Introduction
In May 2024 my wife and I embarked on a 16-day road trip in our MG4 from our home in Canberra to southeast Queensland and return, a journey of some 2600 km.
Our main purpose was to stay with friends who were house sitting on Karragarra Island, one of the islands in Moreton Bay. On the way there, we spent three nights in Sydney to see a play and to attend part of the Sydney Writers Festival – an annual event for us.
This article provides:
- an overview of the trip
- information on our charging experience
- some data on our costs and efficiency.
Hopefully this trip report will provide some useful charging suggestions for AEVA members planning similar journeys.
Trip overview
In our first leg, we travelled from Canberra to Sydney where we stayed three nights. We then headed north along the Pacific Highway, making overnight stops at Long Jetty, Port Macquarie and Ballina, before joining our friends on Karragarra Island.
The Moreton Bay islands are “Boating, Camping and Fishing Central”. It seems that every second house has a boat or a caravan – and often both – in its driveway or front yard. We travelled to three of the islands using the free passenger ferry service. I checked out several hundred cars, but did not notice a single EV. I thought that these residents would have been a receptive audience for Scott Morrison’s 2019 assertion that EVs would “ruin your weekend”. Paradoxically, though, the islands could make a good “retirement home” for first-generation Nissan Leafs for residents not needing towing, because there are no petrol stations on the islands, residents are not permitted to carry containers of petrol on the passenger ferries, and their longest journeys are less than 10 kilometres.
After Moreton Bay, we headed southwest to Tenterfield. We chose to make that journey via the Border Loop Lookout at Cougal, where we appreciated the spectacular view during a lunch stop. From Tenterfield we travelled south along the New England Highway, stayed overnight at Tamworth and Denman, and had an excellent lunch at the Hollydene Estate Winery – a location we chose because of its six Tesla Superchargers.
We enjoyed a scenic drive from Denman to Bathurst via the Bylong Valley Way, stopping for lunch at the charming village of Rylstone. We spent a couple of days in Bathurst (visiting local sights including the Chifley Home) and returned to Canberra via Crookwell and Gundaroo.
Our charging experience: destination charging
One of our charging strategies was to make some overnight stops where EV destination charging is provided for guests. We used three of these opportunities:
- we stayed at the Northpoint Apartments at Port Macquarie (https://www.plugshare.com/location/271982) which provides five Tesla destination chargers free to guests, all open to non-Tesla EVs
- we stayed at the Ballina Travellers Lodge (https://www.plugshare.com/location/457683) which provides one destination charger free to guests
- we stayed at the Heritage Motor Inn at Bathurst (https://www.plugshare.com/location/589993) which provides two MG destination chargers; here we used 47 kWh and paid a $20 fee.
Our MG4 charging at the Ballina Travellers Lodge
Our charging experience: highway charging
Our use of highway chargers on this trip was entirely free of hassles. We never encountered an out-of-order charger, and we never had to wait to use a charger.
Like many EV drivers approaching Sydney from Canberra, we charged at the Ampol Foodary (https://www.plugshare.com/location/530182) at Pheasants Nest. Then, in our journey north along the Pacific Highway we topped up twice to make certain that we would comfortably reach our overnight accommodation:
- we used our AEVA RFID card at the Chargefox charger at Karuah (https://www.plugshare.com/location/211898) en route to Port Macquarie
- we used our AEVA RFID card at the BP Pulse charger at Coffs Harbour (https://www.plugshare.com/location/536193) en route to Ballina.
During our return journey, we planned to rely largely (but not entirely) on the Tesla Superchargers which are open to non-Tesla EVs on the inland route from Tenterfield to Bathurst. These are more expensive than other chargers, but they are reliable and have multiple chargers at each location. Here’s where we charged:
- we used our AEVA RFID card at the Evie charger at Beaudesert (https://www.plugshare.com/location/605665) – an excellent location (though not well signposted) right next to Café 63 at the Beaudesert Fair shopping complex
- we used the Tesla Supercharger at the Coles carpark at Tenterfield (https://www.plugshare.com/location/475573)
- on the way to Tamworth we had lunch at the Uralla Bowling Club, using our AEVA RFID card at the Exploren 7 kW charger in their carpark (https://www.plugshare.com/location/611523)
- at Tamworth, we used the Tesla Supercharger located within the parking area surrounding our motel (the Mercure) (https://www.plugshare.com/location/175319 )
- at Hollydene Estate, we used one of their Tesla Superchargers during our lunch and wine tasting stop (https://www.plugshare.com/location/199342)
Costs and efficiency
During this journey of 2617 km, we used a total of 435 kWh, including the 50 kWh at home at the end of the journey, to return the battery to the 90% level that we had when we set off. This worked out at an average of 16.6 kWh per 100 km.
Our charging expenses totalled $207, half of which was incurred by the three Tesla Superchargers that we used. The same journey in a petrol car would have incurred a fuel cost of around $500.
Summing up
As you would expect, we have much greater confidence about highway journeys in our MG4 than we did with our 28 kWh Hyundai Ioniq (though we continue to find the Ioniq to be a highly efficient car for local travel).
We found the charging infrastructure in this part of Australia to be completely adequate for our needs – though we acknowledge that our journey was not made at peak holiday times. The charger experience was made easier by Tesla’s decision to open up a significant proportion of its Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs.
We capitalised as much on motel destination chargers as we conveniently could, but many more are needed, and we look forward to the day when these are a standard offering for tourists.