“No big deal:” Couple set out to do Australia’s Big Lap in “basic” EV

Circumnavigating Australia in an electric vehicle used to be a massive undertaking. Fraught with long, long stretches of desert with zero EV charging infrastructure, it is a trip that even in a combustion engine vehicle can result in disaster if not done with adequate preparation.

Just a few examples of early electric road trip pioneers, that have been covered by The Driven for several years now, include the late Linda Rohrs in her Tesla Model S. She famously was the first woman to drive solo around Australia in an EV, completing the “Big Lap”, as it is called, in under 80 days.

Then there is Wiebe Wakker, the Dutchman who arrived in Darwin in a converted VW Golf nicknamed the “Blue Bandit” with the goal to drive an EV around the world to show that zero emission transport is viable.

And he did it without spending a cent on electricity, or accommodation, thanks to the kindness of strangers who signed up to his “Plug Me In” website.

In total, Wakker ended up driving more than 100,000km as he eventually finished his trip at the most southerly point of New Zealand in 2019.

So when we hear about another couple taking on the Big Lap in their new Tesla Model 3, it is not a story that sounds particularly ground-breaking.

But that’s exactly the point: the fact that driving around Australia in an EV isn’t such a pioneering moment anymore underlines just how far things have come in the past few years for EVs.

That’s not saying that there isn’t still a long way to go; there are still well under 50,000 EVs in Australia, and there are still big gaps between charging infrastructure in remote areas.

But the gaps are smaller, there are more models available and there is less chance of needing to “hypermile” as EV owner Phil Smith did in 2021 when he set out on one of the longest and most isolated stretches of road in Australia, just to make sure he could get to the next charger without running out of battery charge.

Which brings us to today. Jeff and Julie Wicks set out only a month ago on their own Big Lap odyssey. They’re not doing it in anything fancy like a Tesla Model S, or relying on the kindness of strangers to do it (at least, that’s not the plan.)

In a note to The Driven, Jeff tells us that he and Julie chose the Standard Range Plus Model 3, which currently sells in Australia for $63,900 before on-roads and realistically can deliver as little as 330km driving range when out on the highway.

“I wanted a basic EV so that people couldn’t say, ‘Oh yes, but you bought a special model.’,” says Jeff.

“We wanted to show that circumnavigating Australia in a common EV was no big deal and involved few compromises.”

He says he and Julie also appreciate “the slightly retrograde step that Tesla has taken into LFP battery technology for their base models, with less human and environmental damage during manufacture and no restriction, in fact even encouragement, to charge to 100%.”

Having set out from the Gold Coast in Queensland, the couple are now in Western Australia.

They’ve been using range of chargers including free charging at hotel accommodation, fast-chargers and Tesla Superchargers.

Just this weekend they have made use of the waste chip oil-powered charger installed by the Tesla Owners Club of Western Australia thanks to a great deal of community gumption and not least the ingenuity of retired engineer Jon Edwards.

This, Jeff says, “highlights the effort the members of the Tesla Owners Club of Australia, particularly TOCWA, have done in making trips like this do-able. We would not be undertaking this trip without the work they have done to date.”

The rest of Wick’s story is outlined in their Q&A below:

What inspired you to take on the “Big Lap” in an EV?

“I have been keen to find an excuse to try an EV for some time and was waiting for the Model Y to be released in Australia. And I’d always fancied the idea of driving the Nullarbor and some of the west coast of WA.

“Then sometime last year I asked Julie – would you be interested in doing a Big Lap circumference of Australia?

“To my surprise she answered yes, almost without hesitation. Since we had at the time a 2002 VW Golf and a 1960 MG I followed with the obvious question – in what car? She responded with the answer I needed – how about in a Tesla?

“The Model Y for Australia kept slipping over the future horizon and I spotted that Model 3 delivery times in the US were lengthening well beyond those in Australia.

“In early December ’21 I committed to an order with a three-month waiting time and then started roughing out Big Lap plans for an early autumn departure. The idea was to surprise Julie at car collection and I lasted well into March but eventually had to come clean.

“We really enjoy April in Victoria so set a departure date of the first week of April, firming on Sunday April 3 giving us several weeks between planned collection and departure to prepare the car.

“The delivery of the car slipped a little and, in the end, we collected it just over a week before we were due to leave.

What route have you planned?

“The route is nothing special, mostly coastal highway – Gold Coast – Sydney – Melbourne – Great Ocean Road – Adelaide – Port Lincoln – Ceduna – Nullarbor – Esperance – Albany – Margaret River – Perth – WA coast to Broome – Kununurra – Katherine – Darwin – Katherine – Townsville – Cairns – home via coastal.

“Not being in an SUV we’ll miss the Gibb River Road and maybe others but we’ll do our best to compensate with commercial side tours. Nominally the route is about 15,000km but, with deviations, we are expecting 20,000km.”

Have you gone in-depth into power consumption and energy requirements?

“Before delivery, I was planning on a useable battery range of around 400km and working on the basis that, worst case, we may have to stay overnight an extra day in order to charge from a 10 amp household powerpoint.

“The timing of all our overnight reservations in April were locked in before departure because of the Easter and Anzac Day holidays and school holidays in NSW, Vic and SA.

“After that, we are hoping to play it by ear but still with a rough plan to complete the journey in under 100 days. Our M3 RWD shows a fully charged range of 440km so our panned 400km range is about as far as we wish to push before recharging.”

What charging challenges do you foresee? How do you anticipate avoiding them?

“The M3 comes with a charging cable and a couple of “tails” to connect in order to allow charging from household plugs.

“I secured an extra tail for the 15 amp plug type at caravan parks etc and another complete lead (for reasons unknown) that we have yet to use. As mentioned, charging needs may mean an extra night or two but nothing that we have yet identified east of Perth.”

What concessions have you had to make regarding space and desirable items?

As Jeff notes in his blog, “Interestingly, the Tesla 3 is not delivered with a spare wheel, nor run-flat tyres. Instead, Tesla offer an Australia-wide vehicle collection service with tyre repair or replacement after towing to the nearest tyre outlet.

“Given our planned route we were uncomfortable with the possibility of being stuck remotely with a flat or needing to wait for a replacement tyre or wheel to be shipped in. Thinner emergency wheels are available online but only offer a short-term solution.”

Because the only storage area for it and a jack is in the rear cargo areas, this has meant that the couple cannot use the mattress they’ve packed in the back area of the car with the rear seats folded down without leaving the try outside the car overnight.

Other than this, he says they’ve had to make “absolutely no compromises. The limitation on baggage is how much you want to carry into a motel/hotel room each night. We have more than enough stuff. It’s not all stored in the boot but the cabin is bigger than needed for just two people.”

Anything else to add?

“PlugShare app (which allows EV owners to find suitable chargers on a route) is INDISPENSABLE,” says Jeff.

You can read the rest of the Wick’s blog of their road trip at blev.com.au.