Melb to Perth by Tesla?

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djsharpe
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Post by djsharpe »

I have ordered an 85S and am already planning my trips. Some years ago I did Melb to ACT and Melb to Adelaide using my Charade & 11kW of charging plant I took with me. The range was 150ks max however I did Keith to Horsham running te 3.6Kw portable gen set & drafting a semitrailer at 110ksph. I am now considering Melb to Perth by Tesla taking the wall charger with me & hotwiring it where reqd or plugging into 3 ph outlets. You could plan on a range of 500ks in between chargers & charging time of 8 -9 hrs each at the Diesel powered caravan parks on the nullabor. Once there could a Res use the new charging stations? I dont think Id do it in reverse, back by train. Any thoughts?
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Post by jonescg »

Hello David!

Steve Burrell did the drive in his P85D, charging on 15 A outlets the whole way. He did spend quite a lot of time driving at 50 km/h though.

Will your 85 have the dual chargers (23 kW) AC charging? There are a few three phase sockets around, but you'll need a couple of 32 A and 20 A three phase adapters.

Also, did you get the tech package which includes advanced cruise control? That would be the way to go. Then all you need to do is speed up when a truck approaches from behind, and drop back to a more energy efficient speed.
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Post by djsharpe »

I have it on order so it is probably got the latest features. Mine has dual chargers inc the wall charger. Did Steve post his adventure? Ill be doing Syd Bne first to try out the charging. The Superstations on this route are to be installed this year but Ill go before this. Yes Id be frightened of the trucks.
D
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Post by reecho »

I think dual chargers are now standard. The autopilot features can be added after delivery for cheaper... :-)

The Maxicharger is popular for Tesla owners on long trips.

Otherwise sourcing the 3 phase connections for the UMC and changing the ends to AU spec will work...
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Post by djsharpe »

Did Steve Burrell post his trip?
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Post by jonescg »

Not that I'm aware of, but he did pin each charge on Plugshare.com. Look for the caravan parks and 15 A sockets.
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Post by djsharpe »

You might be able to double triple etc by bringing multiple 15A male plugs and bringing them into a switch box to common before going to wall charger. The trick is to find all your supplies from the one phase or you will short out 415V. 3 such units will give you 45A. Another approach is to have an autotransformer 415/240V. One unit yields 15A x SQR3 25A but for 6kVA would be a little heavy.
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Post by coulomb »

djsharpe wrote: You might be able to double triple etc by bringing multiple 15A male plugs and bringing them into a switch box to common before going to wall charger.
Commoning? Oh, you mean connecting actives in parallel. A brave idea, I suppose.
The trick is to find all your supplies from the one phase or you will short out 415V. 3 such units will give you 45A.

Kiddies, if you try this at home, make sure you use your multimeter to check for the phase/active to phase/active voltage before you connect the brown wires. Less than 10 V OK, more than 400 V bad!   Image

[ Edit: on re-reading, I'm going back to not understanding this idea (especially when I re-read the "male plugs" part. It sounds very dodgy and dangerous to me. ]
Last edited by coulomb on Sun, 10 Jan 2016, 09:15, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by djsharpe »

In fact each circuit would have a CB & contactor & the 3 pin plug fitted with a position uswitch such that no power flows until all plugs are in position & turned on thus preventing a 3PP becoming energised if unused. Unused 3PPs would be put in a dummy GPO. The box housing the above would have line to line voltages ( to look for same phase) & line current.
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Post by djsharpe »

On checking the cost of the train I might do better to return via Albany. One Caravan Park advised they couldnt offer three outlets during peak season March to November. Plugshare indicates a paucity of power but any caravan park could be approached I guess. The remote ones are most likely diesel powered. Id plan on 500ks between drinks. Maybe take my Honda Cyclo gen set 3.6 kWs?
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Post by offgridQLD »

Anything wrong with spending a extra day in some towns that have limited charging supply. Perhaps there is something in or around the town that's often overlooked by highway travelers in a rush that drive past.

Or is there some kind of time frame you have to work with?

The last thing you want is the smell from a petrol generator tainting the crisp EV's interior. I refuse to even transport petrol containers for lawnmowers in my EV.

Melbourne to Perth sounds like a nice adventure. Keep us posted on how you go.

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Post by djsharpe »

Im not such a puritan Kurt. I used this genset on my earlier trips to Canberra and Adelaide (converted Diahatsu) which had a max range of 150ks. It was only used once Keith to Horsham 200ks (also tailgated a truck at 110ks). It is a range insurance policy & was outside the car. No fuel carried except in gen tank. You are right about extra time to spend in a town. 3.6kWhrs x 24 is 86,4 kWhrs. Tesla has 85kWhrs storage.
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Post by MDK »

Hi DJ

Yes the Tesla 85kWh has "500km range" but that's if you drive like the NEDC

Steve B managed 500km per day when he drove Adelaide to Perth but that was at an average speed of 55km/h!
9 hours driving, 15 hours charging (at 15A, I believe)

The faster you go the more energy you use per km, eg it takes 20% more power to drive at 110km/h vs 100km/h which results in 10% more energy to travel the same distance. (on my car it's something like 190Wh/km @100km/h vs 210Wh/km @ 110km/h) and I've found 380km is achievable @ 100km/h

The options you fit to the car also makes a big difference in achievable range - I have 21" wheels which are known to negatively impact range, and I expect heavy items like the second (water-cooled!) on-board charger also make a difference.

I'm currently in the early stages of planning Perth to Adelaide (and beyond) starting in early May, and hope to find 3 phase charging along the way.

I have dual chargers and an EVSE that can do up to 32A 3 phase. That should allow for something like ~3.5 hours driving (@ 100-110km/h); ~3.5 hours charging; ~3.5 hours driving or between 700 and 800km per day.
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Post by djsharpe »

I hope to drive at around 70ks. The range calc says you can get 700ks at this speed so Id use 600ks planned range per day with 19 inch wheels at max psi. Is 3 ph charging using 3 phases or is it just a plug using the higher current available from these?
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Post by MDK »

djsharpe wrote:3 ph charging using 3 phases or is it just a plug using the higher current available from these?


Using all 3 phases at max 16A per phase (single charger) or 32A per phase (dual charger)

Here's me charging at 23kW on 3phase AC


Image


drawing 32A out of 63A available (on a "Mennekes" AC charging station not a 3 phase power point, but the principle is the same)
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Post by djsharpe »

Is that ex the electric hwy WA? Where can I buy the charger or is the Tesla supplied kit?
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Post by MDK »

djsharpe wrote: Is that ex the electric hwy WA? Where can I buy the charger or is the Tesla supplied kit?


Yes that's on the RAC Electric Highway - no adapter needed for the Mennekes cable, but with the Tesla supplied CHAdeMO adapter we can charge at up to 47kW

for 3 phase power points, you can either buy (from Tesla in Sydney or Melbourne) a "European" Red CEE adapter for the Tesla-supplied "Mobile charger" (and then ask a sparky to wire up a lead from Aussie 3-phase power points to a European socket) but the Mobile Charger is limited to 16A

If you have dual chargers you will need a 32A capable EVSE - I have the EVR3 which was supplied with Aussie 3phase plug by JET Charge

Note that you can only charge on 3 phase power points with 5 pins connected (3 phases + Neutral + Earth) - some industrial equipment only needs 4 pins (no Neutral) so 4 pin sockets are out there.
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Post by djsharpe »

Does this device connect directly with the traction battery? To do this using 3 phases it would need full bridge rectifier & handshake etc.
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Post by MDK »

AC charging uses the car's onboard chargers - which is why you get different charge rates with 1 vs 2 onboard chargers (up to 12kW or 24kW)

Only Tesla superchargers and CHAdeMO DC fast chargers (with adapter) connect direct to the battery - and allow up to 50kW (CHAdeMO) or 120kW (Superchargers) independent of the number of onboard chargers
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Post by djsharpe »

A Tesla techician told me that a tesla owner attemped the crossing using his wall unit which was never intended as a travelling unit. It failed from vibration and he was left stranded and had to be flat-bedded to his destination. Was this Steve B? . If so the crossing is still waiting to be conquered.
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Post by MDK »

SB definitely made it across, and wasn't using his wall connector, so there must be someone else that tried it.

Various photos here, including one of it driving through Midland (WA) under its own "power"

Mystery-Model-S-in-Australia
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Post by offgridQLD »

djsharpe wrote: A Tesla techician told me that a tesla owner attemped the crossing using his wall unit which was never intended as a travelling unit. It failed from vibration and he was left stranded and had to be flat-bedded to his destination.



That's funny. So the wall units can't handle the pounding shock load of riding along in a 150k+ luxury sedan with long wheel base and smooth as silk air suspension for a few days. Image

Yet it can handle being shipped across the world. Carted in several trucks, forklifts and ships.

Unless the plan was to hard mount the wall unit to the wheel (or any unsprung mass of the car) then I think it would perform fine and have no issues.

It's most likely more Tesla covering there back side.Trying to discourage the use of there fixed home charger in a portable application.

If your really worried about all the cattle grates your going to drive over than rap it in a blanket.

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Post by djsharpe »

He said some caoacitors became loose and the owner bought a new wall unit. He may have travelled on rough roads on the way. Ill be leaving mine is foam packaging.
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Post by reecho »

djsharpe wrote: He said some caoacitors became loose and the owner bought a new wall unit. He may have travelled on rough roads on the way. Ill be leaving mine is foam packaging.
D


Sounds dubious to say the least...
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Post by djsharpe »

Ive now got 1500ks of driving up having driven from Syd to Melb via ACT. Ive bought the chademo & mennekes adaptors from Tesla but not used yet. ACT has no charge stamp duty on initial rego. Ive used all of the Superchargers except the Richmond one which is out of the way. On the way back I stopped onight at our country property near Lancefield and charged part PV & part offpk grid. We have a 1000Ahr 48V system with around 2kW of PV. I put the bat into deficit but that doesnt matter as it can replace the energy in a few days. At our Melb place I have around 4kW of PV. In both cases charging was at 2400W. Tes forgot to give me the wall charger which I cant use anyway at present. At the SCs you could easily spend more on coffee etc than you save on Diesel fuel saved.
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