This Sunday will see the largest gathering of Teslas and other electric vehicles take place in Western Australia outside the capital of Perth, as the town of Dowerin, population 400, gets an opportunity to see, drive and talk about zero-emissions vehicles.
But there is also another important mission: To win over the wild west to fill a massive gap in charging.
Awareness of electric vehicles is growing in the state since the WA government announced it would commit $21 million to create what will be the world’s longest electric vehicle network, with 90 sites from Kununurra in the north to Esperance in the south and out to the wild west that is Kalgoorlie and the Goldfields region.
But there is a gap in the network and the town of Dowerin, just a two hours drive north-east of Perth, is home to a business person who owns some crucial roadhouses along a 720km-long stretch of desert highway between Norsemen, WA’s east-most planned charging site, and the South Australian border.
While there’s also another huge EV fast-charging gap between the border and Clare in South Australia, where the next fast-charger in that journey lies, the goal of the Dowerin gathering, part of a “Tesla Run” organized by the Tesla Owners Club of Australia, is to bridge the Western Australian gap.
The group wants to do that by installing “Biofil” EV chargers – essentially fast-chargers powered by generators that use waste vegetable oil, created by WA engineer Jon Edwards whose invention was also instrumental in the recent Targa rally win in the 165 category by Tesla – at key roadhouses along the Eyre highway.
There are of course some three-phase slow-charging options along this stretch; but access is not always guaranteed, and adding fast-chargers will make the Great Australian Bight drive that much more attractive for Australia’s growing number of EV drivers.
Not only do the Biofil chargers present roadhouse managers with an environmentally friendly way to dispose of waste vegetable oil from their fryers (he says it is unlikely it is being collected for disposal given the distances involved), the Biofil also does away with the problem of connecting high-powered chargers to a power source in remote locations.
However, Edwards says he has been met with outright refusal by certain roadhouse managers when asked if they will host a Biofil charger.
Enter the Dowerin run: “There is no government plan to connect the West with the East and form a National Highway – unbelievable but true. So the EV community and EV enthusiasts have to step up, pull together and make a plan,” says Edwards.
“One of the big hurdles out there is that the sites are privately owned and we need the site to take control of the Biofils, operate and maintain them, for the deployment to such remote locations to be successful. So what has all this got to do with Dowerin?”
“Well it just so happens that 3 of the roadhouses in the middle of the Nullarbor are owned by a businessman who lives in and runs an accounting practice in Dowerin. After many failed attempts to meet this businessman in Perth to demonstrate the Biofil, we have decided to gathered the troops to take Biofil and a bunch of cars to him,” says Edwards.
If you happen to be passing through Dowerin this Sunday be sure to pop over to Memorial Avenue to show your support! Details can be found here.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.