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Post by jeffthewalker on Dec 10, 2015 16:02:39 GMT 11
Will it happen? Searching only finds info for July and August 2015. I have emailed Coralee O'Rourke MP who has taken the responsibility for this project.
Brisbane is the population centre so the majority of EVs will be there. Most (say 80%) of trips are within 80km (round trip) of home. Without fast charging infrastructure, EVs will not venture outside of this radius except for rare circumstances and their charging will be done at home or work. For the other 20% of trips alternatives will be found. 2nd vehicle, hire car, public transport, etc.
Of the 20% "other" trips, greater than 90% of these would be "day" trips. That is, to the Gold Coast (and a bit beyond), the Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba. A 20 minute stop half way there would allow for a coffee or snack or a bit of 'picnic' shopping,
Of the one or two remaining annual trips, they could/would be beyond 150km of Brisbane. But these are rare trips and it will be a long time before there are sufficient EVs in Brisbane to justify a fast charging network to cover "real" electric highways. Even with fast charging, a LEAF requires 20 minutes fast charging for each 100km (approx) of driving. It is not a good option.
There will be SE Qld EV owners that do not live in Brisbane (me) and the above does not directly apply to them. But the numbers will dictate the business model.
I started this thread so we (SE Queenslanders) can discuss possibilities, probabilities, best locations, possible sites, business models, etc.
I am going for just off the main highway approximately 80km apart. Beerburum, Eumundi, Nerang, Ipswich.
As an EV (LEAF) owner, I look for excuses to "go for a drive" and I would certainly venture out a lot more for "day" trips if I could be sure to get home again:-). And be happy to pay $0.50c a kWh for "juice".
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Post by jeffthewalker on Dec 11, 2015 12:13:41 GMT 11
You makes your plans, then life comes along.
I have been given an offer I can't refuse. A few months in Western Australia with some paid work attached. I have relatives and friends there that I haven't seen in years so I am on the plane this coming Friday 18th.
The subject of this new thread will still be very close to my heart and I will be very active in this space. Being in WA, I will be able to get up front and personal with real users of the fast charger network over there.
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Post by Feng on Dec 11, 2015 12:27:49 GMT 11
Are you shipping your LEAF over there?
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Post by jeffthewalker on Dec 11, 2015 14:23:58 GMT 11
Are you shipping your LEAF over there? Nah. Love to but can't justify the cost. I will loan it to my daughter and family in Urunga for the couple of months. I hope to catch up with LEAF owners while I am there and dig up as much as I can on their electric car highway. |
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Post by jeffjl on Dec 12, 2015 18:08:38 GMT 11
It might be cheaper to build a new electric highway rather than dig ours up and fly it back with you. The excess baggage will bankrupt you.
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Post by empowerrepower on Mar 15, 2016 23:46:07 GMT 11
Re: BMW fast charger, Brisbane, Fortitude Valley
A best laid plans story: on Saturday night, my husband Adam was going to an International Science Festival event, and wanted to drive the Leaf down from the Sunshine Coast. His plan was to recharge at BMW, as the journey is 80km each way, but with a lot of highway. He stopped on the way down, but was worried about being late to his event, so only charged to nine bars. After the event, about 10.30, he returned to the Valley to top-up a little more. To his horror, he found that BMW becomes an extremely popular parking spot while people are out in the Valley on Saturday night - the cars were parked four deep, so there was no way to get to the charger.
He had to drive home on what he had, and reached zero range at the outskirts of our small town. All a bit nerve-wracking. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a selection of fast chargers to use, sigh, so that if one charger wasn't available, another would be. Mind you, we wouldn't be able to take the Leaf to Brisbane and back without the use of the BMW or Tritium (weekdays) chargers.
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Post by jeffjl on Mar 16, 2016 16:26:01 GMT 11
Cool. So it made it home then. Looks like the car went further than you thought it would.
The blocking of the spot shows that planning for the location of chargers around the city needs to be good. The wrong spot and it becomes unusable.
Was he going to get you to get out and push had you stopped?
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Post by caskings on Mar 16, 2016 17:13:12 GMT 11
Re: BMW fast charger, Brisbane, Fortitude Valley To his horror, he found that BMW becomes an extremely popular parking spot while people are out in the Valley on Saturday night - the cars were parked four deep, so there was no way to get to the charger. I had a close call with this myself. I had a car pull up, with me right behind them. Gave them an earful. "I don't care where else you park, but don't park in front of that charger!" |
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Post by caroline on Mar 17, 2016 11:01:09 GMT 11
Someone needs to politely suggest BMW erect more signage?
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Post by caskings on Mar 17, 2016 14:45:37 GMT 11
It's hard to miss, green painted "EV only" parking bays and both L3 and L2 chargers are self illuminated at night.
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Post by lesmando24 on Mar 24, 2016 20:09:24 GMT 11
UQ St.Lucia and Gatton are now open and running at full speed. Plugshare has been updated
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Post by antigas on Mar 24, 2016 20:37:48 GMT 11
Awesome stuff! The Gatton charger now gives people in Brisbane an option for travel out that way! Thanks for the update.
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Post by stewartm on Mar 24, 2016 23:15:44 GMT 11
Great news, just need a halfway link to the north coast around Caboolture or beerburrum. I would be truly happy.
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Post by caskings on Mar 26, 2016 21:45:01 GMT 11
UQ St.Lucia and Gatton are now open and running at full speed. Plugshare has been updated I'll attempt a drive out to Gatton tomorrow. I should be able to do a round trip without charging if there is an issue with it. |
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Post by lesmando24 on Mar 27, 2016 10:14:14 GMT 11
Nice, you should see it from the outer ring road, lights on both sides
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Post by caskings on Mar 27, 2016 18:31:12 GMT 11
Happy to report that it was quite easy to find and works  Which was just as well as I kept to the speed limit the whole way there and with the various elevation changes, I arrived with under 50% remaining, Was not looking forward to trying to hypermile it home. |
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Post by lesmando24 on Mar 28, 2016 7:52:29 GMT 11
Nice, Toowoomba (t-bar) isn't far away now |
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Post by empowerrepower on Mar 28, 2016 13:04:20 GMT 11
Wow, two new fast chargers. We now have a Plan B if the BMW fast charger is ICED on visits to Brisbane. Good on the University of Qld for installing them, and Lesmando, you've been lobbying them for a while, haven't you? Good work. Do we need to pay for parking to access the one at UQ St Lucia? The instructions say that the access is via the underground car park.
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Post by lesmando24 on Mar 28, 2016 13:51:34 GMT 11
No fee, it is a 30 minute only spot tho as in the maintenance area parking.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 15:37:54 GMT 11
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Post by lesmando24 on Mar 31, 2016 22:23:56 GMT 11
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Post by lesmando24 on Mar 31, 2016 22:25:09 GMT 11
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Post by empowerrepower on Apr 1, 2016 14:33:36 GMT 11
Hi Lesmando, We were in Bris yesterday for our Leaf service, and stopped at UQ to use the charger on the way there, and it was great. Even managed to walk up to the cafe and have a quick coffee. Something we were not sure of - will this charger charge to 100%? The charger at BMW Fortitude Valley will charge further after 80% if we unplug and re-plug it in. Charging to 80% is cutting it fine to get home to the Sunshine Coast with our 100km range - sometimes some heavy traffic or rain cuts down our effective range. Attachments:
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Post by caskings on Apr 1, 2016 15:14:17 GMT 11
It cuts out before 100% charge. But you should be able to do the unplug / replug as it is the same make of charger.
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Post by lesmando24 on Apr 1, 2016 18:02:17 GMT 11
I see this behaviour - If you start below 50% ish, then the LEAF will terminate somewhere after 85% ish. If you start over 50%, then it will go to 95% ish. As far as I know, this is controlled by the car, not the charger. The 80% / Full button is always lit on Full. You need a slow charger to do that final 100%.
les
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Post by Phoebe on Apr 7, 2016 16:21:06 GMT 11
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Post by lesmando24 on Apr 7, 2016 19:21:31 GMT 11
Yeh, we attended today, was very hot in the sun, but since it can run off solar, then was ok |
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Post by stewartm on Apr 7, 2016 20:23:08 GMT 11
Really good grab on abc news qld tonight. Tritium saying in 12 months they will have 200 more chargers in australia with a coverage from Townsville to Victoria I think he said. Well done tritium.
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Post by empowerrepower on Apr 8, 2016 0:06:25 GMT 11
Yeh, we attended today, was very hot in the sun, but since it can run off solar, then was ok Hi Lesmando, I saw that you were on the ABC news, and that Garry Crighton (i3 owner) was interviewed. Who did the BMW i8 belong to? Was it the man in the Tesla tshirt? We often stop and have a look at the i8 at BMW Fortitude Valley when we fast charge there, quite stunning, but so very very expensive at 300K++. There was also a story in the Brisbane Times, which makes the installation of further fast chargers in Qld sound like an aspiration rather than a done deal. link |
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Post by lesmando24 on Apr 8, 2016 8:12:34 GMT 11
The i8 is from Brisbane BMW, they have been very helpful. Nissan didn't do anything as normal. The guy in the Tesla shirt was from the Tesla Owners Club. Yes, the QLD government has earmarked sites for chargers, not sure on any more details tho.
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