🚗 My first EV road trip

We had plans to go up to the King Valley for the weekend. My parents had rented a place just outside of a small town called Moyhu. My wife and I have been considering an EV for our next vehicle and having recently joined the team at Chargefox had made me curious to learn more about the experience of public charging and longer EV car trips. So, we figured it was a great opportunity to do a bit of a road trip in an electric vehicle along the Hume Highway.

Initially, we thought about hiring a car through Evee or Sixt. However, given we wanted to take our puppy with us we weren’t sure we’d be able to rent an EV that was pet friendly. We considered other options and eventually decided to borrow my mum’s Renault Zoe. Pet friendly and wouldn’t cost us a cent – perfect! The catch? She had always driven it within the city and had charged at home. This was an experiment to see what a road trip experience would be like. We didn’t really know what to expect. So, we hopped in the car and headed on our way up to our first charging stop – Euroa. Spirits were high. I was working away in the passenger seat, The dog was having a nice little snooze in the back – everything was going smoothly. But that wouldn’t last long.

Arriving at Chargefox Euroa and my first mistake

First impression was that the charging station was in a convenient but not exactly picturesque spot. It’s next to a petrol station beside to the Hume Highway. One driver I spoke to mentioned the location issues of charging stations, mentioning that they had to ‘picnic in a ditch’ when recently using another public charger.

Chargefox Euroa did have some amenities though, such as a Maccas so at least there was something.

When we tried to charge, we realised our error – our little Zoe didn’t like CCS2. We tried a couple of different plugs just to be sure but as soon as I saw ‘connection error’ on the car dash I knew we were in trouble.

😬 Learning #1: Unfortunately, charging an EV is way more complex than I expected.

We had done some research beforehand to figure out our route and how much charging we would need to do to make it to Moyhu. We used A Better Route Planner (ABRP), Chargefox and Plugshare. I had checked the model of car with my dad to make sure I knew the range and other ‘quirks’ of the car. However, what I hadn’t realised is that there was different variants of the same model. One model was compatible with CCS2, the other wasn’t. You can probably guess which one we had.

Other folks charging at same time were quick to offer help or a sympathetic comment. Someone charging their Nissan Leaf said she had been at the station a few days earlier and it hadn’t been working that might be why we were having issues. A bloke who had pulled up in his BYD Atto 3 recommended calling the phone number on the charger. Unfortunately, these suggestions were futile as it was a compatibility issue with our car and the station.

We asked the person behind the counter at the petrol station if there was a wall plug we could use to charge. No dice. So, we made the call to try to find somewhere else to charge. My grand plan had been to observe and talk to drivers whilst we were charging but at this point I have to admit I was too stressed to even think about it. We could potentially make it to Moyhu on one charge but it was very risky. I pictured us on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. So I chose the safer but slower option of trying to find a wall plug.

My final takeaways from Chargefox Euroa was that when the chargers were working, it was fine. There was other drivers who pulled up and started charging with no issues. However, for the chargers that weren’t working (one was faulted and the other awaiting parts) it was a frustrating experience for us and I’m sure it was for other drivers. There was no clear indication something was wrong if you pulled up to the charger, unless you happened to be looking at the CF app.

Wall charging at a toilet block and family comes to the rescue

So onwards on our journey, we had to find a wall plug as there was virtually no Type 2 charging stations within reach. We first went to a rest stop 10 minutes down the road, only to find that the power plug was on the side of a toilet block and out of reach for our car. No luck. At this point, I was already driving 20kmh under the speed limit to conserve battery and tensions were high.

😟 Learning #2: Charge anxiety is very much a real problem.

One thing that my wife and I had talked about on our journey was how the anxiety around charging had removed the ‘fun’ out of the road trip. I found myself constantly checking the amount of range I had left to find a working wall plug. We weren’t enjoying the experience, which didn’t feel in the spirit of why we were doing it. I’m confident that this will become less of a problem when there’s more chargers and bigger batteries but that wasn’t any comfort as we desperately tried to find a place to charge.

We ended up further up the Hume Highway, just outside Benalla at another rest stop. At that point, we had about 11% battery left. We had a portable EVSE and an accessible wall plug so we managed to finally start getting a charge! Unfortunately, given the very small amount of power we could draw from the plug we would need to stay there for at least a few hours to make it to Moyhu. Not exactly an enticing prospect.

Thankfully, Benalla was familiar territory for me. My mum was born and grew up there. I have many fond memories of stinking hot summers during my childhood playing barefoot cricket in Nan and Poppa’s backyard. I also still have some family who have a farm just outside town. So, we got on the phone with my aunty and uncle to see if they had a wall plug we could use. They very graciously let us make the 20 minute drive to their property on the outskirts of Benalla. My dad had come from Moyhu to help us at this point, so we made our way to the farm together.

🗺️ Learning #3: EV drivers in Australia need to plan ahead way more than ICE vehicle drivers.

If I could do the trip over, I would have ensured that I had a plan in case something went wrong. I had used apps like Plugshare and ABRP but only to figure out the ‘happy path’. Next time, I’ll definitely be much more tactical in the route I take and the distances I go to make it a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

The family farm is truly magical and has a very special place in our history. Poppa originally ran it as a working farm and I still remember helping him in the shearing shed and the chicken coop. It’s where also my parents had their wedding reception 38 years ago. My uncle inherited the farm a long time ago and has a background in landscape design – so as you can imagine the gardens are phenomenal. The doggo had a great time running through the sprinklers.

As we sat there, having a nice cold drink under the shade of old trees, listening to the sounds of cockatoos over head I took the time to appreciate the moment. Maybe my not great first EV experience wasn’t so bad after all?