Contracts have been signed for the Perth Tesla location in the old Renault/Peugeot Dealership on Main Street and Scarborough Beach Roads. Test Drives begin soon from that location, but the service centre may take a little longer to move over.
The new ultra-rapid charging location at Australind/Treeton is nearing completion.
This location will have a pair of 350kW Tritium chargers which will be some of the fastest in WA – Older Teslas are unlikely to see much value over the nearby Supercharger, but Model 3 owners will certainly see better rates here.
Expected to be Australia’s second biggest battery, the proposed 100MW, 200MWh big battery will be bigger than 20 tennis courts, side-by-side, and have the capacity to power 160,000 homes for two hours, and to be housed at the decommissioned Kwinana Power Station.
WA’s energy sector is experiencing a rapid transformation, with a major uptake of largescale renewables and rooftop solar. One in three households have rooftop solar panels and this is expected to rise to 50 per cent of households by 2030.
Increased pressure on WA’s electricity system and inaction could result in significant blackouts in coming years.
The big battery will support integration of more renewable energy and improve grid security. It can be charged during the day, when the sun is shining and energy is plentiful, and discharge this energy when it is most needed during the afternoon and evening peak.
Batteries will help the wider electricity system and the market by ‘smoothing’ demand issues, such as low load, which is encountered when customer solar generation is high but power demand is low.
In fantastic news for all Tesla owners, we are thrilled to confirm that a supercharger station is being installed in Williams early next year at the Williams Woolshed. It will be a great day when our Eaton Supercharger finally loses its coveted most isolated Supercharger in the world honor.
We are pleased to announce a family drive day to Lancelin next Sunday 28th June.
We will be gathering at the Alkimos Tesla Destination charger at The Gateway Shopping Precinct, 15 Graceful Blvd, Alkimos WA 6038, from 10:00am, before driving in convoy to Wangaree Park, 8 Rock Way, Lancelin WA 6044 at about 11:00am.
We expect to arrive at Lancelin at about noon.
Wangaree park has numerous facilities including shaded playground, skate park, gazebos, BBQs and public toilets. There is also a bakery across the street and an IGA around the corner.
Bring a picnic and enjoy a relaxing afternoon at one of Western Australia’s best kept holiday secrets.
Wangaree Park PlugShare reference: https://www.plugshare.com/location/241564
Alkimos Tesla Destination Charger PlugShare reference: https://www.plugshare.com/location/130455
I’ll get straight to point on my personal view, using Hydrogen in heavy industry has good potential, replacing inefficient and heavily polluting fossil fuels with an energy storage medium that can be made from renewable energy is a step in the right direction. The problem is the large and ever increasing finances being used to market the “Hydrogen economy” is seemingly aimed at promoting Hydrogen fuel for road transport, specifically passenger vehicles.
When internal combustion engines were the only transport drivetrain possible the message was HFCVs have potential but they’re still at least 10 years away, this message has now turned to why buy a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) when the better HFCV has almost arrived. Let me be perfectly clear, competitive Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles were 10 years away in 1980, they were 10 years away in the year 2000 and now in 2020 they are still 10 years away.
If HFCVs are apparently better than BEVs what advantages do they have? Basically in two areas and they’re both debatable, potential 5 minute refills and 600kms per tank is only an advantage in country areas for drivers with large bladders, around the city and suburbs where the average car travels 40kms per day it will not improve the driving experience.
So what are the disadvantages compared to a pure Battery Electric Vehicle? Without making this a long technical article I’ll just point out a few of many: HFCVs have far less performance, less interior room; they can’t be refilled at home as can be done with BEVs; they have more serviceable parts that add to the running and production costs; but most significantly the refueling cost per kilometre driven is multiple times more expensive than a BEV. The last is due to two clear reasons: one is the need to purchase fuel from a centralized energy system and two is the enormously inefficient process of producing and transporting Hydrogen fit for a vehicle, currently it requires 3 times the overall energy to move a HFCV the same distance as BEV. Regardless of the initial power source it would require 3 times the Solar farms, 3 times the Wind turbines or most significantly 3 times the Natural Gas to move a large fleet of Hydrogen vehicles the same distance as a fleet of Battery Electric Vehicles, that’s a massive waste of resources and a massive waste of money, money that will be extracted from the wallets of drivers gullible enough to fall for the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle sales pitch.
The RAC Electric Highway network is changing service provider to Chargefox.
Please see below a copy of the RAC’s announcement:
RAC built the very first Electric Highway® in Australia, so you can charge up your car while driving from Perth to Augusta and back.
We would like to let you know that from Wednesday, 17 June 2020 we will be switching to a new service provider, Chargefox. Members and the community will have access to Australia’s largest EV charging network.
To continue to access the RAC Electric Highway® users will need to download the free Chargefox app. The app allows users to:
| • | Get real-time information about charging stations – whether that’s nearby, en route or at your destination |
| • | Find and use charging stations |
| • | See the status of your charging session while you shop, play or eat |
| • | Stop your charging session |
| • | Pay for charging |
Download the free Chargefox app via:
Alternatively, you may request a free RFID card at chargefox.com/rfid.
Please note, there will be a service disruption for up to six days from Wednesday, 17 June 2020 during the transition. Prior to travelling, please click here for updates.
A number of owners asked questions yesterday about carrying a spare tyre, before I go in to detail the Tesla owners club of WA have a free to use model 3 spare for members plus McCarthy’s in Nedlands carry at least one spare for model S cars, if you have a model X get in contact and TOCWA as we also have a owner’s spare that’s available.
So do you need to carry a spare tyre?
• For around the city and suburbs the answer is NO, in fact I would recommend getting your car flat bed trucked to a tyre centre rather than risk injury changing a tyre in a city full of distracted drivers.
• If you’re driving on the busy coastal corridor that passes through Mandurah-Bunbury-Dunsborough-Augusta there’s enough support to go without a spare tyre so the choice is yours.
•If you’re planning a drive North of Jurien Bay, East of Cunderdin or South-East towards Esperance I highly suggest you carry a full size spare tyre and jack, the chances of you getting damage to a near new set of quality tyres is low but if you do get a tyre failure the consequences can be very expensive and extremely frustrating.
Carrying a tyre repair kit is NOT sufficient, these are only useful for plugging small holes caused by tech screws, most tyre damage in regional areas is caused by a very rare but unavoidable pothole or a foreign object that’s fallen off another vehicle.
What about a space saver spare? For country roads these are crap, I can’t see the point of driving at slow speed for up to 300kms to the next town only to spend the next 3 days hanging around waiting for a replacement tyre to be transported in, best to carry a full size spare with plenty of remaining tread that will allow you to enjoy a stress free journey.
It was great to meet up on Wednesday from our own homes (and in some cases, cars!). Good to put new faces to names and chat.
We plan to have a more structured meeting soon with some of the key topics that came up, in more of a streamed format – stay tuned, and thanks again
It is, unfortunately, an understatement to say that circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 global pandemic (caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus) are changing at an ever-increasing rate. A growing list of sporting, social and corporate events are being cancelled by the hour and several countries are imposing comprehensive bans on any form of group gatherings. Our next casual meetup is scheduled in Fremantle on 5th April 2020. Considering current developments, this event will not go ahead. It’s further prudent to postpone our following monthly meetups until there is governmental advice indicating that public gatherings can safely and appropriately resume.
In the meantime, be rest assured that TOCWA will continue all its other functions of supporting members and the wider Tesla community. Our loan adaptors will continue to be readily accessible and we are at hand to provide technical and advocacy support to anyone seeking it.
