Lessons from an EV road trip: Where to stay with your EV

Where fast chargers are few and far between, pretty much whenever you are away from major population centres, you might have to accommodate your car’s need for an overnight charge, and sometimes, at some cost to your own comfort.

On the whole, motels and roadhouses are best for charging: many have some kind of dedicated AC charger. Elegant B&Bs in remote farmlands set up to pamper your senses tend, however, to be less accommodating of your EV’s needs.

Some hosts, like ours at a stunning Yarra Junction (Victoria) boutique B&B, are willing to be inventive. ‘No destination chargers, sorry’ but, yes, they do have an external plug point nearby, where our car can trickle-charge overnight.

If you are carrying the right connection cable for your car, that is all you will need. We use a KWIK Type 2 Charger with adaptable tails.

Even some of the large international chains, like the Discovery Parks, providing a network of affordable accommodation around Australia, seem unaware that they can support EVs without the additional financial and technological investment needed to install fast chargers.

When we check into Discovery Park Melbourne, the young man at the desk is quite sure they do not have any facilities for EVs. But I persist: what about the powered camp sites? ‘Oh, can you charge Teslas on those?

For the record, we are not driving a Tesla but that is not important in this context. Happily they have caravan plugs too, and best of all, our cabin (along with the 69 other cabins) has an external plug point, quite adequate for trickle charging an EV. ‘Wow, cool’, says the receptionist, genuinely happy to have discovered a potential new clientele!

When you are in an EV, the availability of good chargers (especially when listed on the Plugshare app) does, to an extent, determine the roads you take and the places you stop.

For our trip back west from Sydney, we found three perfect overnight stops. In Cowra, the Services Club Motel has two Tesla Destination chargers (which non-Tesla cars can also use) and they do room service!

In Hay, the fast charger is right in the heart of the town with two motels, two ‘award winning’ bistros (according to their self-promotion) and even a well-stocked IGA, all within a five-minute walking radius of the charger.

So, you can shop, dine or rest while your car charges. Mildura is just as good: the super-fast charger is just 10 minutes walk to the main drag and better still 10 minutes from Stefano’s Cafe (if you are into food, you have seen Stefano on SBS), which is definitely the place to eat and be seen.

Some potentially perfect B&B owners do simply refuse to hear you out: ‘NO’ said one, ‘the last time we let a Tesla in, it blew our whole system!’ But,,, but ‘ours is not a Tesla’, you start to say… she has already hung up.

We did have to turn down one generous offer of a very long extension cable hanging out of the B&B’s hot-water plug point. Co-Pilot thought it might be too risky for the car and I did not want to give up my hot shower!

Many hosts who appear never to have heard of an EV (and think ICE is just frozen water) will nonetheless open up their garage or put you in rooms just next to the laundry so you can plug your car there for its nocturnal needs.

Once in a while, your own need to sleep might have to be compromised because your room happens to be right where the road trains roar into action every hour of the night.

Next morning bleary-eyed, you mention the difficulties to the owner and he might offer you some compensation: in Kaniva, Victoria, two large home-grown pumpkins! It all adds colour to the journey.

Lesson No. 4: Carry a range of connection cables so that you can use the most available power-points. You will discover many and varied options for overnight charging by talking to the owner of the little hotel or the receptionist at the big one. Many of them really want to engage with electric vehicles. Every new charging option (even the trickle variety) you help unveil is helping expand the EV infrastructure and thus earning you good karma.