EV Trip Sydney Melbourne Orbost Cann River Cooma Canberra Sydney

Categorised as EV Trips
Map of Electric Vehicle trip Sydney Melbourne Cann River Cooma Canberra Sydney
Map of Electric Vehicle trip Sydney Melbourne Cann River Cooma Canberra Sydney

This 1,988km trip in my EV is during summer in Australia and involves freeway travel at 110 km/hr and main road travel at 100 or 80 km/hr.

Summary
This trip allowed me to do some long legs between charges, each with varying consumption.

The leg of 367km from Melbourne to Orbost used 80% of my battery. So I  estimate that is about 45.9 km for each 10% of charge this route, at the speed limits, with air con on.

This dropped down to 40km per 10% on the 1,100m climb from the coast over the mountains to Cooma.

Cooma to Goulburn leg was 208km and my consumption was 48.4km per 10% of battery.

Goulburn to Sydney was downhill 211km and was average 55.5km for 10% of battery.

On average, my use of air con may make up 4% of use, preconditioning battery (including for supercharging) 2%, there is some other use, up to 3.3% and going uphill also added to driving consumption on those uphill legs.

My notional EV real range on this 1,988km trip for each 10% of battery, seemed to vary from 40km to 55km, depending on conditions such as whether climbing or descending mountain ranges or running flat and also my speed.

The Trip South

Left Sydney with 87% and after 212km, driving uphill in my EV to 642m, I stopped for a break and coffee at the park in Goulburn, with 38%. That’s about 43km per 10% of battery for that leg. I topped up at the Tesla EV Supercharger Goulburn from 38% back to 85% while getting my coffee .

Goulburn to Oliver’s Gundagai, 175km, stopped for a break, food and plugged in Tesla EV Supercharger Gundagai, topping up from 51% to 82% in the 22 minutes I was there. The 175km using 51% is equivalent to a real range of 51.5km per 10% of battery.

Travelled 195km Gundagai to Wodonga Library, at real range of 44km per 10% battery. I stopped for a break, and to catch up on messages in the large air conditioned library with great facilities, topping up from 38% to 80% in 28 minutes at the Tesla EV Supercharger in the carpark.

Wodonga to Yea, was 232km using 53%, that’s about 44km per 10% of battery. I stopped at the Yea Country Club Hotel for a break, and did some shopping while topping up at the Tesla EV Superchargers from 27% to 83% in 30 minutes. I don’t need that today, but I had things to do in Yea and that extra charge will give me some spare for next few days in the Yarra Ranges.

Today’s trip in my EV was 870km over 11.5 hours, which included 4 breaks of about 20-30 min each (in which I also charged). My EV’s screen tells me that energy used for this trip on actual driving was 129kWh at an average rate of 14.9kWh per 100km. There was ancillary energy use on top of this for air con, battery conditioning etc as well. My average real range was 44.5% per 10% of battery used.

Over next 3 days I did 73km local travel in my EV around Yarra Ranges and Yarra Valley.

Return via Orbost & Cann River

Left the Yarra Valley about 8:15 in 17 degrees with 100% heading off to Orbost. EV charging in Orbost is now possible with a new Chargefox fast charger recently installed. My EV predicted I’d arrive with 25% left, but on the way reduced this to 19%. I was travelling at or slightly below the speed limits, with cruise control, lane assist occasionally and air con. I stopped halfway at the park in Stratford for a break and coffee, but I didn’t need to charge during this trip. I actually arrived with 20% left. It was 26 degrees in Orbost when I arrived at 1:40pm and I had covered 367km, using 80% of my battery, that’s 45.9 km for each 10%, so I had about 90 km range left when I arrived. So, on the day’s consumption so far, my full range of 100% would take me 459 km. My EV’s energy stats screen says I consumed 79.6% broken down as 72.4% driving, 4.1% on air con, and 3.3% on other things.

So, without air con, I could have 4% more range if I needed it.

I topped up at the Orbost EV Charger from 30% to 80% which took 1hr.

Tesla 3LR 2021 model 75kWh battery 367km highway trip stats
Orbost EV Charger
Orbost EV Charger

The leg slightly up hill to Cann River was about 80 km and took my battery from 80% to 60% or 40km per 10%. This included using energy to precondition my battery for supercharging at Cann River. EV charging at Cann River includes a Chargefox fast charger and Tesla Superchargers. I plugged in to the Tesla EV Supercharger at Cann River to top up to 90% for my next leg up the Great Dividing Range 1,100m to Cooma via Bombala.

The 176km trip uphill over the mountains used 45%, arriving with 45% on the mountains at Cooma. That’s about 40km per 10% of charge.

Day 6

I used sentry overnight at my motel which used 5%, so I had a coffee and charged from 40% up to 80% at the Tesla EV Supercharger at Coles in Cooma, then headed via Canberra & Goulburn to Sydney.

Goulburn was 208km using 43% battery, an average of 48.4 km per 10%. Speed limits were 100 or 110 on the trip, lane assist used but ac was off as it was only 16-17 degrees this morning. Of the 43%, my car stats screen says 39.7% was used driving, 2.2% battery conditioning, 2% other things. If I’d needed air con that may have used an extra 4%.

Energy stats Cooma to Goulburn 208km
Energy stats Cooma to Goulburn 208km

Left cloudy 20degrees Goulburn 642m above sea level with 80% and travelled downhill, arriving in Sydney 98m above sea level at 30 degrees after 211km using 38%of my battery. I had aircon all the way and some lane assist. This is 55.5km per 10% of my battery, or about 555km for 100%.

While this leg was downhill, I am thinking maybe my car also is most efficient drawing power from the battery when in the range  40-80%