Epic outback road trip in an EV and charging with chip oil.
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- Опубліковано 18 сер 2024
- To give you a realistic view of EV charging in the remote outback between WA and SA, on this road trip we stop at most public charging stations listed on PlugShare for the Nullarbor crossing.
As of January 2024 they include:
- Norseman, WA - WA EV Network fast DC - 150 kw
- Fraser Range WA - closed
- Balladonia Hotel WA - crowd sourced fast DC - 22 kw
- Caiguna Caravan Park WA - crowd sourced biofuel fast DC - 50 kW
- Cocklebiddy WA - 3 phase 32 amp AC
- Madura Pass WA - crowd sourced fast DC - 22 kw
- Mundrabilla Roadhouse WA - crowd sourced fast DC - 22 kw
- Eucla WA - 15A powered campground sites
- Border Village SA - 3 phase 32 amp AC and 15A powered campground sites
- Nullarbor Roadhouse SA - crowd sourced fast DC - 22 kw and 15A powered campground sites
- Yalata SA - RAA fast DC - NOT OPEN YET
- Nundroo Roadhouse SA - ???
- Penong SA - 3 phase 32 amp AC and 15A powered campground sites
Other topics covered in the video include:
- Biofuel charger using leftover roadhouse fryer oil.
- crosing the WA/SA border and me breaking the road rules,
- the weird 45 minute timezone straddling the WA/SA border,
- wide loads that force me off the road,
We are doing a 35,000 km+ figure “8” lap of Australia in our Tesla model Y RWD. The planned route is Canberra - Port Augusta - Darwin- Broome - Perth - Port Augusta - Kulgera - Alice Springs - Mount Isa - Cairns - Byron Bay NSW - Wilsons Promontory VIC - Hynth TAS. We are doing our lap slow nomading style and don’t plan to finish until Dec 2024 - Авто та транспорт
Excellent info thanks for posting that trip!
Glad you enjoyed it! Encourages me to work on that next one :)
I was happy to see you take on this trip, a very informative video. Thanks
Glad you found it useful. I hope to get another out soonish on the Port Augusta -> Tennant Creek/Threeways bit.
Thanks again for another brilliant educational video on Outback EV driving, it will most certainly be encouraging for EV owners including myself to undertake these adventures.
Thanks. We EV owners are the ones that can convince others that long trips like this are viable. Right now some charge sites are a hack with 3-phase AC, but wait until fast DC becomes pervasive.
Thanks mate
No worries at all.
I'm hoping that by the time I buy an EV there will be a lot more DC chargers everywhere.
Hopefully. The number of fast DC chargers doubled in Australia last year. Let's hope they keep that rate up. electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/EVC-Australian-EV-Industry-Recap-2023.pdf
Great sunset. Love your videos. While I've never driven across the Nullarbor the scenery still makes me a bit homesick.
Yes a beautiful sunset for a petrol station forecourt!
DC fast charger at Norseman! Luuurxxxury.. Baladonia charged us $1 per Kwh in Dec 2022, so i sense a bit of price gouging there, simply because they know most if not all EVs cannot make the leg between Norseman and Cocklebiddy. The Mundarbilla Rodhouse is a new setup, was just the 3 phase plug until recently. good to see the improvements. Nullarbor roadhouse was just 3 phase and maxed at 8kw charge rate, so took all night, and both times i was there, another Tesla owner arrived
Yep. Travelled across in Sep 2023 and these are the differences I see as well. Progress! Also the Caiguna crowd sourced biofuel fast DC - 50 kW was out of action for quite sometime so did not get a chance to use it in either direction... had to skip that stop. Thanks for the video AUSY8.
No worries at all guys. Glad it was useful. A future vid will be comparing Port Augusta to Threeways in July 2023 to April 2024. With the figure 8 we get 2 opportunities to do that stretch.
The eastbound quarantine is to protect the Riverland agricultural industry, hence its location on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor.
That makes sense. There’s very little between Border village and Ceduna so they have a captive audience when you arrive.
Barney is no beastly pet! He is a saint! 😍
We do love him!
so when is the NT videos coming out to give thanks to evoutback hunter and nrma for the alice springs charger?
The first NT video is in the can today. Expect it on my channel by tomorrow morning. Hunter only has a cameo in this one. A subsequent one focusing on evoutback hunter is in the editing room now.
Great Video - Question ... what are you doing for Spare Tyres ?
I have a Braumach spare. If you look at some of my earlier vids e.g the EV Trip planning one, you can see the spare located behind the drivers seat and in front of the dog.
braumach.com.au/products/tesla-spare-wheel-kit-space-saver-tyre-for-model-y-sr-lr-performance-2022-2023
EV road trip is always about charger ....
In remote parts yes, otherwise it's not much different to a petrol car.
..... may i ask you guys what mobile/data network sim being used during your trip there? any signal interruption in between? especially at the public network charging stations .....
We are on Telstra. We did not have any issues activating charging. For the networked sites we mostly used an RFID card linked to the Evie and Chargefox networks. For the rest it was either free or we negotiated a price with the site owner. As for connectivity on the road, most roadhouses had at least 3G/4G but the the signal would barely reach 30km down the road before we entered black spots of many hundreds of kilometres.
Would the Long Range Model Y have helped you bypass some of the charging locations.
Yes I think so. Even in my RWD I could have done It quicker. I stopped at almost every listed site even though I didn't need a charge. At some I did a token charge for filming. My video was more about what charging options are available in early 2024.
If you want to see how fast you can do it, suggest you lookup Harald Murphy on X or Plugshare. He has done multiple laps of Australia in a Model Y. With each lap he is getting quicker and quicker due to the fast charging charging infrastructure.
you run at 90km/h on a 110km/h road?
It depends, but if it's safe to do so and I want to conserve energy in some of the more remote parts, then yes.
I had read in a motoring journal that many remote Australian charging stations use a diesel powered generator to supply the EV charging station.
Functional, but totally defeats the environmental purpose if true.
It is unlikely that many new charging stations will be using a diesel generator as the main power source, instead they will use solar and battery. Here is an example in central Australia: www.plugshare.com/location/568255.
I have charged from a 3 phase plug connected to a diesel generator, but that should not be considered an EV charging station. 3 phase plugs pre-date EV cars. With an adaptor and willing business owners, we have repurposed them for EV charging. It's a hack and not something that can support the transition of most cars to electric.