After all the preparation we are finally under way! To start with we are slowly making our way north through WA's mid coastal regions. So much to see and do...
Perth - Carnarvon
Carnarvon was originally just going to be a quick charge and go, but extended out to a few nights stay due to there being so much to see and do in the area and wanting to reach Coral Bay when our good friends are also going to be there.
In terms of holiday adventures, we have been amazed by the cosmos thanks to the Gin Gin Gravity Discovery centre and Astronomical Observatory, marvelled at the alien planet like formations of the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park, sand boarded the dunes of Lancelin, played on the Jurien beach front, swimming with the dolphins and sharks in Monkey Mia and Denham, 4WD'd along the tracks to explore Francois Peron National Park, eaten mango icecreams and been fascinated yet again by the marvels of space at the Canarvon Space and Technology Museum (located on the historic OTC Satelite Earth Station site, which played a major role in the lunar missions). So much stuff to learn and play with. It's seriously, one of the best museums we have been to, in all of our travels round the globe, despite having only a fraction of the budget compared to others!). So many smiles and wonderful memories made already... surely it can't continue at this pace for the whole trip?!!
In regards to the EV travel logistics, this first section up to coast to Carnarvon is straight forward and well serviced by the WA EV Highway "fast chargers" which have been more convenient and effortless than expected. Chargers have been located at good distances and speeds to recharge were usually quicker than the activites we wanted to do in each charging location. (eg walk the main street, have a drink or lunch, or even a play in the nearby park). I have often found myself needing to go back and retreive the car so others could charge (if there was anyone waiting... although we haven't found that much yet) and particularly so we dont get charged idle fees for holding up the charging resources. Idle fees are typically charged at $1 per minute if the vehicle is left connected and blocking the charger for more than 10 minutes after a charge is complete.
We have encountered one potential hiccup to this "idle fee" strategy with some hire companies (eg SIXT) having "free" charging bundled into their hire fees. For example, this meant that there wasn't any incentive for driver of the Tesla that was using the more open side of the Canarvon fast charger port (which prevented us from using it as a drive-through, and meaning we had to unhitch the trailer and leave it elsewhere in the carpark) to return to their car despite it having finished charging all the way to 100% 15 minutes earlier. The driver wasn't aware of idle fees, as they weren't paying for the charging. It was unclear if the hire company on-charges idle fees similar to speeding fines etc, not covered by the hire conditions, but even if they do, this needs to be communicated to anyone hiring an EV and using the fast chargers!
We have generally used the EV fast chargers to top up to 80% (since this is the fastest rate of charge, and it slows down a little after this), unless we felt the next leg needed the full buffer of 100% charge. When arriving at a destination we would setup camp, unhitch the car to go to the tourist information centre or walk the main street, and charge the car to 80%, while seeing what was on.... and the remaining 20% was often topped up to 100% via slow portable charger over night at the caravan park etc. ready with 100% for the morning to either go on day trips, or head off to the next town.
The longest stretch we have decided to make so far was 360kms from Geraldton to Nanga Bay on the way to Shark Bay and Monkey Mia. Although initial tests and trial runs in the weeks leading up to this trip indicated we would be able to span over 320kms while towing, since travelling further north, we have found the towing range is more realistically closer to 280km (travelling at 90kph and ensuring tyres are inflated to over 40psi). Theoretically this is just enough to make our maximum distances between chargers - but with next to no margin for a safety buffer! We were feeling much more comfortable when the range tests were indicating 320 kms! We shall be experimenting with a few paramaters to see why there is a discrepancy, and if we can eek some more range out and closely monitor our speed... but factors such as rougher country road surfaces are likely to contribute and we might need to look at some of our "plan B" options to make the longest legs as we approach the NT border.
The previous 303km stretch from Lancelin to Geralton was acually quite effortless given we left with 100% charge after the night at a powered caravan site in Lancelin, and topped up to 80% at the WA EV highway fast charger at Jurien Bay. (Handy tip for others to reduce frustration: I used the "Fox Charge" app when first attempting to connect to the charger but it wouldnt connect, so I tried the other port/cable. The charger and app got out of sync (eg said Port A was connected when port B was actually plugged into my car, and then swapped when I swapped ports). After multiple plugs, unplugs, closing the app, turning the car on and off to reset the comunications I gave up on the App and tried paying directly via credit card. Similarly, tried both ports/cables and although the car detected cables being plugged in, the two would not initiate the actual charging process. After 20 minutes of first being purplexed and then being frustrated, I called the technical support number for Chargefox listed on the charger "in case of difficulties". I should have done this earlier as they could see I had tried initiating connections on both ports multiple times and remotely reset the connection and started the charge, and we were instantly charging. I had less than 30 minutes to go find my family at the bakery, eat the pie they had bought me, then leave Renee and in kids in the playground early to avoid idle fees on my completed charge, set to stop at 80%. We ended up arriving in Geraldton with 20% charge remaining, and stayed the night for free in the 24h RV parking sites, right next to the Geraldton fast chargers which we made use of, before meeting up with our friends the next day with a full charge to explore around Geraldton.
This next leg was planned to be similar, but ended up involving the only issue we had that significantly changed/delayed our plans so far, which was some technical issues with the fast charger at the Overlander Roadhouse. Being quite remote, and off grid, this charger is normally a little slower, with max output of 50 kW. This would ordinarily mean a ~2.5h charge time for us (from near empty to near full.) However, we only planned a minimal charge top up to get us the rest of the way to Denham so should have been less than 15 minutes charge time. However, the charger was ramping up to only ~18 kW, and after a minute or so, would drop the connection and wait a while before automatically connecting and ramping up again. Relenting to the fact we would need to settle for a while, we bought some dinner at the roadhouse and played some games with the kids. Unfortunately despite not seing another EV at a charger to date, a BYD Atto coming back from Denham happened to stop at the same time, doubling our charge time again as we both experienced the ramp up and drop of connection, but shared/halved maximum charge rate. After an hour, the BYD owner either had enough, or couldnt be bothered waiting any more and left. Luckily the charger picked up reliability, even if not increasing the rate too much more, so we were ready to go shortly after that, with enough range to get us to Denham, after stopping to camp at Nanga Bay where they had power, but were reluctant to let us charge. We respected their concerns and just charged from our solar and internal camper batteries before heading off to Denham for a fast charge on the way to Monkey Mia and surrounds.
All public charging so far has been on Synergy/Horizon EV highway chargers, which are priced at 60c/kWh. There are charging efficiencies to consider, so you need to pay for a few more kWh than the car stores as useful energy.
We will sort out a better way to table our charging data, but for now, for those interested, here is a summary of fast charging so far. (top ups in caravan parks account for some of the missing charge events to make it here so far)
Location | time (mins) | kWh | cost |
Jurien Bay | 37 | 55 | $33.31 |
Geraldton | 52 | 60 | $36.18 |
Northampton | 21 | 20 | $12.08 |
Denham | 27 | 43 | $26.16 |
Denham | 21 | 38 | $22.70 |
Overlander / Hamelin Pool | 245 | 42.5 | $14.87 |
Canarvon | 22 | 36 | $21.46 |
Canarvon | 21 | 36 | $21.53 |
For a running total of $188 in direct "energy" costs from Perth to Canarvon for fast charger bills, covering about 1,350kms. With fuel usually well over $2/L this is less than half the expected ICE towing fuel cost, despite the drop in EV range/efficiency when towing. I will need to double check later I haven't missed anything, but seems more economical than I anticipated it would be, given the hit on efficiency that EV towing seems to experience. Small top-ups at caravan parks/powered sites help reduce that direct cost, but powered camp sites can be pricey themselves - and with a self sufficient camper, powered sites would otherwise be unecessary, if we hadnt factored on trickle charging the car over night to save another fast charger stop.
Signing out for now, while we go see more of what the area has to show, and have some more fun... Will update in another week or so with some more towing data and analysis compared to similar expected ICE costs...
Wonderful and useful blog! We will be following in your footsteps, or rather wheel marks, starting one August. But we only have about 2 1/2 months and so will probably not be able to do quite all the adventurous things that you have done. Good luck with the rest of your trip, and if you don’t mind, we might messenger you with some questions.