Is an extended road trip an achievable reality in Australia, in the new age of electric vehicles?
A couple of years ago we had the opportunity to find out, travelling from Hervey Bay in Queensland to Kiama in NSW – about 1400 km over 6 days – in an affordable MG ZS EV, albeit with a ‘Long Range’ battery (72 kWh).
Under ‘normal’ (ICE) circumstances this trip would have been a regular, mostly unremarkable road trip – something we have done many times over the years. However, undertaking the journey in an EV added a degree of re-charging adventure – especially for someone who hadn’t previously travelled a long distance in an Electric Vehicle.
With a one week break from home duties, we planned to visit friends and family along the way. Rather than driving long stints to explore the limits of the vehicle’s range, we planned to be re-charging in the towns where we were staying each night.
There was no mollycoddling the EV to extend the range – we travelled at the local speed limits – 100 / 110 kmh on the highway – and had the air-con running flat chat all the way.
Itinerary
Our itinerary was determined primarily by the location of the people / places we were visiting, rather than battery range or charger locations. though this was obviously a consideration. We sourced re-charge opportunities around those locations, using the PlugShare app.
Follow the links below for information about our charging experiences on each leg of the trip…
- Day 1: Hervey Bay to Noosa (181 km) >>>
- Day 2: Noosa to the Gold Coast (207 km) >>>
- Day 3: Gold Coast to Coffs Harbour (325 km) >>>
- Day 4: Coffs Harbour area >>>
- Day 5: Coffs Harbour to Port Macquarie (159 km) >>>
- Day 6: Port Macquarie to Kiama (532 km) >>>
Pre-trip Planning
Itinerary and charging planning is important….
Prior to departure we used Google Maps to check the distances between towns that we would be visiting, in conjunction with the PlugShare app to check the location of charging stations in (and between) each of those towns. Of course, no such detailed planning would be considered if driving a petrol or diesel powered vehicle – but in 2024 this was the EV reality.
With the exception of Day 6 (532 km) we didn’t really need to top-up the battery charge en route between accommodation stop-overs. However, as newbies to this EV environment our motto was Charge when we CAN, not when we NEED to.
Given that we were driving down the coast, where the charging infrastructure is relatively good compared to less-populated areas of the country, we generally charged the car to 80% rather than 100%. The charge rate of the battery drops when the charge reaches 80%, considerably extending the time spent at the charger for those last few kWh.
With a charge of 80%, the car software estimated we had a range of 341 km in Normal mode, and 358 km in Eco mode, so we worked on a ‘safe’ range of 300 kms, given that most of our driving was at 110 kmh on the highway, which uses more battery storage than around town.
Our Daily Diary
If you are considering a similar EV road trip, we kept a log of our daily charging regime….
Day 1: Hervey Bay to Noosa > Day 2: Noosa to Gold Coast > Day 3: Gold Coast to Coffs >
Day 4: Coffs Harbour > Day 5: Coffs to Port Macquarie > Day 6: Port to Kiama
Post-trip Review
For those who are interested, the daily itinerary links above provide details of the charging environments we experienced on each section of our EV road trip. We hope this may be helpful for others planning a similar EV expedition.
For those with a more casual / general EV interest, here is a summary of our thoughts following the trip….
This trip was certainly much more comfortable, and achievable, in a car with a ‘long range’ tag.
- Our car has a 72 kWh battery, with a range of around 450 kms on a full 100% charge, or a comfortable range of 300 kms on a regular 80% charge.
- Keep in mind that if charging beyond 80%, the last 15-20% is considerably slower when recharging on public DC chargers, and we don’t want to be doing this if others are waiting to use the charging station.
- At 80% State of Charge (SoC) the car predicts a range of 350km. But we didn’t want to push it too far to test this prediction, especially at constant highway speeds. For our planning purposes we stuck to 300 km as the ‘safe’ limit. As it turned out, we didn’t see our estimated remaining range drop below 100 km – but we didn’t push our luck, and topped up the battery when the opportunity was available.
- The trip would have been far more of ‘an adventure’ in a car with a 45-50 kWh battery and a highway range in the order of 200 kms (dependent on a 95% charge) – doable, but definitely challenging.
- Generally speaking, the MG ZS EV was a pleasure to drive.
- The car is smooth, quiet, and comfortable, with plenty of acceleration/power.
- My only few quibbles are…
- The poor quality of the external cameras – the reversing camera in pretty ordinary compared to previous models;
- The lack of a speedometer option with a ‘visual / dial’, non-digital display took some getting-used-to;
- Settings such as Mode (Eco / Normal), screen brightness, ACC distance settings, etc, resetting to factory defaults every time we restart the car. (Painful!)
- The access to some functions only through the display screen – turning the radio on, cabin air recirculation – rather than via easy-to-find physical or main screen buttons, is another constant annoyance. Hopefully something we will get used to over time.
- We learned that the heating/air-con features in the MG are severely curtailed if driving in Eco mode. We never use ECO mode now – I see this purely as a marketing exercise, rather than a usable daily option. And it doesn’t really make much difference.
We didn’t make any special concessions in our driving techniques to try to eek out a better rate of energy consumption…
- We drove how we would normally drive a regular ICE vehicle – 110 kmh on the highway, using cruise control to keep to a set speed (so no braking re-gen down hills).
- It was hot summer weather on the trip, so we had the air con running all day, every day.
- Our overall rate of energy consumption for the whole trip was just under 19 kWh / 100km. Driving locally near home (which still involves some regular highway driving) we are down around 15-16 kWh / 100km.
- I haven’t been able to confirm the accuracy of the State of Charge percentage and the estimated km range, though the vehicle’s displayed calculations are definitely affected by the mode and air con settings.
- Some days we drove in ‘Eco’ mode, others in ‘Normal’ mode, just to test it out…
- While I didn’t do any careful measurements or calculations, in the big scheme of things I don’t really think it makes too much difference to the actual range when driving on the highway.
- Eco mode may be more beneficial when stop-start driving in an urban environment, if you don’t need heating!
You wouldn’t do this trip in an EV rather than an ICE vehicle just to save money…
- Driving our EV around town is a real dollar saver when we can charge at home for 8c/kWh (ditto if you are charging directly from your solar panels), but these savings are quickly eroded when you are paying 70c/kWh (or more) at commercial charging stations.
- Any cost savings are further eroded when you consider the higher upfront cost of an EV, compared to an equivalent ICE vehicle.
- The trip was still considerably cheaper fuelled by electricity rather than fossil fuels, but not the spectacular cost savings we achieve when charging at home.
- A 7kW home wall connector is essential if you own an EV (and live in a situation where you are able to install one). It makes day to day charging an achievable, worry-free, and cost-effective reality, and it won’t take long for the installation cost to be recovered in energy savings if you have an EV electricity plan with affordable off-peak charging rates.
- The reliable availability of chargers at, and in between, highway destinations is certainly a cause of some anxiety. An extended road trip requires a level of forward planning that wouldn’t be required if driving an ICE vehicle. (Let’s not forget that it has taken around 100 years for our fossil fuel distribution and refilling infrastructure to be developed to its current status.)
- A couple of Chargefox stations we encountered on this trip were out of order, and we have regularly seen Tritium charging stations with screens not working. (Still accessible through the provider’s app, but annoying.)
- How often do you see petrol bowsers out of order? And if they are, there are another 4 or 5 alternative bowsers available.
- We were lucky to be travelling during the week, outside of holiday time, so we weren’t troubled too much by demand for the charging facilities by other EV owners. The availability of charging stations in coastal areas would be a greater concern at weekends or during holiday times.
- Apps such as PlugShare and Google Maps are essential tools in EV journey planning, especially if you are not familiar with the local area.
On a road trip where you are driving all day, you will spend a significant amount of time stopped at charging stations, unless your overnight accommodation is equipped with a charging facility that can charge your car while you sleep.
- As someone who usually tends to drive non-stop between destinations on a trip like this, I found the charging rest stops to be quite relaxing! Take a book to read, or wander around the local townships.
- The least attractive charging stops are those in traditional service stations, or in industrial environments with no ‘social’ facilities, such as nearby cafés, coffee shops or retail shopping opportunities.
- I expect that ‘destination chargers’ will become a critical attraction for EV owners when booking travel and holiday accommodation.
- Hopefully, at a bigger picture level, our road trip in an EV was more ‘sustainable’, and friendly to the environment, than it might have been if undertaking the same trip in a car powered by diesel or petrol fuel.
|
Road trip energy costs Total cost of electricity for the trip: $138.08 Estimated cost of petrol for the same trip: $254.50 Cost for same distance if charging at home rate: $22.14 So, while an EV is very cheap to run around town, charging at home @ 8c/kWh, |
Day 1: Hervey Bay to Noosa >>>
Overview > Day 1 to Noosa > Day 2 to Gold Coast > Day 3 to Coffs >
Day 4 in Coffs > Day 5 to Port > Day 6 to Kiama