Superchargers planned/under construction

[dgh853]

Charge rate is highly dependent on your state of charge (SOC). If you're only getting 68kW it's because your SOC is over 50%. On the Model 3 SR+ it will be up to 130kW up to ~30% SOC on a Supercharger, up to 170kW on an Ultra Fast Charger.

Tesla Superchargers are paired and share the same chargers so you should avoid parking next to someone else on the same pair i.e. 3A/3B. Each pair shares ~150kW so if someone is already pulling 120kW you'll get max 30kW but that will improve for you as their charge rate goes down.

If you want fast charging:
- avoid paired Superchargers
- use Ultra Fast Chargers from Chargefox
- run your SOC below 20%
- use the Tesla navigation which will precondition the battery for fast charging at Superchargers and optimise charging so you get to each Supercharger with ~15% remaining for faster charging and a buffer for headwinds or driving over the speed limit.

[Nagaman]

^^^^^ yeah, even so starting below 60% and sub 40 seemed a bit low.......and the other guy was still there when we left 20+ mins later.

I notice some shopping centres have free 22 kWh facilities and am wondering if that’s AC or DC (I’m assuming AC)?.
Will the M3SR+ charge at 22 or is it AC and limited to 11 max?.

[dgh853]

Yes, the 22kW is AC but the Model 3 can only take 11kW max on AC.

[Nagaman]

Yes, the 22kW is AC but the Model 3 can only take 11kW max on AC.

Thanks for the clarification - I much prefer AC if I’ve got the time.

[Nagaman]

From Melbourne to Narooma (684 kms of the Princes Hwy) there is still not one Supercharger.
Who determines installation priority in Australia?.
Although 2 are supposedly ‘planned’ the last one, Lakes Entrance, is still insufficient to cover the route.
Anyone in Victoria would think the federal government was responsible for the choices funded.

[Chuq]

Who determines installation priority in Australia?.

It's a combination of a lot of things - finding a convenient location, a willing site host, availability of electrical capacity, council approval (if required), civil/electrical contractor availability, and of course spacing between other sites with have all the same challenges. All of these things take various lengths of time. They could kick off 20 locations at once, and while some may take 3 months others might take 2 years.

Although 2 are supposedly ‘planned’ the last one, Lakes Entrance, is still insufficient to cover the route.
Anyone in Victoria would think the federal government was responsible for the choices funded.

It doesn't matter where they put them, or plan to put them - until 100% of Australia is covered someone is going to find a route that isn't covered and be unhappy about it. In the last 12.5 months they've opened 12 new locations in Australia, four of these have been in the last 6 weeks. They'll get there eventually. Notably, the only regional areas that are planned but not complete are in Victoria so likely that will be their focus for this year. (They also have 2 non-regional locations marked, in Brisbane and Perth).

[Nagaman]

The whole of the Victorian coast has just one in Warrnambool and Victoria is the most densely populated state.

[Chuq]

And there are ten other superchargers in other parts of Victoria covering most of the rest of the state.

Since I live in a place which is unlikely to see superchargers for some time (Tasmania) I see comments like this and look at them from an objective point of view. I get that people want superchargers in the area that they travel - but the same argument could be applied to lots of areas across the country, and everyone thinks their preferred region is being intentionally excluded by Tesla. It's hard to see how this region is any more urgent or important than any other region. In any case, as I mentioned, this area is the only one remaining on Tesla's "coming soon" map so it seems to be an area they will prioritise.

I have had a look on the council development applications in these areas but haven't seen anything show up (although note, not every electric vehicle charging station requires a DA):

https://www.bawbawshire.vic.gov.au/Plan ... plications

https://www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/Property ... advertised

https://www.wellington.vic.gov.au/pages ... -on-notice

https://www.eastgippsland.vic.gov.au/Pl ... plications

[brunohill]

The whole of the Victorian coast has just one in Warrnambool and Victoria is the most densely populated state.

It also has the smallest coastline

[Nagaman]

The whole of the Victorian coast has just one in Warrnambool and Victoria is the most densely populated state.

It also has the smallest coastline

NSW isn’t 7 times greater.

[brendon_m]

Yeah but Western Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory have a pretty long coastline (and there's nothing through the middle either) and only one location in WA is actually there...

Screenshot_2020-04-13-12-35-57-448_com.android.chrome.png (287.44 KiB) Viewed 1253 times

and not to mention there's not a lot going on in Queensland.

Granted the population density is lower but the point is, there are a lot of gaps in coverage

[Nagaman]

So I tried the Euroa Chargefox ‘ultra-rapid’ charger today, just to confirm my app functionality.
Arriving with 56% and charging to 66% , at no time did the ultra rapid charge rate get above 38 kWh and in fact tapered to just 33.
Is this purely because I didn’t precondition the battery prior?
What vehicle would see an ultra rapid charge rate?

[Nagaman]

So I wonder just how much longer is Highway 1 from Melbourne to Sydney going to be unavailable for EV owners due to zero rapid chargers in the 500+ km Victorian section. (Westbound you will almost certainly have a considerable headwind in winter and similarly eastbound in summer)
A combined 10 million people makes the question viable.

[Bryce]

Hi there-just checking - did you plug into one of the big square 350kW EVSEs on the left? (and not one of the 'Lost in Space' Tritium 50kW robots on the right?) Still seems a bit low even for the Tritium though. My Kona has previously pulled 74kW at 50% from the ABB ones there. Cheers Bryce

[Nagaman]

So I wonder just how much longer is Highway 1 from Melbourne to Sydney going to be unavailable for EV owners due to zero rapid chargers in the 500+ km Victorian section. (Westbound you will almost certainly have a considerable headwind in winter and similarly eastbound in summer)
A combined 10 million people makes the question viable.

Well, my plugshare app in map mode still doesn’t show the ChargeFox site in Moe .
(it’s funny how everywhere in the world comes up before Australia gets listed)

[g4qber]

https://youtu.be/D4XGKmV-5QA

This might be handy

[Nagaman]

I’m taking up the matter of potentially being ICEd with the Alpine Shire and have recently a reply that suggests that being on private land (at Ovens) they have no jurisdiction.
I’ve suggested that they might like to view the charging infrastructure as being an essential service for some and thus represents a commensurate OH&S issue .
I also pointed out the trend and the ‘no hot catalyst or exhaust sparks’ in high fire danger periods as an added incentive to conversion for local response vehicles.

Rapid charging facilities ARE occasionally an essential piece of infrastructure for some.

[Nagaman]

It’s being referred to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning - DELWP for their input.

[Nagaman]

I see Traralgon and Lakes Entrance are ‘planned’.........making the border achievable at least.
Has anyone seen an indication of actual installation location or works activity?

[tonyw]

Just noticed last week that Macquarie Centre (North Ryde, Sydney) now hosts a set of ten SuperChargers in the basement. Dunno when they were installed (last few months of isolation absence), but the 3kW bowser for my i-Miev is still there and has been moved over against the wall.

[Nagaman]

An interesting development re ‘destination chargers’ : V3 .......and network expansion:

https://electrek.co/2020/08/11/tesla-up ... -charging/

[philupandgo]

Now don't get too excited, but Tesla has moved the goal posts for planned superchargers and have added notice of which quarter they are targeting for construction. Early this year the effort is in Brisbane (Indooroopilly) and otherwise in Victoria with Geelong also planned for Q1. Q2 sees an intention to build at Traralgon and Mansfield. While the pin is at Mansfield it is now called Yea and i suspect both locations will be built at some point as doing so provides an alternative route out of the state to the north including the site already at Myrtleford. On the same basis, i'd love to see them also put something near Cobram to meet the NRMA network, then one day build out their own Newell highway route.

Q3 sees a new route started with a site south of Frankston. While it obviously provides access to the Mornington peninsula, that doesn't seem worth much as i could easily reach Torquay via the ferry from the northern suburbs in early winter. So apart from being an outer suburban charger, it does also provide day-trip access to Phillip Island, particularly supported by destination chargers and the one further out at Cape Paterson if needed. The western coast is also supported in Q3 with a charger no longer at Torquay, but at Colac. This is a sensible change as Superchargers should be for major routes rather than picking destinations and the whole region around Cape Otway is opened up. Q3 also sees some love for WA with the already planned charger at Perth and another at Williams on the way to Albany and maybe Esperance given the fast charger at Lake Grace.

Q4, i think we can all agree is a bit tenuous, but includes plans for charging sites at Childers in Queensland, some central consolidation around Sydney/Wollongong, and again in Victoria at Bairnsdale (not Lakes Entrance) and a return to Warrnambool, plus a couple more Melbourne suburban sites. Each of the Coming Soon sites notes that updates to location and timing will be provided quarterly. So stay tuned for all the dates to be pushed out in April.

[Nagaman]

Q1 at Traralgon and Q4 Bairnsdale means Gypsy Point to fill the Narooma gap.
The Newell Highway is a pretty glaring omission if you consider the Melbourne - Gold Coast/Brisbane/Sunshine Coast traffic numbers.
Mildura is ignored.

[philupandgo]

Most of Tesla's effort in the last year was around Service Centres and bolstering existing routes.
Assuming all these sites are deployed as stated, it would suggest that Tesla are back on track with rolling out superchargers, though probably not accelerating. Therefore my prediction for next year would be:
QLD - Warwick and Miriam Vale with bonus of Rockhampton
NSW - Glen Innes, Nabiac, Milton (north of Batemans Bay), Eden, bonus somewhere in Sydney suburbia
VIC - Orbost, Heywood (near Portland), the other Yea/Mansfield, bonus somewhere in Melbourne suburbia and Sea Lake
SA - Mount Gambia and Kingston with bonus in Tailem Bend
Most of the above create alternate routes between capital cities.

TAS - Service Centre somewhere
WA - Manjimup and somewhere near Cranbrook (toward Albany) and bonus in Jurien Bay
NT - Service Centre in Darwin

Of course its more likely that half the new dates just get pushed into 2022.