New user
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13 Messages
Too Many Out of Service, Slow Chargers and Cars staying parked in Bays
Recently did a round trip from Avalon (Northern Beaches, Sydney) to Merimbula. Went inland route as not confident of range on coastal route. Have done the trip to Canberra before but the weather was warm so battery more efficient. Have to say I ended up with range anxiety as the demand was high and so many stations were either out of service or charging was no where near the rated 150kW plus. It was a very long trip home.
Very limited super fast charge options on M31 Southbound. Stopped at Sutton Forest West. Evie super fast charger only reached 63kW max. Too slow for a main highway and such a busy route.
Stopped in Canberra for lunch. Canberra is bereft of fast chargers let alone super fast chargers. Charged at Evie at Realm hotel. Only charged at 25kW max when there was another car on the other charger which was 90% of the time. A driver from Tasmania was astounded at the lack of chargers in Canberra. Me too. The other car was left there for at least 30 minutes after it had finished charging and no sign of the owners coming back.
On the way home, stopped in Cooma at the Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre (great food BTW and excellent centre) - but 1 of the 3 fast chargers wasn’t working and demand was high as people were driving back to Sydney from the snow. I only got 50kW max and I was at 60% going to 80% so shouldn’t have been a problem. Next car an Audi, got 100kW max but then he was the only car there. He couldn’t believe he was only getting 100kW.
Then there were a whole lot chargers of out of service up the M31. Stopped in Goulburn which was extremely busy. Only 1 fast charger working and its screen was broken. So you could use it with the App. Either way, very frustrating. At least I got 100kW. The other regular charger was charging at 19kW.
It shouldn’t be this bad. If we are getting charged 65c/kWh then you want to be confident that you have several, convenient options for charging, particularly on busy routes like the M31 from Sydney to Canberra and beyond to Jyndabyne or the south coast.
Makes me think twice about doing the trip in mid winter.
kyytsonen
New user
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5 Messages
1 year ago
Couldn't agree more, on poor service for EV charging. The service providers for non-Tesla vehicles need to expand rapidly.
I recently went to Melbourne and return from Sydney, and found the joy of travelling during school holidays. Many of the chargers were out of order, or only slow ones available, and queues were common on the non Tesla chargers. The excuse via RACV / chargefox was that they were getting overworked during holiday period????? Shouldn't good businesses anticipate peak period use and provide service accordingly???
I have to acknowledge the good ettiquette of EV drivers in Melbourne. A large Westfield shopping complex I visited had 10 chargers (and miracle, they were all working). There was a fortunes worth of Mercs, Audis, Polestars and Volvos, etc. queued to charge whilst they shopped. Drivers were exchanging mobile numbers, so when they were down to the last 5-10 mins of charging, they could tell the next in line to slip out from shopping to move their cars- very civilised and courteous.
I cannot inderstand why the petrol stations are ignoring their replacement business model. I believe the take up of EVs is happening faster than many expect, but it is being spoiled by poor infrastructure support.
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