A long-range plan in Bega, before the 400 km stretch
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Warning: This is just a boring charging story, for those who are interested.
We stopped in Bega to charge, since it was the last fast charger (50kW DC, free from The NRMA) before the 400km stretch to the next one in Sale. We needed to fill up to get through Gippsland.
When we arrived, a blue MG was already charging and another Tesla was parking in the next spot. I checked into PlugShare as "Waiting". But the MG had not checked in, and the owner was nowhere to be seen. So, I didn't know how long they would be or how to contact them. The other Tesla driver, Sue, kindly offered to forgo her spot, since she could charge when home in Tathra. She told a story of previously waiting elsewhere for EVs to move, long after being charged and said "no one wants to be that guy".
After a while, when the MG was at 94%, the owner showed up. He said he doesn’t use PlugShare because "I don’t want people knowing where I am". He said he plans to charge to near 100%, even though he knows it's very slow after 95%. It did point out that his old(?) MG only gets about 200km of highway driving, so 5% can make a difference. He didn’t seem to care that others have to wait longer and have no idea of when he will return. Then he walked off.
I waited through the 90s, and later checked the "pump", which was had reached 100% some time ago. Still no sign of the owner, so I attempted to remove the CCS2 cable from the MG. To my surprise, it was not locked in. I had already parked my Tesla in the diagonally adjacent spot (which was fortunately vacant), since of course I couldn't move the MG out of the designated charging space.
Soon after, the MG owner returned. I told him I had removed the plug after 100%. He said "yes, you can do that on this model". I said that others wouldn't know that nor should have to do it. I also suggested that he use a pseudonym on PlugShare if he's really concerned about some sort of identity theft.
My takeaway, again, is that we need a queuing mechanism, that is incorporated into the same app we use for charging. And, of course, more than one fast charger at these locations.
I've seen chargers that don't charge anything when actually in use but fees kick in when you're connected to the charger but not charging.
Hopefully karma gets them at some point when they are on a trip and get blocked by arrogance and ignorance. Until we get many more chargers this is going to be an issue.
Oh, I totally don't agree with free chargers. They promote local abuse of charger camping and the fact there is little incentive for the operator to keep them maintained. And I think idle fees are very important to help encourage people to move their vehicle once it's finished.
100% charging at DC is also something that needs to be educated about as that last 5%-10% does take an extraordinary amount of time. The latest misinformation getting around is the Tesla (and I assume all) EV with LFP battery where owners think it has to be charged to 100% because that is now what is RECOMMENDED. It's a recommendation to do it at least once a week. There is no significant impact to do it all the time. But at a public DC charger that last 5%-10% is still going to take extraordinary time, so unless you're going somewhere that you really need to full battery to empty range, just don't charge to 100%. Tesla navigation will even plan for Super Charger stops between 10% to 80% (or less) because Tesla knows these are the sweet spots for quick charging.
The paranoid will claim the rego has all their details in the State database and it's "The Gummint" they don't want knowing where they are.
Just amazes me, Tesla is the best practice, how hard is it for others to just copy that?
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1330537996556…
We would need a plug at every carpark in Australia
Either enter a code like the car wash has, or it reads your phone's IMEI perhaps.
First time we managed to find a PowerPoint near the river so Sat and watched movies until charged (it was night time).
Second time we managed to limp to a destination charger at a winery. Lucky they leave gates open 24/7 as it was after hours. We only had 2% left.
I look forward to more charging stations.
But all the other sites, IKEA, the groceries shop, and petrol station (for natural reasons too) had fast chargers, as not everyone are going to spend a significant amount of time there.