So, to say that not much has changed since the last update, well… Not much has really changed regarding the Model 3. The car itself has entered its 20,000km era, meaning it’s at least, in my opinion, no longer a new car.
However, just because she’s no longer brand spankers, doesn’t mean she doesn’t spank.
To showcase how things have been going with the car, i think the most important thing that’s new about the car is hilariously, what i’ve done with it.
I went on my first ever EV Road trip. And honestly? It was the single best roadtrip experience i’ve ever had. Not even kidding here. The Model 3 is a beast of a roadtrip machine, even in Standard Range guise. In this trip, we took a five day road trip to the lovely rural town of Albany, returning during one of the most powerful storms our state has experienced in years. We got to experience wide, sweeping country vistas, got to taste some incredible food, and we got to push ourselves by climbing two of WA’s most breathtaking hiking trails, all with zero tailpipe emissions, and zero stress.
… Okay, some stress, but I can assure you, none of that stress was car-related.
This article is going to be less of a review, and more of just a log of the trip we had.
Day 1: Driving to Albany
So, before we left to go to Albany, we planned our route using A Better Route Planner, or ABRP for short, to make sure that our car was even remotely capable of doing this journey. Thanks to the density of the Tesla Supercharger network in the corridor from Perth to Albany, it was more than possible, and we would likely arrive with about a third of a pack’s worth of charge.
With a tailwind pushing us down, we headed out at roughly 10am towards our first charging destination, the Williams Woolshed. Once we got out of Armadale and headed onto Albany Highway, a quick double-tap on the right scroll wheel put the car into Autopilot mode.
We didn’t need FSD for this trip, as basic AP was more than capable of keeping the lane centred, monitoring traffic behaviour, and adjusting for speeds coming in to and leaving towns. There was a small section of roadworks where I did have to disengage due to the car needing to negotiate contraflow traffic, but it was solid, all the way up until Williams, with the only things I needed to do being the occasional tug on the wheel to help AP know that I was still paying attention.
Honestly, it was one of the most relaxing drives i’ve ever done.
Stop 1: Williams Woolshed Superchargers
We plugged in at the Superchargers here, and charged from 40 to 100%. Yes, i know that’s not best practice for if you want to actually get to your destination quickly, but we stopped here to grab a delicious Cuban toasted sandwich, stretch our legs, and go to the bathroom.
Ironically enough, despite what a lot of EV haters will say, that’s one of the benefits of EV roadtripping, charge times are indeed longer than the splash and dash you need to do with your petrol-powered cars, but stopping at regular intervals is an actively encouraged safe driving practice that helps to reduce fatigue.
Since we were going up to 100%, and due to my car having an LFP battery, one thing I learnt about the car on this trip is that the car’s battery will spend a lot of time sitting at 99% on a DCFC, due to Tesla using that opportunity to allow the cells in the pack to balance out.
LFP batteries have a different charging curve to what most NCA batteries have. NCA, NMC and LiPo batteries have a pretty consistent voltage growth rate throughout their state of charge, with a “flat” battery sitting at about 2.8-3.0v/Cell, and a “full” battery sitting at 4.2V/cell. It then uses a spike in internal resistance to determine when the pack is full.
LFP batteries on the other hand, have a very flat voltage curve. They will sit at 3.0V/Cell for the large span of the life of the pack, with their voltage spikes beginning at the around the 90-95% SoC mark. This sudden sharp spike in voltage is how the pack knows it’s actually full, so on a DCFC, if you go all the way to 100%, the pack will use that last 5% or so to begin balancing the cells and pushing current into the pack to figure out exactly where 100% is.
This was news to me, as when it hit 99% and the charge rate dropped below 7kW or so, it took 10 minutes to go from the start of its “calculating…” phase, to when it was finished balancing and detecting the spike. News to me, because I ended up standing outside in the cold Williams air for those 10 minutes, next to my car, looking like a bit of a burk.
Alas, that’s a lesson learnt for the rest of this trip, and indeed for the next one.
Charging alternative: WA EV Network – Williams Lions Club
Now, for those of us who choose not to use Superchargers (ie, if you have a Non-Tesla EV or you just simply refuse in any way to touch anything to do with old mate Elon), just down the road near the Lion’s Club, theres’ a WA EV Network site which boasts a pair of Kempower 150KW chargers. I love that the WA Government, and those involved with the WA EV network has chosen to go with using Kempower chargers along this route, as they tend to be considerably more reliable than the Tritium PKM and RTM series chargers we’re used to seeing from the likes of Evie Networks’ Autocharge enabled sites, and the old RAC Electric Highway. Like with the RAC Electric Highway, you will need to use the Chargefox app to access these chargers, or you can pay with a debit card at the terminal that’s on site.
Once my bladder was empty, my belly was full, and the car’s pack was charged, it was onto the next charging stop, the Kojonup pull-through Superchargers.
Stop 2: Kojonup Pull-through Chargers (WA EV Network and Tesla Superchargers)
Now, according to the car at least, Thanks to that tailwind, I could’ve actually made it all the way to Albany without needing to stop here, however since we ran into some rain on the way down, I thought it’d be better to be safe than sorry. A quick zap-and-dash here of about fifteen minutes should be more than enough to get me there.
Just off screen, there was a second Tesla there, getting a top-up charge before heading to Albany. About five minutes of me arriving there, a third Tesla showed up. This meant now that Tesla’s congestion pricing was about to kick in.
Essentially, if a site is more than three-quarters occupied, Tesla charges you a congestion charge to make sure that there are chargers free for people to use. It meant that for every minute you remain over 80% whilst plugged in, Tesla was going to charge you $0.50 extra.
Now, before you get mad, this is a good thing. It’s designed to kick people who hog chargers off so that others can use them. Even a Standard Range Model 3 like mine, or heck, even an older SR+ or an older Model Y with a little cell degradation can easily make it to Albany on an 80% charge from this site, no worries. When designing a corridor route, Tesla makes a habit of putting Superchargers within 200km of each-other to make sure that even the oldest of base model Model Ss with 80% of their battery capacity remaining can get from site to site with no issues.
the other thing too, is that all Tesla Superchargers (bar the old V2 units with two plugs and certain V3s) have the potential to be compatible with other CCS2 cars, and in fact, they have to be in order to get access to ARENA funding grants. It’s also why they share a site with the WA EV Network in this case, with a pair of 150kW Kempower S-series dispensers on site in a pull-through configuration.
The only Superchargers that are not compatible with non-Tesla EVs in WA are the Karrinyup Shopping Centre V3 Superchargers, and the Superchargers in Eaton, which are the old V2 type with dual plugs.
We stayed at this charger for around 15 minutes before we unplugged at 80%, successfully making it to Albany with 40% left in the pack.
Stop 3: The Gap and Natural Bridge, Albany Superchargers
With enough charge left in the battery for the rest of the day, we decided to take a drive to The Gap. This is a lovely, picturesque spot where there’s both a rocky inlet, where the waves crash together, and a massive natural stone bridge formed by the erosion of the rocks over time.
We watched the sun set here, and then made our way back into town to fill our battery up. Right near the Albany Superchargers is the WA Museum of the Great Southern, as well as the cellar doors of a couple of key wineries in the area, and a pretty bangin’ steakhouse, which i’ll talk about later, Rustler’s Bar and Grill.
Alternative location: WA EV Network – Albany Old Gaol
For those who don’t wish to use Tesla Superchargers, there’s also a WA EV Network charger next door that utilises Kempower chargers. They also have a dedicated pay terminal for those who don’t wish to use the Chargefox app. These are a bit closer to the train tracks, and honestly in a slightly better spot than the Superchargers, albeit they’re both in a great location for some general sightseeing, and for grabbing a feed.
We charged up to 100% due to us needing to take a pretty long drive on the next day. In the meantime, we went and explored the area that surrounded the museum. There’s a replica of the Brig Amity, the twin-masted, 148-ton, Canadian built exploration and merchant vessel, which brought the first European Settlers, which consisted of 23 convicts and 21 soldiers, to the place that the Menang Noongar people call Kinjarling (Meaning “The Place of Rain”), and what the settlers decided to call the town of Albany.
It was completed in the 1970s, and whilst it is nowhere near seaworthy enough to sail, it’s constructed using similar techniques to how the ship would’ve been built back in the 1810s. You can take a tour during the daytime, but we didn’t have the time to do this.
When we came back to the hotel, we thought of giving the restaurant attached to it a go. It served traditional pub foods using locally sourced meats and ingredients. I got a Lamb Shank with gravy, mash and veggies, and my partner got a seafood pasta. They were alright, all things considered. Not the best lamb i’ve ever had (that’d be ironically enough, at a Best Western Motel restaurant in Geraldton of all places…) but it was pretty decent.
With our batteries and our bellies filled, we returned to our hotel room, very tired and yet still very excited, because the next day, we were going to conquer a mountain.
Day 2: Climbing Bluff Knoll
Now, to sidetrack and wax nostalgic a little, the last time I climbed Bluff Knoll, I was in a pretty sorry state.
It was all the way back in 2018. I had lost my girlfriend at the time, lost my job, lost the home i was staying in with a mate due to the losing of said job, lost both of my cars, Akira, the red MX5 that brought me a last spark of joy before the death of my last relationship, and Leo, the Commodore Wagon which saw me go road-tripping, and form bonds with the mates I still hang out with today.
We were there for a close friend of mine’s 21st birthday. The night before was an absolute rager of an evening, with my best mate getting so drunk that he completely forgot that time existed. Then again, smashing an entire 1 Litre bottle of Little Fat Lamb Ginger Ale will do that to you…
Indeed, I had also taken up drinking a bit. That rager was honestly the lowest point of my life. I was six ciders in, and sitting out the back of my mate’s granddad’s house, looking into the bush, with my phone in my hand, contemplating as to whether or not I should call her. I felt like absolute shit. There was a sense of unwavering dread and misery in my mind.
After all, I had lost everything, so… The only way from here, was up.
I put my bottle of Cider down, Helped said mate get to bed to sleep his drink off, wound down a bit, and after some hilarious events that honestly, I am not really going to post on this Blog, (nothing debaucherous or anything… they’re just a little too funny to post here if you catch my drift.) We all hit the hay, and set out to climb Bluff Knoll the next day.
I did actually make it to the top… About an hour behind everyone else. Mostly because I up-chucked on the mountain. Said mate I helped out the night before stuck around to make sure I was okay. We eventually made it all the way to the top. The only evidence I have of this, was two photos. One of my mates, and one of me, looking absolutely shagged out, taken on my Film camera.
Fast forward to this time. I’ve returned back to the mountain with all the things I had lost, and then some. My wonderful partner, a bag full of snacks, and my Tesla, facing the peak together.
There it is… We meet again.
This time, despite being heavier than I was last time, My partner and I had done extensive training, doing hikes in Ellis Brook Valley, a similar Class IV trail, and hitting the road on our bikes to get our fitness up. We promised ourselves to not go up at a bajillion miles an hour. One step at a time, slowly making our way up.
After all, that’s the only way. The only way is up.
The climb was easy at first, and then we hit the rocky mid section. That’s when things get real serious. My hiking poles did the lion’s share of assisting me with the climb. The rain came and went several times. When one our heart rates went above 160BPM, we’d stop until it dropped back down to 110 to prevent any potential… up-chuck moments.
It’s a climb that tries to find subtle ways to fuck you, but it’s not like an actual full-blown mountain climb, where it’s trying to kill you. This is a prankster of a mountain. Oh, you put your jacket on because of the rain? Enjoy some humidity that makes you take it right back off. Oh, you thought this ground was flat? Sike! Here’s an eroded step or three. Oop, you thought you were hot, now it’s time to bring in the sub-zero wind chill into the mix.
It was a gruelling and exhausting two and a half hours… But man…
Is the view at the top worth it? I damn sure believe that it is.
I got a little teary when I was up there. Honestly, there’s no shame in crying, especially if you’re happy.
The last time I was here, I was at the highest, yet lowest point of my life. I’d lost it all, but man… I conquered a mountain! To add to that, my mate whose birthday we were celebrating was both literally, and neurochemically, the highest man in WA. We had a good joke about it on the way back down. My mates and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, but at the end of the day, if you like them enough, you can put those differences aside and enjoy people for who they are. Honestly, it was one of the most memorable and important parts of my life, and the fact that I climbed that mountain the first time, proved to me that I could indeed go through physically and mentally tough situations.
This time around, I came here with a sense of greater achievement. I went from borderline homelessness, sleeping in my best mate’s caravan, to having a fun and and enjoyable job, owning a home that we’ve almost paid off, with an incredible partner by my side, driving a car I’d never think i’d even remotely be able to afford, enjoying an unforgettable experience together.
So if there’s only one piece of advice i can give to anyone, especially these days in the Year of Our Lord 2026 with all the various crises giving us left and right hooks to the face and nuts at the same time… When you’re down on your luck, remember that The Only Way is Up.
Every step we took up, might look like one step, but there’s hundreds of rocks, and thousands of pebbles, and millions of grains of sand beneath our feet. So even if the progress you make is small, all the little achievements, the rocks, the pebbles, the grains of sand, are achievements of their own.
Except now the only way from the top of this mountain… is down. And just like last time I climbed this mountain. Down is oftentimes way worse than up.
It took another two and a half hours of knee-killing, calf-tearing descent to get to the bottom of this gods-forsaken mountain. At the bottom, I felt like I had aged a solid 40 years. I finally knew what it was like to be an Octogenarian. By the time we got back to the car, I wanted to curse this mountain for punishing me… But, I kinda needed this. It was the culmination of hard work, and a sign that You, I or indeed anyone, can climb a mountain… If they put their mind to it.
But there was a reward at the end of it all. Remember that steakhouse i mentioned before, right across from the Superchargers? Well, that’s where we were going to get dinner.
Maybe it was the hike, maybe it was me giving into the sunk-cost fallacy because I spent a solid $60 on dinner, or maybe it was the absolutely banging green peppercorn sauce, but the Scotch i got there was one of the nicest steaks i’ve ever had. We waxed nostalgic about that hike, chatted over our meal, and about 40mins later, we were back up to 100%. We grabbed a six-pack of Cider, headed back to our room, and crashed for the night.
Day 3: Elephants Rock and Denmark Good Food Co.
Now, today was the day we decided to wind down a little. I’d had a rough night’s sleep on the count of the pillows in the hotel we were staying at being this weird mix of hard and soft. I had to fashion a pillow out of taking one of the blankets the hotel had provided and turning it into a pillow that more closely resembled what I had back at home. I still had a rough night, but i got just enough sleep, and a decent enough breakfast that it meant that I could continue the trip.
Now, Bluff Knoll absolutely punished the crap out of us. My legs felt like they were made of hessian ropes, twisting and straining under the weight of the sails of an old, rickety ship. But, we had places to visit, and one of those places was the Denmark Good Food Co.
The last time we were down here, we took a detour here because I lost the one of the wheel nuts off my old ute.
You might not be able to see it, but look closely at the front right wheel. That stud at the bottom that’s showing? Yeah. That’s a lost wheel nut…
So, whilst we did enjoy our ciders and had a banger of a feed there last time, the journey home, at least for me, was riddled with very real anxiety about the potential of my wheel falling off several kilometres out of town. Thankfully there was an Auto One in town that had wheel nuts in my car’s size in stock… That I unfortunately had to buy as a full set.
This time around though? No such worries. Tesla had done a tire rotation for me when i got the stalk retrofit done, so I trust that at least their service team to have at least screwed the wheels on properly… lol.
So, now fast forward to today’s activities. Now I didn’t get a decent photo of the Tesla, we did have a great time, enjoying the food and the country scenery here.
We had a bite to eat, grabbed some of their delicious toffee, and one of their Elephant Rock Cidery tasting flights. I personally really liked their Jalapeno infused cider, which went super well with the Angus beef burgers we had.
And in terms of their toffee? Well… Ironically enough i’d say go with their chilli and lime toffee. It’s surprisingly delicious.
On the way out, we got visited by a wandering flock of ducks, and then once they’d left, we made our way to the Elephant Rocks.
Arriving here, about 10-ish minutes after we left the Good Food co, we took a short walk to both Green’s Pool and the Rocks themselves. Our legs hurt so much that even the very slight downward inclines caused both mine and my partner’s legs to twinge.
But… Despite the cloudiness of the day, I still feel it was worth the painful walk.
…And these are the Elephant Rocks themselves. Named as such after the fact that they vaguely resemble a herd of wandering elephants… And you can actually kinda see that. I’d go exploring a little more here, but the stairs down to the beach to the left of frame were steep, nowhere near as steep as Bluff Knoll… But still, pretty steep for my pained legs.
Unlike the return home with the ute, the drive back into town with the Tesla? Super relaxing. Autopilot handled the whole trip with only minor interventions. I did have to slow it down a little because it took some of the turns through Denmark’s winding forest roads a little too quick for my liking, but that’s nothing a few flicks on the right scrollwheel couldn’t fix.
Now, do I think FSD would be worth it for this trip over standard AP? Honestly, no.
That’s because FSD’s party trick (and honestly the main reason why you’d want it) is that it handles navigating surface streets semi-autonomously.
If you drive a lot, and I do mean a lot, in urban areas, FSD really is worth it, especially when it comes to reducing driver fatigue for people whose job it is to drive from place to place. Sales reps, Uber Drivers, Real-estate agents, Healthcare workers, etc. would really benefit from using FSD.
Now, i’m not sure about if you could claim FSD’s subscription fee as a work expense… that’d be a question for your accountant, but I’m sure it’d make it way easier to do your work, so that might be a good excuse to twist your boss’s or your missus’ arm about getting it…
Now, FSD can and does handle road tripping extremely well, especially V14’s latest renditions, but for the long, straight-ish drives that we’re doing on this trip? AP handled this task more than adequately for us. So, we saved ourselves the $150 and instead decided to just use the car’s included AP instead.
When we finally arrived back in Albany, I felt like I could sleep for a week. Even with the morning coffee, I just felt like my body was absolutely destroyed. We decided to take a walk at the Old Gaol, looking at the museum for a little bit. Mostly because we needed to go to the bathroom and grab a charge, but also because we were genuinely curious as to what was being exhibited there. They had this neat exhibition on at the time about the history of the local wool textile producing industry, with dozens of examples of wool garments sourced from Albany locals there. I felt cosy just being surrounded by so many warm blankets… Lol.
Once the car was full, we popped into the local Kmart and picked up a Body pillow to help me sleep a little better, grabbed some Voltaren for my muscles, and then grabbed some Pizza Hut for dinner.
Ironically enough, the pizza we got was… Kinda good?
I always thought Pizza Hut was the worse of the two brands in the rock-golem-fistfight between Domino’s and Pizza Hut, but man… Stuffed Crust Pizzas are goated. I think i’m probably a Pizza Hut convert… Well, maybe in the case of Albany anyways… I’d have to try the local ones around my area to see if the quality stacks up.
Update: Not gonna lie, stuffed crust still goes hard even back in Perth. Domino’s, count your days.
We returned back to the hotel, had some drinks, enjoyed our Pizza, and chilled out for the evening. I ended up crushing a couple of seasons of Stardew Valley before hitting the hay for the night. We’d be taking on yet another hike, this time, the Castle Rock/Granite Skywalk trail… I mean, we were going to be attempting another Class IV hike with incredibly stiff, torn muscles… what could possibly go wrong here?
Day 4: Granite Skywalk/Castle Rock Trail
The Granite Skywalk would be our last hike for the trip. This one would take me quite a bit longer than expected, because of course, my legs were still absolutely killing me, even after a solid night’s rest.
The climb to Castle Rock itself is actually not as steep as Bluff Knoll’s is. It’s a shallower gradient with only a few short steep sections. The hardest part though, according to the trail map at least, worked out to be surprisingly easy. It’s a small rambling section where you have to crawl through a gap between some rocks, using pre-placed metal stirrups in the rock faces.
If a fat bastard like me can clamber through them, it’s not too hard for someone fitter than me to do so. We successfully made it through the gaps, climbed up the ladder, and ended on the skywalk itself. Pretty nice.
Going down was the harder part, just like with Bluff Knoll, only this time my quads were completely shagged out. Every step was painfully twingy, my muscles lagged out and my knees would lock up from time to time due to leg spasms. It took us an hour to get up, and two hours to get down.
Returning back to the car, just as we got back, the rain kicked on, and we tailgated for a bit, waiting for the rain to pass. We warmed up the seats, and drove back into town for a well-deserved nap. Once again, we got some pizza for dinner, and then went to bed early. We’d have an early start that morning for the return trip home.
Day 5: Returning Home
We woke up to the sound of roaring car engines. No, it wasn’t the local bogans doing circle work to celebrate WA Day, instead it was actually the Albany Classic car race, which happens once a year. It’s kinda neat, actually, you get to see a bunch of old cars ripping through the centre of Albany, being driven as if they were stolen. I’ve seen this event before, the last time I came down here. But, we didn’t have the time to enjoy this event, because our return trip was going to be a race against a couple of other Teslas.
We got breakfast at the local Maccas’, and then headed to the Albany Superchargers one last time. Overnight, the rain had really come down hard, and winds were looking to be extremely forceful for us on the way back home. The weather map on the car’s display was a sea of green… Not good for our range.
This would absolutely mean we needed to stop at least twice on the way back home. One small problem though… We weren’t alone. A fellow Model 3 was parked up at the chargers, getting a charge already when we arrived. This one would be an older model Standard Range Plus. We charged up to 96%, unplugged, and headed out.
The headwinds? Atrocious. Our efficiency, tanked. Well, not tanked, we were doing a little worse than usual, but headwinds added an extra 20 or so Wh/Km to the consumption figure. We arrived at Kojonup at 50-ish percent, hoping that we could push it back to 90 or so. There was four Teslas, charging simultaneously, including a newly minted Model Y L, that I got to see for the first time.
All of the sudden, we got hit pretty much immediately with the usage charge dialog at 80%. We quickly unplugged, and made an autopilot-powered beeline for Williams, where we’d top up to 80% yet again.
Autopilot made this return trip, despite the wooly weather conditions and the wind, basically flawless. Lane centring was good, and it kept a good distance from other cars, despite the low visibility.
We didn’t have the time to stay long at Williams, probably only about 15 minutes or so. We went for a quick stretch and a pee, and then hopped back in at 80%. One and a half hours later, we arrived back in Armadale, fuss free, and without a hitch. We went to the Evie Networks chargers at the Armadale shops, where i bumped into mum, surprisingly enough, giving her Atto 3 its weekly charge.
She tends to rely more on the DCFC network than I do, as she sees EVs as a way to save fuel cost more than anything. $0.75/kWh at a DCFC is considerably cheaper than the $1.65/L cost of fuel, and both her old Kona and the Atto 3 get about the same Unit-per-100km figure levels of efficiency. Sure, the range of the Atto 3 is a lot less, 600km/tank in the ICE Kona, 400-ish for a 100-10% charge in the Atto 3, but the range is plenty enough for her to tackle most of her day-to-day driving.
We both topped up to 100%, and the two of us spent time going to the shops, picking up groceries and some clothes. We came back to two topped off cars. I came back to possibly the most expensive charging bill of the whole trip, $26 to top off 37kWh. Then again, if mum charged at Superchargers without a Tesla Membership? She’d be paying about the same per kWh.
We returned home with 97% on the clock. Overall efficiency was about 160-ish Wh/Km. Not too shabby despite the weather conditions.
Wait… This whole thing was just a roadtrip diary?
Yeah, it was. There really isn’t too much to add at this mark. Honestly, the car has been so efficient and reliable that there really isn’t that much to add. I know it’s still only fairly new at 20,000-plus km, but it has honestly been one of the most reliable, fuss-free vehicles I’ve ever owned.
Although, there is one thing I think i might add as a side note.
The true cause of Range Anxiety, and a rant about charging stations.
Now, this is a thing that a lot of people who are unfamiliar with EVs, and especially Teslas fail to understand. Range Anxiety is absolutely real, and its primary cause isn’t the overall range of the car, it’s predominantly down to how EVs measure their range.
See you are probably used to a petrol car measuring its capacity as a fraction of a tank. Teslas and indeed most other EVs, they measure their capacity in a precise percentage of battery. One thing I and indeed most former ICE heads will feel is a sense of dread once their battery goes below say, 90%, and it’s not because Teslas will suddenly die out, it’s because that number feels smaller than it actually is.
Let’s think about it for a second. You never refer to your fuel tank in terms of a hard percentage, you usually just say “Oh, i’ve burnt an eighth of a tank of fuel”, when in reality, that’s 12.5% of your tank’s capacity.
That means in this EV, using 1/8th of a tank means your battery will be at 87.5%, that means you’ve used roughly 7.5kWh of energy in a Model 3 SR battery pack.
But in that 7.5kWh of energy, you would’ve gone about 65km at the car’s typical 11.5kWh/100km summer urban range, and about 55km with its winter urban range of 13.5kWh/100km. 50-65km is a lot of distance. It’s enough to cover a return trip to and from Crown Casino from Armadale, and it’d take only four hours to recover from a standard 240V outlet.
But that 87% feels smaller than 7/8ths of a tank, because our stupid monkey minds aren’t used to thinking in declining percentages, they’re used to the fractioning of a fuel gauge. The way we percieve these numbers is entirely different, and therefore makes us feel different.
So this is why despite the fact that I rant about this verbatim, sometimes, yes, even I fall victim to it as well. It makes it even more anxiety-inducing considering that I live in an apartment block, without my own dedicated parking bay for charging. Yet, my stupid monkey brain cannot overcome the percentages.
I therefore feel that this is the biggest thing holding people back from pulling the trigger. It’s this idea that you’re gonna run out of range because the percentages look scarier than the old-fashioned fuel gauge. The thing is, the percentages don’t really matter if you’ve got a place to plug in, and you plug in before that gauge hits 10% or so. Now, is measuring percentage over fractions a better way to display energy? Hell yes. Do I think it’s a key factor in holding people back from EVs? Sure. The solution to this is to both educate people better on what effective range is, and to just simply build more goddamn public chargers.
I do argue we need more public chargers, sure. I think we need to focus less on how fast they are, and more about where they’re located, and then match the speed of said charger to the amount of time an average person will stay at that location for.
A great example of this is the difference between the Kojonup and Williams Superchargers. Williams was great. They had a cafe, toilets and rest facilities nearby, there was no marked parking bays (meaning that people in other EVs can absolutely do an awkward side park and not block the other bays), and they’re relatively quick.
Kojonup on the other hand, was bare-bones, no nearby facilities without a long walk, and they’re situated in a spot that’s far away from any cafes, rest areas and toilets. Sure, it’s a pull-through station, but it’s also in an odd spot.
Armadale’s Evie Networks is honestly, a banger charger in a banger location. You can park up, get a charge, go do your weekly shop, and come back with a full battery. It’s appropriately specced for such a purpose too. 150kW split between two handles per dispenser, meaning you will be able to charge from dead to full in about an hour or so if two cars share the same dispenser. This is what we need to see more of. Lower powered chargers but in better locations. If the intent is to have the car sit for an hour or so, why not let the charger be a bit slower?
Another set of chargers I like, but i’ve yet to visit, are the 60kW Chargefox units at Woolies in Eglinton. It’s quite a drive up to get there, But it’s honestly a banger spot for these tiny little 60kW units. This is because most people will pop into woolies either on the way home, or on the way to the nearby beaches in Two Rocks for snacks. So, if you get people to stop and shop for an hour, that makes perfect sense for both northerly roadtrippers, and for residents who live in Eglinton who aren’t charging at the traino. Winner winner!
So, the biggest flaw really with the Tesla, is the same problem with faces every EV in Australia, a simply underdeveloped infrastructure network. This is not the fault of EVs though, it’s mostly because EVs only currently make up about 2-5% of all vehicles on the road in Australia. Despite their banger sales over the past six months, the fleet is still quite small… but it is growing, especially over east.
It’s also making me think long and hard about where I want to live next. I am considering making the switch away from an Apartment, to either a Villa or a smaller single-family house, mostly because well… Sadly, WA and its people prefer things this way. Apartments with EV charging are rare and expensive, especially when it comes to Strata, and apartment living is considered almost a luxury thing for most people. If you tell someone you have an inner-city apartment, they’ll probably think you’re a baller or something, and baller, i most certainly am not.
Public chargers will do a great job, especially in the daytime, of soaking up excess solar from the grid that doesn’t get stored in batteries, especially for apartment owners. However, if we want more people to make the switch to EVs, we need to really consider where and how many chargers need to be built. Hell, designing cities around the need to not own a car would honestly be fantastic, but that’s an entirely different rant topic all together.
In short, I think the Model 3 Highland still is one of the best cars you can buy on the road right now. It’s efficient, it’s practical, it goes hard on road trips, it blends into traffic, and it’s borderline fuss-free. I’d still buy a Model Y if I did it again, probably a Model Y L even (that’s most likely going to be our next car), for the added practicality of six seats and PowerShare, but all in all, the Model 3 is a cracker car that I would heartily recommend to anyone who has the means, and the ability to own one.
It’s honestly still the best car i’ve ever owned. Here’s to another 10,000km, and many many more to come.
Beano out.