUSYtour		57 kWh
22. Pete PetrovskyPerthSept 2022
17 days		Tesla Y White
#AUSYtour		57 kWh
23. Neil BoltonCanberraOct 2022
17 days		Tesla Y White57 kWh
24. Stuart McBainSydneyNov 2022Tesla 3 White
Charge Around Australia		72 kWh
25. James TaylorPerthDec 2022Tesla 3 White
26,604km		72 kWh
26. David & Lindsay LloydPerthSept 2023Tesla S White96 kWh
27. Harald & Rochelle MurphyPerthSept 2023 (inc Tasmania)Tesla Y White74 kWh
28. Jeff GiddinsJan Juc (Vic)Sept 2023
(towing)		Tesla Y Grey57 kWh
29. Roger & Jenny TruloffGoldcoastNov 2023Tesla 3 White72 kWh
30. Richard Laxton & Myuu KumagaiMelbourneNov 2023Tesla 3 Blue72kWh
31. Harald MurphyPerthNov 2023
10 days		Tesla Y White74kWh
32. Shane Parker & Sarah WhitePerthFeb 2024
(1st caravan/accomm being towed)		Tesla 3 White52kWh
33. Harald MurphyPerthFeb 2024 – Figure 8Tesla Y White74kWh
34. Warwick ParkinsonBrisbaneApril 2024Tesla 354kWh

* Supported by being supplementarily charged with liquid fueled generators which were either carried onboard or by a support vehicle.

Posted on

Jurien Bay DC charger critical instructions

Due to a redevelopment of the Jurien Bay foreshore the “plan B” 3 phase outlet has been removed making the 50kw DC charger at Caltex even more important for those looking for a short stop on the trip between Perth and Geraldton. There is a Tesla destination charger at the tourist park but this is limited to 3.6kw so is only useful for an overnight stop.

If Perth to Geraldton is only 410kms via the coastal road do I need to stop? In most cases, absolutely yes, due to the nature of the road surface and almost constant winds it’s near impossible to achieve reasonable energy efficiency, driving at slower speeds on this busy road and being a road hazard is not an option so it’s best to accept the inevitable and plan a 25 to 40 minute stop at Jurien Caltex while adding 20-40% back to the battery. 

The most critical aspects to using the Jurien Bay DC charger is to carefully read the operating instructions on Plugshare before arrival, patience is front and centre at this location, if you try and rush the process or miss a step you’ll just waste time. The Tritium DC charger is very reliable, the only time it’s failed to work is due to an issue with a handful of pre 2020 model X or S cars with a CCS2 upgrade or the operator rushing the start up process. If your Tesla is less than 24 months old, you should not have any issues with this charger.

A few tips:

Phone ahead your arrival time, Wade or Jarryd will make an effort to be on site as they know the process better than other staff members.

Make sure when the charger is unlocked both charging handles are firmly pushed into the holsters before and while the charger completes its 5 minute start up process.

Don’t arrive at this charger with less than 50kms of range, even though it’s so far been extremely reliable there is no longer a plan B in town, keep enough spare range to drive the 24kms to the Cervantes destination charger.

Don’t complain about the price, the $50 flat fee may appear high (it used to be 70 cents per kWh and a $25 minimum) but the Electric vehicle owner that spent tens of thousands of dollars installing the Jurien Bay unit will never see a return on investment.

Posted on

Why 450 km of EV Range is Enough in Australia

Many of you will have seen the social media commentators claiming how much range an electric vehicle needs, it normally goes like this: “I’m all for electric vehicles and keen to buy one but unless it has X amount of range I’ll stick with my trusty diesel”. As each year passes and the range of showroom EVs increase the commentators X number also increases. This is Uncertainty 101 from those with the most to lose when the country transitions to electric drivetrains, it’s a very effective manipulation of all the fence sitters that are close to making a new car purchase.

To make this very clear when I say 450km of range I’m referring to passenger vehicles, not commercial vehicles such as heavy duty four wheel drives that were purchased with the sole purpose of towing a caravan or large trailer over long distances.  I’ll also make it very clear that 450kms is real range on coarse surface country roads sitting on 100km/h, this is where the range is needed most. Anyone buying a vehicle that never leaves the Melbourne to Cairns coastal corridor could easily survive on 350km of real range.

There’s no doubt that battery costs per kWh and energy density will improve sufficiently to make the fitting of large battery capacities fairly easy for vehicle makers That’s great for commercial vehicles but a waste of resources for the average Joe who for the vast majority of the year drives less than 200km per day and makes 2 to 3 long trips of maybe 2,000km,  having a battery pack 20kWh or even 30kWh bigger than necessary is careless, multiply that by millions of average Joes across Australia and it’s a significant drain on materials, labour and energy that could be better used elsewhere.

So how does 450km of range deal with the vast distances of Australia? That’s a fair question and the answer is straight forward, carefully placed DC fast chargers are a far better use of materials, labour and finances than millions of EVs full of oversized battery packs. The careful placement part is critical, between the capital cities and larger towns 220km average spacings are suitable, for regional areas in north, west and central Australia there’s far less choice of suitable sites so a 300km spacing may have to suffice. A reasonably organized driver should have no issue stopping every 300km to add around 65% charge on a long country trip.

The author currently drives an electric vehicle with 400km of real range on Australian outback roads, and has been to every State and Territory over the past 6 years. His last vehicle was a diesel 4WD with 1,100 km range, it is not missed.

Posted on

Planning a long distance trip away from DC chargers

If you’re keen to drive you’re Tesla north of Geraldton or east past Merredin it can be done safely as long as you have patience and prepare correctly. If you treat the journey as an adventure you’ll enjoy the trip, treat it as a task that needs to be completed ASAP and you’ll wish you stayed at home.

What will you need to carry?

You don’t need a large variety of charging cables but you do need charging plans A, B and C.

  • Plan A is the Tesla destination chargers located around the state, so far most of these have been reliable and most also have a 5 pin three phase outlet nearby as a backup.
  • Plan B is a 3 phase mobile connector such as a juice booster or KHONS charging cable that plugs into the dozens of 3 phase 5 pin outlets located all over Western Australia, this will generally provide the same charging speed as a Tesla 3 phase destination charger. Unless you’re planning many long distance trips I suggest you borrow a KHONS cable from TOCWA, paying over $800 for a cable you may only use a handful of times is not good value.
  • Plan C is the UMC that is delivered with the car, it’s the one in the square black bag. You may never use this cable but you must carry it, if everything else fails this will get you home, slowly but eventually.

North of Geraldton and east of Kalgoorlie you’ll need a spare tyre, jack and associated equipment. Puncture repair kits are a handy plan B but won’t get you out of trouble if the tyre damage is severe, besides you don’t want to be hanging around some outback town for 3 days while a spare tyre gets transported in. Keep in mind the best way to reduce tyre issues on a long trip is depart home with plenty of tread depth. A spare tyre and wheel combo is available to loan from TOCWA.

The Plugshare app is critical, make sure all fields are open so you don’t miss any charging options. Before departing to the next charging location it’s important you read not just the  location details but also previous comments, this may well save you a lot of time and frustration on arrival. Don’t forget to log in and if necessary leave a tip for the following drivers, it’s a great way to support the EV community.

Charging tips.

At some stage in the future virtually all locations in Western Australia will have fast DC charging until then the following tips will make any trip far easier.

  • Charging from AC will provide the same power transfer and charging speed no matter the battery state of charge right up to approximately 97% so there’s no time saving in adding the bare minimum charge to get to the next location, this is where the saying “Always Be Charging” comes in, take the charge where its available, the next charge location may only be 200kms along the highway but if it doesn’t work you could be spending the next 15 hours charging from a caravan park socket rather than the lunchtime stop you expected. Arriving with 40% state of charge is far wiser than arriving with less than 10%.
  • Don’t try and charge too fast if you don’t need to, especially overnight on three phase. If the Plugshare comments say the breaker trips off with extended high amp charging go to the touchscreen settings and drop the amps down a small amount so the car completes charging just before you plan to depart, slower charging is better than no charging.
  • Cool the car interior just before departure while still charging, this reduces the energy consumption from the battery needed to cool the car down once back on the highway.
  • Ask permission to charge before you plug in. Many of the charge locations in regional WA are provided through the good will of the local business, it’s important to return the favour with a friendly chat if possible. Take note that due to staff turnover the person behind the counter may not even know a chargepoint exists, check the exact location by browsing the plugshare photos beforehand.

General tips.

Get an early start each day and get off the road before dark – there’s far less traffic on the road in the early morning and it’s generally cooler. There’s still some wildlife hanging around the side of the road but it’s easier to see without a continual flow of headlights heading towards you. Early starts and early finish also provide some flexibility if your planned journey for the day takes longer than expected.

Don’t get too confident in quality accommodation being easily accessible, if you want the best possible overnight stay, ring well in advance, and make sure you arrange key collection. Many of the regional locations close up the front office by 6.00pm.

A number of TOCWA’s committee and members have completed long distance journeys throughout the state as well as around Australia, they are willing to share their experience with others so don’t be afraid to ask if you want more information.

Posted on

TOCWA Electric GoKart Championships

The Tesla Owners Club of Western Australia recently held its inaugural Electric GoKart Championships at the Powerplay indoor track in Joondalup. The concept was proposed by TOCWA committee member Peter Petrovsky who arranged a private event that would give Tesla owners full use of the track over a 4 hour time slot.

The 48 pre-registered drivers separated into random groups of 8 driving a 12 lap qualifying session. After the initial 6 qualifying sessions drivers were placed into 6 finals according to their fastest lap time, each final of 8 closely matched drivers was a 12 lap test of skill with the fastest lap time being declared the winner.

Trophies were Tesla themed with – Rainbow Road, Sport, Insane, Ludicrous, Plaid and Plaid Plus awards. We also had a Chill Award presented to Julie-Anne Watson for showing great Spirit at the event.

The evening ran fairly smoothly considering it was our first event of this kind, the committee are planning a few tweaks for next year that should make it even more enjoyable.

A big thanks to the great staff at Powerplay Joondalup, to the committee for organizing the online booking system and email communications, and of course to Peter Petrovsky for overseeing the whole event.