If you look at charging in remote areas, you might be surprised.
That’s just fast charger coverage, the ones you use during a road trip. Every three phase outlet, 15 amp caravan power outlet or plain old 10 amp outlet is also good for a charge if you’re stopping overnight and have the appropriate connections.
There’s holes deep inland where you can drive 500km away from a charger and then be unable to get back, but they’re a lot harder to reach than you’d think. Almost nobody goes to those places, that’s why there’s no infrastructure there.
Electricity network providers are pushing the NSW government to relax rules blocking them from entering the Sydney EV charger market, arguing the city’s rollout is falling behind as drivers struggle to find somewhere to plug in.
The electricity network providers want to be able to compete with their own customers, and that’s the claim they’re using to justify it. That doesn’t make it true.
Meanwhile, those same network providers are often taking months to get around to grid upgrades to connect new fast chargers. I think the one at Erina Fair was sitting there for six months before it finally went live.
Please check what kind of charges are they. majority < 8Kw. It is not good even for destination charger. It would be pretty good for home, but not a place where you have to take your car to recharge.
As long as Plugshare data is accurate.
A lot of towns only have a 3kW public charger.
No one does the maths to determine that it would take 20 hours to fill a 60kW battery.
Some have 7kW and some even have 22kW, so you can park your car in a side street for 3 hours before you can continue your journey.
Fast DC chargers are available in main highways, and more are being installed all the time, but just because a charger is shown on Plugshare; there is no guarantee that it;
A) will be in service,
B) will charge your car in a reasonable time,
C) will not be occupied.
Plugshare has this cool feature where it tells you if a charger is a rapid charger or a destination charger. The orange ones in the image are rapid chargers. As you can see, they are not just on highways.
Plugshare also has a rating system to give you an indication of reliability, user reports so you can see if it was working recently, and even has integration with several charging companies to give you realtime information about how many chargers are available or in use.
The old tritium chargers had reliability issues, but the newer chargers seem to be a lot better so far.
I think you may be gettting US information interference, our 240VAC grid is well enough to charge even from a standard 10A GPO (standard socket outlet in your house).
Things are a little different in the USA where the grid is 120VAC and they would be getting literally half the speed we do, and then they would want a larger outlet connection or hardwired dedicated charger which can deliver T2 charging speeds.
240v charging adds 10-12km of driving range per hour. If your car is plugged in 12 hours from 7pm to 7am you can drive at least 120km each day. That’s a lot further than “just around the corner” - that RACV page also notes that the average commute is about 30km per day so you only need 3 hours on an ordinary mains.
I did rideshare driving for several years using just a standard 10A outlet. I can promise you it’s fine for over 99% of people.
The only reason I upgraded to a 3x faster charger was because it had a cable mounted to the wall which was more convenient.
If you only charge overnight, a 10 hour charge will add 24kWh which is about 150km. If you absolutely must drive over 150km per day (7 days per week) and you can’t charge at home for more than 10 hours per day (even on weekends), you can stop at a rapid charger once per week. It’s still cheaper and more convenient than petrol.
Yeah it is. I ran my EV from an 8 amp charger for the first year. Charging for ten hours overnight adds about 100km of range. Most people don’t do many kilometres per day.
You only really have trouble if you’re doing back to back long trips, or if you haven’t charged for a couple of days and suddenly find out you have a long trip to do the next day.
Yeah , 10 amp outlets aren’t really good for 10 amps for 10 hours. Especially as they age.
I charged my EV for a few months with its trickle charger and it drew 10 amps. I just made sure to plug/unplug the charger from the outlet every day to ensure the contacts were wiped clean, and I checked the plug a few times after 4 hours or so to make sure it wasn’t getting hot (it wasn’t).
But yeah, home charging overnight is fine for city use. Most EVs use about 170Wh per kilometer driven, so 2400 watts per hour from your charger gives you about 12-15km of range every hour. If your daily commute is under 100km it’s fine.
I’ve got a 7kW single phase charger now, it charges my EV from dead flat to 100 percent in less than 10 hours.
TL;DR: You can’t charge in remote areas in central Australia.
If you live in a city you can charge almost anywhere. All major highways are covered. Check PlugShare for charger locations.
If you can charge at home, you’ll get cheaper and more convenient electricity.
If you look at charging in remote areas, you might be surprised.
That’s just fast charger coverage, the ones you use during a road trip. Every three phase outlet, 15 amp caravan power outlet or plain old 10 amp outlet is also good for a charge if you’re stopping overnight and have the appropriate connections.
There’s holes deep inland where you can drive 500km away from a charger and then be unable to get back, but they’re a lot harder to reach than you’d think. Almost nobody goes to those places, that’s why there’s no infrastructure there.
RLY? https://aussie.zone/post/31252994
The electricity network providers want to be able to compete with their own customers, and that’s the claim they’re using to justify it. That doesn’t make it true.
Meanwhile, those same network providers are often taking months to get around to grid upgrades to connect new fast chargers. I think the one at Erina Fair was sitting there for six months before it finally went live.
Yes, really. I recommend checking plugshare (linked above) to find chargers before complaining about the lack of chargers.
Please check what kind of charges are they. majority < 8Kw. It is not good even for destination charger. It would be pretty good for home, but not a place where you have to take your car to recharge.
As long as Plugshare data is accurate. A lot of towns only have a 3kW public charger.
No one does the maths to determine that it would take 20 hours to fill a 60kW battery.
Some have 7kW and some even have 22kW, so you can park your car in a side street for 3 hours before you can continue your journey.
Fast DC chargers are available in main highways, and more are being installed all the time, but just because a charger is shown on Plugshare; there is no guarantee that it; A) will be in service, B) will charge your car in a reasonable time, C) will not be occupied.
Plugshare has this cool feature where it tells you if a charger is a rapid charger or a destination charger. The orange ones in the image are rapid chargers. As you can see, they are not just on highways.
Plugshare also has a rating system to give you an indication of reliability, user reports so you can see if it was working recently, and even has integration with several charging companies to give you realtime information about how many chargers are available or in use.
The old tritium chargers had reliability issues, but the newer chargers seem to be a lot better so far.
Most people’s home electricity isn’t enough to charge an EV for daily use btw.
I think you may be gettting US information interference, our 240VAC grid is well enough to charge even from a standard 10A GPO (standard socket outlet in your house).
Things are a little different in the USA where the grid is 120VAC and they would be getting literally half the speed we do, and then they would want a larger outlet connection or hardwired dedicated charger which can deliver T2 charging speeds.
You can charge from it, but not enough to keep up if you’re driving further than just around the corner to work every day and can’t charge at work.
240v charging adds 10-12km of driving range per hour. If your car is plugged in 12 hours from 7pm to 7am you can drive at least 120km each day. That’s a lot further than “just around the corner” - that RACV page also notes that the average commute is about 30km per day so you only need 3 hours on an ordinary mains.
I did rideshare driving for several years using just a standard 10A outlet. I can promise you it’s fine for over 99% of people.
The only reason I upgraded to a 3x faster charger was because it had a cable mounted to the wall which was more convenient.
If you only charge overnight, a 10 hour charge will add 24kWh which is about 150km. If you absolutely must drive over 150km per day (7 days per week) and you can’t charge at home for more than 10 hours per day (even on weekends), you can stop at a rapid charger once per week. It’s still cheaper and more convenient than petrol.
Some more numbers from the RACV to dispel the EV misinformation
Yeah it is. I ran my EV from an 8 amp charger for the first year. Charging for ten hours overnight adds about 100km of range. Most people don’t do many kilometres per day.
You only really have trouble if you’re doing back to back long trips, or if you haven’t charged for a couple of days and suddenly find out you have a long trip to do the next day.
8 amp? Normal wall power point is 10 amp.
The early Tesla mobile chargers only did 8A from a 10A socket, something about a 20% derating. They don’t do that anymore thankfully.
That charger advertises 8 amps to the car, so that’s what the car draws. I’m not sure why. A safety margin for bad wiring and dodgy outlets, maybe?
Yeah , 10 amp outlets aren’t really good for 10 amps for 10 hours. Especially as they age.
I charged my EV for a few months with its trickle charger and it drew 10 amps. I just made sure to plug/unplug the charger from the outlet every day to ensure the contacts were wiped clean, and I checked the plug a few times after 4 hours or so to make sure it wasn’t getting hot (it wasn’t).
But yeah, home charging overnight is fine for city use. Most EVs use about 170Wh per kilometer driven, so 2400 watts per hour from your charger gives you about 12-15km of range every hour. If your daily commute is under 100km it’s fine.
I’ve got a 7kW single phase charger now, it charges my EV from dead flat to 100 percent in less than 10 hours.
Yeah there’s not a lot of petrol stations that way either.
But if it’s a problem, rent a gasser.