Albany Highway now electrified!

Discussion about EV/Battery charging infrastructure, Electric highways etc.
Post Reply
User avatar
jonescg
Senior Member
Posts: 4721
Joined: Thu, 21 Jan 2010, 23:05
Real Name: Chris Jones
Location: Perth, WA.
Contact:

Albany Highway now electrified!

Post by jonescg »

We installed a 32 amp, three phase socket in Kojonup this weekend!
Ali Geoff Matt Kojonup sml.jpg
Ali Geoff Matt Kojonup sml.jpg (226.41 KiB) Viewed 1408 times
https://www.plugshare.com/location/136789

Where the hell is Kojonup? It's on the Albany Highway and is one of the two main towns to stop in as you travel into the Great Southern. Kojonup is 2.5 hours from Perth, and 1.5 hours from Albany. Meanwhile, Williams is 1.5 hours from Perth, and 2.5 hours from Albany. There is no half way town worth mentioning (no disrespect to the thriving metropolis of Arthur River) so having both towns serviced with a 22 kW AC power supply made sense.

Williams Woolshed already has three EV charging bays - two Tesla HPWCs (three phase, Type 2) and an AEVA-supplied 3-phase 32 amp 5 pin socket. Unfortunately, the way the Williams chargers are set up, they are all running somewhat under powered. 16 amps maximum on three phase is just 11 kW, so for a Model S with dual chargers or a Renault Zoe, that's a fair bit of range you're missing out on. So we're working with them to get that situation improved.

We had originally tried to get it installed at Cafe 124, but the owner of the shop failed to mention the 20 m of trenching required... He was also adamant that he didn't want to pay for anything (making that clear from the start). He did not 'get it', you might say. So we walked up the street looking for an alternative and the hardware store was a prime candidate. Plus, there was no better offer than "We'll install it for free, today only!". We made it work.

Massive thanks to Geoff at Home Hardware - he had already been researching electric cars and was particularly keen on the new Tesla Semi. The shop has 40 kW of solar on the roof, and thankfully, when it comes to chargers and EVs, he just 'got it'. He stuck around all afternoon to help us drill through the wall and get the socket installed.

Next town is Mount Barker, and a few off the beaten track. We don't mind doing installations (Ali is a licensed sparky, so we're all legit) if they are simple and quick. But trenching will cost them at least a carton...
AEVA National President, WA branch director.
User avatar
jeffthewalker
Groupie
Posts: 84
Joined: Mon, 07 Dec 2015, 21:43
Real Name: Jeff Johnson
Location: Queensland
Contact:

Re: Albany Highway now electrified!

Post by jeffthewalker »

Well done Matt, Ali. Thanks Geoff. Williams local Council was extremely friendly when I was there last year. 240V outlet available in the Lions Park (PlugShare) near the bridge for us little EVers.
It is hard to make predictions, especially about the future. Yogi Berra
antiscab
Senior Member
Posts: 3183
Joined: Mon, 26 Nov 2007, 05:39
Real Name: Matthew Lacey
Location: Perth, WA

Re: Albany Highway now electrified!

Post by antiscab »

wooo hoooo

the more charge locations the better
Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
Post Reply