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Australian Supercharger network

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meloccom

Moderator Aus/NZ
Moderator
Feb 11, 2008
3,297
3,104
Sydney Australia
With the recent talk about Tesla Motors presence in Australia I though I would do a thought experiment on how many Superchargers you would need to travel the South East Coast of Australia from Brisbane to Adelaide.
If Tesla partnered with a couple of companies with 24 Hour businesses along the highway you would need 13 Supercharger Stations to cover the trip not including a service center in each City. I have chosen McDonalds and BP, and yes I know that's not the best choice so I would like to hear from others who may have a better Idea.
So for a trip from Brisbane to Sydney you could put a supercharger station at:
West Ballina Interchage (Currently under construction) Distance from last stop 188 Km (Mullumbimbi would be better but can't find anything 24 hrs)
McDonald's Grafton Distance from last stop 128 Km
McDonald's Nambucca Heads (Nambucca Plaza across the road) Distance from last stop 129 Km
McDonald's Glenthorne Service Centre (Near Taree) Distance from last stop 188 Km
Beresford BP NSW Distance from last stop 154 Km
Tesla Mascot Sydney Distance from last stop 168 Km

For a trip from Sydney to Melbourne
BP Marulan Distance from last stop 170 Km
BP Snake Gully services (near Gundagai) Distance from last stop 205 Km
BP lot 2 travelstop way Lavington Distance from last stop 154 Km
Euroa Service centre (not sure about this one) Distance from last stop 166 Km
Melbourne Distance from last stop 166Km

For a trip from Melbourne to Adelaide I don't know so well so am looking for suggestions from those who know better but it would probably have the stations at:
Melbourne
Ballarat Distance from last stop 114Km
Horsham Distance from last stop 188 Km
Border Town SA Distance from last stop 157Km
Tailem Bend SA Distance from last stop 175Km
Adelaide

Anyone care to fill in more detail or suggest better sites than mine are most welcome.
 
The stop in Marulan would cover Canberra<->Sydney very easily.

and those ones on the way from syd to Mel would help with cbr<->Mel as well.

i reckon having them near McDonald's/BP/Hungry Jacks (Burger King for the Americans) (like at Marulan) would be great.

being Canberra based, I'm only really interested in the Hume highway ones, but having the option to drive to Brisbane and especially Melbourne would be awesome
 
I don't know specifics, but i had an exchange of emails on this subject with Kevin Yu a few weeks back. I think they would be open to suggestion, as long as the locations correspond with what they do in the States. They don't want them in major centres.(except, I guess, where they have a service centre). Lets face it, the East coast corridor from Brisbane to Melbourne covers about 80% of the population. Pacific and Hume highways. Don't know about WA. Perth to ? Maybe WA reservation holders (if any) could chip in here.
 
I don't know specifics, but i had an exchange of emails on this subject with Kevin Yu a few weeks back. I think they would be open to suggestion, as long as the locations correspond with what they do in the States. They don't want them in major centres.(except, I guess, where they have a service centre). Lets face it, the East coast corridor from Brisbane to Melbourne covers about 80% of the population. Pacific and Hume highways. Don't know about WA. Perth to ? Maybe WA reservation holders (if any) could chip in here.

I used to live in Perth, (now live in Canberra), I know a few people that have done the drive from East<->West, and all of them enjoyed the trip but would never do it again.

Being a 36-40 hour drive (continuous), you're looking at around 4-7 days at least, depending on how much you stop.

If I were Tesla, I'd be focusing on Syd to CBR/Mel, (Syd-Cbr would be good advertising as there are lots of greenies in Canberra (No Stamp Duty for EV/low CO2 cars), and there also are a lot of government agencies who do not fly syd-cbr, they drive instead).

Once Syd-Mel is ready, then its really a case of how many res holders are in BNE or ADL, and make BNE-SYD and MEL-ADL based on that.
 
Adelaide to Melbourne you would also want one in Keith, then branching down to Naracoorte / Mt Gambier and then along the Great Ocean Road. Not everybody does a road trip to see the highway.

Perth to Adelaide is a trip you only want to do once (unless you're an avid golfer). I visit Perth from Adelaide once or twice a month but always by air - once in a car and feel no need to ever do that again. Given how long the trip is you would need something a lot faster than supercharger technology to make it a viable trip. Alternate is put your car on the train. It's 2,693km (1673 miles) between Adelaide and Perth if you drive straight and don't do any sightseeing. That's a lot of superchargers in a huge space with little human population.
 
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They seem a bit close together.

Tesla in USA said they are spacing them 150miles apart, and sometimes 200miles. That is 240km to 320km.

hmm, it'd be worth having one between Canberra and Sydney, that way when you get into Sydney and you hit mad traffic, you've still got enough charge to eradicate range anxiety.

I see absolutely no reason for anyone to drive PER-ADL, its just a waste of time/money/etc (cheaper to truck it over if you're talking about an ICE car with fuel).
 
I'd like to see a charging station in Leura in the Blue Mountains and one in Cessnock. That would cover a lot of the weekend away trips from Sydney to the West and North.

Leura is only 100km away from Sydney, so way too close for a supercharger. I do weekends away at places that are more like 120km and don't worry about charging all weekend long, I just charge when I get back home and still have plenty of range even with a bit of driving around (there actually is a supercharger on my way to where we've been camping, but I've never used it). Slower driving on country roads = greater range. If you did have charging, all you'd need is a L2 charger. Superchargers are great for distance driving like Melbourne to Sydney, but they work best when the car doesn't have much charge left and aren't really designed for "topping off".

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hmm, it'd be worth having one between Canberra and Sydney, that way when you get into Sydney and you hit mad traffic, you've still got enough charge to eradicate range anxiety.

Los Angeles to San Diego is a lot closer than Canberra to Sydney, and they're putting on in between. I think the distance (285km) is enough to justify one. Of course this is all presuming there's enough Australia sales to justify this. Some EV incentives would help a lot.
 
I worked out the eastern seaboard last year with a diverted section to Adelaide also (then a short skip to the west) - ill post them for review. As everyones driving styles will differ, they need to be attainable distances and initially focused on interstate travel and Tesla will want to use a similar continuity around the world. Our ownership will initially carry weight to locations - as there will be a want to cater to owners travel as it will promote the ownership experience

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hmm, it'd be worth having one between Canberra and Sydney, that way when you get into Sydney and you hit mad traffic, you've still got enough charge to eradicate range anxiety.

I see absolutely no reason for anyone to drive PER-ADL, its just a waste of time/money/etc (cheaper to truck it over if you're talking about an ICE car with fuel).

Syd to Canberra is a breeze - even in the roadster i have around 90kms remaining coming into town.....on the way home its even better....arrive in Syd with 120kms....Model S will never be a problem...so this location should be on a Melbourne route....but you could still access if really needed......plenty of locations for a business owner to install a HPC for a quick top up

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I'd like to see a charging station in Leura in the Blue Mountains and one in Cessnock. That would cover a lot of the weekend away trips from Sydney to the West and North.

Blue Mountains will be a big destination point for owners - but again HPC's at these locations are perfect

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The stop in Marulan would cover Canberra<->Sydney very easily.

and those ones on the way from syd to Mel would help with cbr<->Mel as well.

i reckon having them near McDonald's/BP/Hungry Jacks (Burger King for the Americans) (like at Marulan) would be great.

being Canberra based, I'm only really interested in the Hume highway ones, but having the option to drive to Brisbane and especially Melbourne would be awesome

We have a 32 that's open and a HPC at Wakefield Park that is accessible with a phone call ahead
 
I worked out the eastern seaboard last year with a diverted section to Adelaide also (then a short skip to the west) - ill post them for review. As everyones driving styles will differ, they need to be attainable distances and initially focused on interstate travel and Tesla will want to use a similar continuity around the world. Our ownership will initially carry weight to locations - as there will be a want to cater to owners travel as it will promote the ownership experience

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Syd to Canberra is a breeze - even in the roadster i have around 90kms remaining coming into town.....on the way home its even better....arrive in Syd with 120kms....Model S will never be a problem...so this location should be on a Melbourne route....but you could still access if really needed......plenty of locations for a business owner to install a HPC for a quick top up

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Blue Mountains will be a big destination point for owners - but again HPC's at these locations are perfect

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We have a 32 that's open and a HPC at Wakefield Park that is accessible with a phone call ahead

good to hear your feedback regarding Canberra <-> Syd JMac,

im staggered that there is a hpc at Wakefield, I was thinking about how I could take my MS P85 out there without running out of charge :p
 
Leura is only 100km away from Sydney, so way too close for a supercharger. I do weekends away at places that are more like 120km and don't worry about charging all weekend long, I just charge when I get back home and still have plenty of range even with a bit of driving around (there actually is a supercharger on my way to where we've been camping, but I've never used it). Slower driving on country roads = greater range. If you did have charging, all you'd need is a L2 charger. Superchargers are great for distance driving like Melbourne to Sydney, but they work best when the car doesn't have much charge left and aren't really designed for "topping off".

I tend to disagree. If I want to head out to Bathurst, a supercharger in Leura is a perfect destination, especially if it is summer. With Sydney traffic + freeway driving + aircon + Blue Mountains climb, range would be at least 200km lower when arriving in Leura. Plus, it has a perfect carpark on Leura Mall that would allow you to grab a bite to eat on the way.
 
the return trip to Syd from Leura will see an average of only 100 - 120wh/km with the decent - so it is a very efficient drive not to worry about. A HPC there would be perfect and with twin chargers onboard - more than ample for a bite and top off

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It is good, just need to update adapter for Model S - spent many days there with the Roadster - good times - and there are 2 x 32 outlets also
 
I didn't want to make a whole new thread for this, but stumbled across my first public charging station in Queensland. A Chargepoint station located at Kunara Organic Marketplace in Forest Glen up the Sunshine Coast. Despite difficult parking, it wasn't ICEd!

ImageUploadedByTapatalk 21374843146.351577.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
They seem a bit close together.

Tesla in USA said they are spacing them 150miles apart, and sometimes 200miles. That is 240km to 320km.

Since the big supercharger expansion announcement, it looks as though they've decided that they need to be a little closer together. Whether that will translate to Australian superchargers is another thing entirely, but Elon keeps talking about trying to remove all the barriers to EV adoption, so we'll see I guess.

Assuming Tesla does roll out superchargers in Australia, the east coast from Brisbane to Adelaide seems to be the obvious starting point (at least Brisbane to Melbourne anyway), with the Pacific and Hume highways being the most likely highways of choice. I imagine that the superchargers would be used for holiday travels mostly. Air travel would still be the most common form of interstate travel for business - the extra time required for travel by car is simply not worth it from a business perspective.
 
Since the big supercharger expansion announcement, it looks as though they've decided that they need to be a little closer together. Whether that will translate to Australian superchargers is another thing entirely, but Elon keeps talking about trying to remove all the barriers to EV adoption, so we'll see I guess.

Assuming Tesla does roll out superchargers in Australia, the east coast from Brisbane to Adelaide seems to be the obvious starting point (at least Brisbane to Melbourne anyway), with the Pacific and Hume highways being the most likely highways of choice. I imagine that the superchargers would be used for holiday travels mostly. Air travel would still be the most common form of interstate travel for business - the extra time required for travel by car is simply not worth it from a business perspective.

I think a couple of SCs from Syd to Mel would be a good starting point. 3, maybe 4 along the Hume highway, mainly to showcase the concept that evs can be used long distance, adding bne and adl later would be good again based on interest, and user concentration
 
As a current reservation holder in Australia, I'd like to state on the record for anyone at Tesla reading this that I do NOT consider it mandatory to have Super Chargers planned or deployed for Tesla to commence shipments to Australia.

It would certainly be great if they were present in some major rural road corridors but lets face it: Australia is just a bloody big country for a relatively small population (and a much smaller Tesla ownership community) and as much as we may be car nuts just how often would you *actually* be driving Melbourne/Sydney or Sydney/Brisbane reality is that isn't the common use case.

I put down a deposit on the model S before superchangers were even part of the picture, I was prepared to do so then, am prepared to do so now on the basis of no superchanging network here.
 
As a current reservation holder in Australia, I'd like to state on the record for anyone at Tesla reading this that I do NOT consider it mandatory to have Super Chargers planned or deployed for Tesla to commence shipments to Australia.

It would certainly be great if they were present in some major rural road corridors but lets face it: Australia is just a bloody big country for a relatively small population (and a much smaller Tesla ownership community) and as much as we may be car nuts just how often would you *actually* be driving Melbourne/Sydney or Sydney/Brisbane reality is that isn't the common use case.

I put down a deposit on the model S before superchangers were even part of the picture, I was prepared to do so then, am prepared to do so now on the basis of no superchanging network here.

G'day. I would say that anyone who put down a deposit before superchargers were part of the picture would echo your words (whether in Australia or any other part of the world). You have some valid points, but I'm not sure that they would be representative of the greater population. I think the whole point of the superchargers is to make EVs appealing to the mainstream market.

I agree that they do not need to deploy them here before shipments are commenced for Australia. However, I think they will be as necessary for widespread adoption of Tesla vehicles in Australia as they are in the US. Elon has said that he wants to take away any preconceptions / barriers / excuses / etc. that stop people buying an EV. In the mind of the general population, not being able to just travel between the major cities on the east coast would be a major barrier to entering the EV market. As you mentioned, we have a relatively small population for the size of our country, but this just means that we won't need anywhere near as many superchargers for our country to be sufficiently serviced. The small Tesla ownership community will only get bigger by removing perceived barriers to said community.

As for driving between the major cities being a common use case, my family drove between those cities countless times while I was growing up and I've done it quite a number of times with my wife and kids. We're not alone in doing that - a good chunk of people do east coast road trips, particularly for holidays (if you've done it during school holidays, you'll understand what I mean :) ). As I mentioned earlier, the exception has been when I've travelled for work, where a flight usually makes more sense. If there were no superchargers along those routes, the chances of people doing those road trips in an EV goes to zero by default.

As a side note, I'm not 100% sure that battery swap is actually required anywhere (including the US), but having that available at least gives people "optionality" (as Elon puts it) and therefore removes more barriers. To be clear though, I only think they aren't necessary because of superchargers. However, I also think that having developed and catered for the swap technology has been a good thing, because it could be used to make servicing and upgrading to a new / future battery packs a more straightforward procedure.

My 2c. :)
 
Probably battery swapping makes more sense in Australia than in the US. In the US, a mid-point in any journey is often a city as large as Hobart, which justifies an hour stop off. In Australia a supercharger would be in a small country town that doesn't even have a pub anymore so would be harder to justify to the family to wait around for an hour or more. It would make most sense for Tesla to partner with McDonald's in rural Australia as they have the road trips perfectly planned and have "food" and play equipment suitable for a stop.

I have driven Adelaide/Melbourne only 4 times in the past 10 years with the family in tow, but I would do the same trip by plane 10 times a year or more (I fly most weeks for work). A supercharger network for me would mostly be there to counter objections than actual use. Most trips I do by road from Adelaide are up to 200km (round trip to the Barossa Valley via the scenic route, or round trip to Victor Harbor).