Tesla owner's epic 4,700km road trip exposes 'significant' cost advantage over 4WDs
Driving almost 5,000km across the rugged outback in an EV is a bold plan, but this Aussie couple say they'd do it all again in their beloved electric car.
An electric vehicle owner who recently took on an incredible 4,700 kilometre round trip of the Australian outback says he debunked several major EV "myths" while on the road. Last month, NSW man Steve Brine travelled with partner Tracey McClintock across multiple states in his Tesla Model Y.
The couple started at their home in Wollongong, travelling north to Gunnedah and then through to Bourke. From Bourke they drove to Tambo in Queensland's central west, then on to Longreach and beyond as far as Winton — about six hours southwest of Townsville — and some 1,300km north of Brisbane.
The pair hit up a number of towns on their way back, and made several "surprising" discoveries about their Tesla along the way. Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Brine said not only was the journey much more affordable in an electric car, the Tesla also "never came close to running out of battery charge".
'Surprising' discoveries on outback round-trip
He said while there were hardly any EVs on roads, "once we went past Bourke", there were ample charging outlets, and he was shocked at just how expansive electric vehicle infrastructure had become in only a few years. "I bought my first Tesla in 2021 and there was one slow charger in the mall," he told Yahoo. "Three years later there are fast chargers throughout my city and NSW has a plan to install 30,000 charging points across the state — these things are going to be everywhere.
"Once we got north of Bourke though, we did not see another EV.
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"Although the charging infrastructure exists to support them, they are very rare. But planning ensured we could make it from one charger to the next with ease.
"Smaller EVs, with less than 400km of range, might find this harder. Also, here in 2024, many towns have just a single charger. This won’t be a problem in the future but for now if the charger is damaged, offline or in use by another user, then there will be delays or the need to have a plan B."
The Wollongong man said costs associated with the journey were "significantly lower" compared to if he had driven in an internal combustion engine (ICE) like a 4WD.
"The same 4,700km in a sedan car would cost around $900 and a large 4WD vehicle it would likely be about $1,400 to cover the same distance," he theorised. Brine said it cost him $370 in public charging costs and powered up at hotels for free. "Also, many EVs are now a similar price to buy as an ICE car and they have zero maintenance and service costs for several years other than tyres and wiper blades."
Brine said it’s "a total myth" that batteries have to be replaced frequently. "Most EV’s now come with a 10-year battery warranty after which they still have 90 per cent of the original range," he said. "Most ICE cars go to the wreckers by then."
Citing kangaroos as the only major obstacle during the trip, Brine said he encourages those on the fence about electric vehicles to adjust their frame of mind. "In the outback the kangaroos are out until about 9.30am and from about 4.pm — so be careful at dawn and dusk," he said.
"We had a few near misses... so that leaves you with say six hours of safe driving time. Which means you don’t want to do 600-700km in a day. ICE car owners will argue that they need to do this each day, but that is punishing for the driver and unsafe."
Brine said, when on holiday, you also "don’t want to be constantly on the road."
"I remind people that when the model T Ford came to Australia, we barely had roads," he said.
"We certainly didn’t have petrol stations. It has taken 100 years to build the petrol service network. Early car owners had to buy a tin of 'Motor spirit' from a pharmacy and fix their own cars. I expect there were early buyers of cars who sold them and went back to horse and carts."
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