A Sydney couple has made it to Uluru in a BYD Atto 3 electric SUV, saying that the experience was “actually really easy”, and that finding mobile reception was actually harder than finding places to charge.
“We’re working on the road. We’re recruiters, so we have to always be available,” said Nathan Thomas, an accounting and finance recruiter.
“Before we stay anywhere – we don’t book in advance – we drive up and we check Telstra mobile reception first.
“We thought the charging would be the issue on the road … but when you’re charging you just need a power point. It really is that simple.”
Over the last three months, the couple has travelled 9,526 kilometres, and spent a total of just $108.46 to recharge their car.
“Petrol prices are $3.10 at the last place we were at. People who have doubled tankers, paying $400 or $500 to fill up the car,” said Thomas.
“I don’t need to worry about it.”
With the BYD Atto 3 Extended Range, they can theoretically do 420 kilometres, but have been aiming for around 330 kilometres a day to ensure they have an adequate safety butter.
They only pay for charging at fast charge locations, which are almost non-existent in the Northern Territory. Instead, they’ll drive for three or four hours a day and then stop in at a caravan park where they can use a 15-amp charger to charge overnight.
“Up the East Coast we were doing 900-1000 kilometres a day because of fast charging. But when there’s no fast chargers and you need to do slow charging, we do between 300 and 350 kilometres.”
Although the trip has been much easier than they thought, they did have one stumble on the road. In Julia Creek in Queensland, they were heading towards Mount Isa and wanted to stop to fast charge. The app Plugshare – which provides locations of chargers – told them that there was a fast charger there, although there had been no check ins.
“I thought that was weird that no one had ever checked in,” said Thomas.
“Anyway, we’ve gotten to Julia Creek and the bloody charger hadn’t been commissioned – it was still wrapped in plastic. We went to the locals trying to work out what was going on, and then the locals said, ‘Oh, it’s been sitting in plastic for two years’.”
“That was the one inconvenience for us. We just had to find accommodation that night at a caravan park and plug in. And then we just spent one less night at Mount Isa.”
The BYD has attracted attention from locals and travellers alike. While some people have told the couple that all they know about electric vehicles is that “thousands of them have exploded”, others have been amazed that an electric vehicle had made it to the red centre.
“And so a lot of people have been coming up to us asking about the car,” Thomas said.
“A few people have actually come up to us who are driving caravans, going ‘oh my god, we’ve got a BYD as well but we never knew, how have you done it?’
“I don’t know, but I’m sure we’re the first BYD that’s done this trip. I know many people have done the Nullarbor but I haven’t really seen anyone going up and down the Stuart highway.”
Thomas and husband Maikol Nobrega decided to leave their steady jobs to start their own business, so they could travel on the road while working.
Having never gone more than one or two nights camping before, living on the road has been an adjustment, but Thomas says that those hiccups have been worth it.
“I had this ridiculous view that Maikol would drive and then I would be working in the car. And then you realise when you get out to the Outback – which I hadn’t been to before – 200 meters down the road from the town, you’ve got no mobile reception,” he laughed.
“I was working till 11 o’clock last night, I was closing out a few jobs. Maikol was asleep, and I was tapping away on my laptop and like, I just love the freedom that brings. It’s been amazing.”
It also hasn’t affected their work, with Thomas saying that their clients enjoy knowing where they are, and their business having the three best months ever while they’ve been on the road.
After leaving Uluru, they’re now slowly headed south towards Adelaide before making the trip back home over the next month and a half.
They need to be back in Sydney in mid-November for a wedding, but they already have made more plans to drive around Tasmania next summer.
“We drive for three or four hours in the morning, we go to the next place we want to stay at and set up camp, we work for the afternoon,” Thomas said.
“We’re just doing things nice and slowly rather than fly in, do everything and run.”