Syd to gong

[jin]

Hey all.
This isn't exactly a long trip in comparison to other threads here, but just after some info on if anyone had made the journey from Sydney to Wollongong?
According to google maps it's a 93km trip which should see me test the upmost limits of my leafs capacity should I not find any charging opportunity along the way.

At present my leafs battery has lost two bars, have some doubts it'll make the trip.

In fact I was thinking of heading to peats ridge as well which should be a 62km trip one way which I also have some doubts for.

Lately I noted in wet weather I'm only seeing roughly 45km of driving for 60-70% battery use with modest Eco mode driving and not driving like an idiot.

On a 100% charge my guessometer shows about 115km, which I've yet to come close to during my less than two months of ownership.

2012 Aussie leaf.

[Feng]

Hi Jin,

I've made it from Bexley on a full charge when I was down three capacity bars. You can top up at Westfield Miranda along the way if it's not too far out of your way. Just keep in mind that as you're going up Mount Ouseley your car's satnav might say you won't have enough range to make it to your destination. When you reach the top you'll have no problem getting there.

On your return I suggest you follow a slow truck up the mountain so you won't hold up traffic and can conserve energy. Also be sure your tyre pressure is at least 38PSI (I use 40 myself). It'll help with the range. If you're struggling you can visit me at Bexley for a charge.

Have fun!

[jin]

Thanks Feng.
I wasn't thinking of going slow up Ousley but I'll definitely be doing that now.

The gongs DCFC in the picture should help a lot too.

I question why NRMA decided to install their DCFC inside Metro areas rather than on built an electric highway like qld

[markrmarkr]

Jin,
I only have 10 bars too. But I also have sticky tyres and my 100% range is more like 110 on the GOM. So you have more range than I do. I go to the Gong quite often from Earlwood. Fengs suggestion of topping up at Miranda is a good idea. If you do that you should be fine. Just keep your speed down, and don't use to much aircon.

Your right about the rain, it can knock about 10% off your range. But if you leave from Miranda with 100% you should be good.

Mark

[jin]

Thanks Mark.
Might just have to take the ICE instead of allowing extra 2 hours time for a " top up" detour.

[EVangelist]

Hi Jin and welcome to the forum. I've travelled from the inner west of Sydney to Thirroul (about 13km N of the 'Gong) twice without stopping on the way for a top-up, and I'm on 10 bars. You can see all the stats in my posting here.

93 km on 10 bars would be tight but doable without a charge.  But you'd probably need to stay below 90 km/h.  You'll chew up the juice going faster.

I also suggest using the Trip Planner on Carwings.  It's actually quite good.  Put in your route, average speed, and charge status and it will estimate whether you'd get there or not taking into account the terrain.

[jin]

Good news, after 4 months of ownership and lots of practise driving not wasting energy, I did the trip and am now in the gong.

92km travelled, 28km left on guessometer in eco with no air con.
About 32% SOC, and....






The caveat stealing my win for the day was the faulty chademo in the uni.
Was going to be the first quick charge for the car ever, oh well.


Mighty impressed with the cars capabilities so far.. and it was amusing regenerating 4% battery on the last leg into the gong down MT Ousley.

Interested to see how much consumption going back up it..

[Feng]

Congrats on making it! It's not because someone hit the emergency stop button is it? That can be twisted and pulled back out. My first attempt there was a failure as well and I was stuck at their other campus for a few hours.

Edit: I see you checked in on Plugshare with a message about the error. Here are the error codes: ozleaf.proboards.com/thread/805/tritium-veefil-charger-common-field - an error 39 is a glitch with the power supply. Someone has to pull it open to reset a breaker possibly.

[jin]

Thanks Feng, you have given me a ray of hope haha.

I'll give it a try after work

[markrmarkr]

hi Jin,

did you report the error to anyone?

And what did you do to charge?

Mark

[jin]

Hi Mark.

Late reply, it was an eventful day that day for me.

Resetting the station didn't work.
It did clear the error briefly but then as soon as I plugged in and hit start it came back.
Doing the same but not plugging in, did throw up the error code after 30secs.

There wasn't a contact I could see to which I could call to have it serviced.

Ended up charging from Wollongong central for the most part for 3hrs to get me enough juice to get back to syd very late at night.

From Wollongong central to top of mt Ousley costed me about 25% SOC, was fairly nerve racking, guessometer/own leafspy calcs vs GPS remaining kms said I wasn't going to get there at that point in time.

But then as I moderately hypermiled throughout the trip they eventually came to agreement and later towards the end of the drive the battery range was well in excess.

I ended up rolling into the driveway at home with 23% to spare.





Edit: fixed context

[markrmarkr]

Jan 28, 2019 11:24:20 GMT 11 jin said:

Hi Mark.

Late reply, it was an eventful day that day for me.

Resetting the station didn't work.
It did clear the error briefly but then as soon as I plugged in and hit start it came back.
Doing the same but not plugging in, did throw up the error code after 30secs.

There wasn't a contact I could see to which I could call to have it serviced.

Ended up charging from Wollongong central for the most part for 3hrs to get me enough juice to get back to syd very late at night.

From Wollongong central to top of mt Ousley costed me about 25% SOC, was fairly nerve racking, guessometer/own leafspy calcs vs GPS remaining kms said I wasn't going to get there at that point in time.

But then as I moderately hypermiled throughout the trip they eventually came to agreement and later towards the end of the drive the battery range was well in excess.

I ended up rolling into the driveway at home with 23% to spare.





Edit: fixed context

I'll be down there tomorrow to check it out. According to plugshare a couple of people have used it successfully in the last few days, so fingers crossed.

[alison]

Yes I'm one of them. I got it fixed by messaging SBRC on Facebook and they were most apologetic. Was an earthing issue, fixed in an hour once they opened in business hours.
Go and ask them directly if there's an issue - they seem to manage it locally rather than relying completely on ChargePoint.

[markrmarkr]

I didn't end up going today, but will definitely go on Sunday.

[markrmarkr]

I used the Wollongong Fast-charger twice on Sunday, with no problems.

The second time it was EV'ed by an Imiev charging, but I went and got some coffee and by the time I returned it was all clear.

Mark