I’ve taken many long touring car trips around and through Australia, and for the last several years my wife and I have driven to Cairns during the southern winter. We drove an average of 300 km one day, then usually had the next day off to go birding, our major hobby. We stayed six weeks in Cairns, then repeated the process to get home to the Eurobodalla.
This year we repeated it in a battery EV, a BYD Atto 3 Extended Range model, and made a few changes that we thought would be needed for the EV.
We kept the average 300 km each driving day, and we always intended to use fast DC EV chargers en route, but in case there were problems accessing working fast chargers, we always allowed the extra bird watching day after each day’s drive to ensure that we had a day to use a slow AC charger if necessary.
We usually book the full route to get the caravan park cabin accommodation we want, and often we overlap school holidays when demand is high.
As it turned out, there were no problems using fast chargers on the way north, so we skipped some of the bird watching days on the way south.
Driving our EV certainly was different—better road handling because of the low centre of gravity due to the battery, so less roll on corners.
Battery EVs really are fun to drive. And are actually less tiring on a trip (less noise?), which is really important as we are getting older. Another change we made was to travel both north and south on the coastal route because there were insufficient fast DC chargers on the inland route.
You could easily travel an inland route in an EV using slow AC chargers where necessary from Batemans Bay roughly north at least to Emerald before returning to the coast as the Emerald to Charters Towers at 460 km is a bit big to bridge, but that will change.
Our intention apart from our days off bird watching was always to spend the most time in and widely around Cairns on holiday, not en route to that area.
Range, range, range
An alternative view of taking a tour visiting places en route as the holiday is described in an article on 24 September this year in The Driven. See: “More trouble getting mobile reception than charging”: From Sydney to Uluru in BYD Atto 3
They say that 420 kilometres is the Atto 3’s WLTP range (Worldwide Harmonized Light-DutyTest Procedure), which is more realistic than the Atto 3’s NEDC range (New European Driving Cycle) of 480 km we were sold at purchase, both of which are complete rubbish for trip purposes.
We have averaged energy consumption of 15.8 kWh per 100 km over the 14,500 kilometres since purchase, so a full 60 kWh battery gives us a theoretical maximum of 380 km.
But that doesn’t allow for the higher consumption at highway speeds for long periods, so our maximum practical range is 350 km and we don’t drive beyond 90% of that, or 315 km, which is similar to the Sydney to Uluru couple.
Also, there’s less range again when travelling at freeway speeds of 110 km/hr. Our total Cairns trip was 9,350 kilometres, using a total of 1,729 kWh, or 18.5 kWh/100 km, significantly more than the average since purchase of 15.8 kWh/100 km because of the amount of highway and freeway speeds involved.
The consumption during the 2,090 kilometres of the total whilst in Cairns was 17.5 kWh per 100 km, less than the overall trip total despite a number of trips ascending to the tablelands behind Cairns.
The Sydney couple’s biggest problem on their way to Uluru was finding mobile reception for their business work when they stopped to camp at a caravan park, where they used a 15 amp AC charger overnight.
They summarise their trip thus: “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. We’re just doing things nice and slowly.” (See their story on The Driven.)
Take it easy!
We say exactly the same. With an EV, allow for plenty of time at your charging stops. Take it easy! Because you may have to wait there: for your EV to recharge, especially if it’s a slow AC charger; for another EV or EVs ahead of you to finish charging if there’s only one fast DC charger, or for several EVs if there is more than one fast DC charger.
In these early days of EVs in Australia the fast DC charging infrastructure has not kept up with the number of EVs being sold, both in number of chargers at a location, and in the distribution of those locations throughout the country.
It is believed that there needs to be at least one fast DC charger per 100 EVs—currently there is about one fast DC charger for every 200 EVs on the east coast, and much less inland and in the west.
It was the same in the early days of ICE cars—insufficient fuel and tyre sources, remembering that paved roads were an innovation too. As a child I can remember on family holiday trips parents being concerned that we might run out of fuel on the back country trips our family indulged in.
What’s the problem with slow AC chargers, like the ones supplied with some EVs? The latter initially were 10 amp AC chargers to plug into a standard household 10 amp power point, and they caused some fires because Australian 10 amp power points and wiring were never designed to take a full 10 amps for hours on end, so they got very hot.
So the car manufacturers now supply 8 amp AC chargers instead, and 8 amp AC chargers typically provide 1.7 kW of power to the EV battery. They’re sarcastically called “Granny Chargers”.
Let’s assume you have an EV with a 60 kWh capacity battery, and you’ve reached your destination with the battery one third full. You need a full battery for the next step of your tour/trip/journey, so 40 kWh of charge.
Slow charging
Divide 40 kWh by 1.7 kW and you will require 23.5 hours of 8 amp AC charging. Have you allowed for a full 24 hours charging and another night’s accommodation at that location?
And for the fact that whilst your car is charging it’s not available to visit tourist places or go to restaurants or go shopping whilst at that location? This last is a major problem with slow AC chargers on a trip.
There’s another problem with these slow AC chargers. Many accommodation places have had early EV drivers plug in 10 amp and higher AC chargers without asking, and causing heat damage or obstructing pathways with extension leads, and they won’t have any EV owners anywhere near their accommodation.
Our experience is mostly with cabins in caravan parks (not camping) and we find if it’s not high season then the proprietors will often allow you to use a 15 amp power point (that’s 3.2 kW of power) in a vacant caravan site. Most don’t want payment so far, but a lot are suspicious and want lots of money for your 40 kWh.
We have encountered the latter. But we carry a 15 amp AC charger because it will supply those 40 kWh in 12.5 hours. Even so, that’s quite a long time, so plan for it.
Some shops and accommodation places are now offering destination chargers to their customers. These are 3-phase 22 kW AC chargers that will provide your 40 kWh in under two hours.
Note that many EVs only use a single phase of the destination charger instead of all three phases (the BYD Atto 3 is one), so they only get 7 kW of power, but that will supply your 40 kWh in 5.7 hours. Other EVs weirdly use only 11 or 16 of the 22 kW!
Most destination chargers do not come with a charge cable, so you must bring your own—they are not cheap so if you are having a home charger installed purchase one with a plug-in rather than a tethered cable and you can take that on your trip.
If your EV can accept 3-phase AC power ensure that your plug-in home cable is 3-phase even if you only have a single phase AC home charger (7 kW 32 amp).
Fast DC chargers are usually a minimum of 50 kW DC, with newer installations typically more than 100 kW. 50 kW will supply your 40 kWh in 48 minutes, and higher power supplies correspondingly lower charge times. They make fast journeys in EVs possible.
The Super Fast Tesla Chargers (up to 350 kW) make some drivers complain they no longer get time to drink a cup of coffee whilst their car charges! Note that only some EVs can use 350 kW, but all should be able to plug into those super chargers and use the maximum power their EV can accept.
But the fast DC chargers need to work. Many non-Tesla installations provide only one fast charger at a location—what do you do if it’s broken or doesn’t work? A typical example is the Queensland Electrical Super Highway (QESH).
This places one fast 50 kW DC charger and two 22 kW AC chargers roughly every one hundred kilometres between Brisbane and Port Douglas north of Cairns, a distance of 1,770 kilometres along the east coast (and recently more inland). It made our recent trip to and holiday in Cairns possible in our BYD Atto 3.
We were very lucky—at every QESH charger we stopped to use we only had to wait for another EV to finish three times, and the longest wait was 10 minutes.
Nevertheless I was surprised—in nearly every major population centre along the QESH route the only fast DC chargers were the QESH ones—only Townsville had two others, one of which was malfunctioning.
It seemed that the provision of a QESH charger in nearly all locations completely satisfied any local idea that they needed to provide infrastructure for electric vehicles. But what if that one fast charger failed? This happened to us on our trip home from Cairns, between Rockhampton and Maryborough, a 385 km stretch, longer than our average 300 km on driving days.
On checking in the morning at Rockhampton it turned out nearly all the QESH DC fast chargers to Maryborough had failed or were misbehaving.
Check the PlugShare app
You check whether chargers are working or are in use by another EV user by using the PlugShare App. Every EV user should use this app and report every time they are using a charger and if they are having problems. It is such a help to all other EV users planning to visit that site.
In Mount Larcom (the first fast charger location en route) the QESH 50 kW DC fast charger was off line with an error and had been for some time.
We decided to spend an hour on the 22 kW AC charger (noting that the BYD Atto 3 only accepts one phase at 7 kW) to add some 10% extra safety margin, then drove on to Gin Gin where there was a Tesla finishing on the QESH 50 kW DC charger.
But then we could not get the charger to work despite spending a lot of time on the phone to ChargeFox who manage the QESH chargers.
The charging unit’s app/card payment system wasn’t working properly and continually threw me off for not paying, but eventually in frustration (I think) the operator gave us a free charge for 30 minutes (or 38% more battery charge).
That worked and with enough charge to reach Maryborough easily we skipped the next QESH charger at Childers even though the other EV drivers assured us that WAS working.
It has become a habit of many of the EV drivers of all makes of EVs we encountered in Queensland to stop at ALL intervening chargers on their trip to top up charge in case one or more of the next several chargers have failed or are playing up.
In September also in The Driven a WA EV owner who is on his third “Big Lap” right around Australia complained very strongly about the failed QESH chargers—out of 14 he wanted to use 6 were out of order (that’s 43%!).
At each installation Queensland has placed just ONE fast charger. You can see why Tesla wins hands down on reliability—at each of their installations of super or fast chargers there are a minimum of four, usually six fast/super chargers, all of which work!
Charging time
What do you do whilst your car is on a charger? If you are lucky, the charger may be actually in reasonable walking range of a toilet and a café of some type, but mostly they are not.
It’s amazing the out-of-the-way places the owners choose to install their chargers, usually nowhere near any services the EV occupants would be likely to use and Pay for.
Conversely, we were astounded on the Hume Freeway south of Sydney at the Pheasants Nest South- Bound Service Centre to find four DC Fast Chargers immediately outside the service centre entry—everyone else had to walk further than we EV owners did! (It was the highest cost Fast Charger we encountered on the trip!)
But often there is no café within range. We carry our lunches and a thermos, and also a small folding table and folding chairs and use those. If we know there are services nearby we might plan to use those, but if the charger isn’t working why would you want to stop?
If you are a camper, renewable alternatives to gas stoves and fridges are electric ones powered by a Vehicle-to-Load (VTL) device that plugs into the charge port of your EV (if it supports vehicle to load) and provides 240 volts at one or more 3-pin power points, or 240 volt power points in your EV if it provides those.
Induction stove
You can be super economical when cooking by using a single element portable induction stove that plugs into a 240 volt power point. Boiling water using an induction compatible kettle on such a stove top is the fastest and most energy economical method there is, and you can do it when camping.
During our time in Cairns this year we were renting a BnB part of a house well out of the city, and we were not inclined to have to drive into the QESH charger after any long trip birding up to 100 km out of Cairns both inland and up and down the coast.
We came to an arrangement with the hosts to share the cost of installing a 15 amp power point next to the switch box inside their large garage.
This meant our EV was secure under cover and its battery topped up each night using our portable 240 volt AC 15 amp charger.
We paid the hosts $81 for the 365 kWh of energy used travelling 2,090 kilometres over the five weeks at the cost they purchased it (22.135 c/kWh), and never used the QESH 50 kW DC charger (then 30 c/kWh) except on our initial arrival in Cairns.
The 15 amp charger recorded how much energy was used. The hosts have already provided this service to another EV owner user of their BnB and we expect to use it again on a next Cairns holiday.
Our total charging cost for the trip was $532 for 9,350 kilometres. There were 42 Fast charging sessions, nearly all when we waited/ate lunch/toileted whilst travelling between stopping locations on the trips north and south. The highest rate for Fast chargers we paid was 69 cents/kWh; the lowest 0 cents/kWh at NRMA chargers, sadly no more.
There were 49 Slow charging sessions, 47 of which were overnight or daytime when we were not waiting on the charger. The highest rate for Slow chargers we paid was 40 cents/kWh; the lowest also zero. Note that we usually only charge at home from solar power, but that costs 15 cents/kWh as that is our foregone feed-in tariff.
For comparison, in 2022 we travelled 8,601 kilometres and spent $1,749 on diesel averaging $2.13/litre (821.9 litres), less than current prices, filling the tank on 21 occasions.