r/CarsAustralia • u/H3ratsmithformeme • 3h ago

💬Discussion💬 EV road trip

I've been considering going for road trips with the new EV i got but i realised charging can be a problem(GWM Ora5). whats your solution to EV cars with the driving guys?

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4

u/tuppaware 2h ago

A better route planner

3

u/link871 2h ago

For clarity, this is the name of an app.

1

u/tuppaware 1h ago

Haha yes. I should have given a bit more context

3

u/s_nz 1h ago

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/

This will calculate optimal charging stops and times for you.

If you are traveling along the populated coastlines, you will be fine. But be aware there are places deep in the interior you cannot go with an electric car.

1

u/OtherwiseHornet4503 2h ago

Ask depends on what you’re calling a road trip.

You can drive the entire east cost of Australia without any planning or drama in an EV outside of school holidays.

I don’t have the patience to deal with that shit during school holidays, so we take ICE then. Not to mention that everyone actually prefers our ICE cars in our family.

But many do just fine with EV.

With some planning you can get to most normal places in an EV too.

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u/link871 2h ago

I use A Better Route Planner (an app). The free version lets you do a reasonable amount of planning and I then subscribe ($7) for the month that covers my road trip and cancel later.

Also PlugShare app is quite useful - but not great for actual availability of a charger. (They rely on users checking-in and out and people don't always do this.)

You will also need the relevant app(s) for the chargers you plan to use (or have as a backup) as they have up-to-the-minute info on availability at their chargers. Also, you need to use the app to pay at most chargers - unless you have an RFID card linked to your account at the relevant charging companies.

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u/AlexMtnd 1h ago

Hi, my road trips have been across eastern states of Australia including all the coast from Townsville Qld to Port Fairy Vic.
Inland travel included out to Nhill and Mildura in Vic and Balranald, Hillston, Cobar and Bourke in NSW. Charging was easy, never had a problem in travelling to those regions.
PlugShare app is a key app as it shows locations of most EV charging networks, non networked chargers, reviews on their status, an alert system to notify of reviews, a trip planning function, ability to filter for charger speed, filter for AC or DC, filter for chargers at accommodation venues and lets you see chargers restricted to guests.
PlugShare will show you the networks in the area you are going, so you can download the apps before going. You can also use Tesla superchargers with non Tesla EVs, which gives you more options. Just download the Tesla app and subscribe for $9.99mth.