Touching the Void?
I once read a book called “Touching the Void”, about mountain climbing. Tackling Tasmania isn’t quite the same, but today turns out to be a little challenging, with a bit of luck thrown in. To be honest, Cradle Mountain is a bit of a void when it comes to charging infrastructure for electric cars. There are no fast chargers in the whole area. Options include a single AC charger (BYO cable) at the visitor centre and a few destination chargers scattered through the various hotels and resorts, which are restricted to guests. Leaving Burnie, we got well topped up and left with 90%. We were depending on an overnight charger at our accomodation in the mountains. We got very lucky, and narrowly avoided a setback. More on that later though.
Winding roads, poor efficiency and driving fun
Despite the lack of chargers, we set off with confidence, continuing our Tasmania Road Trip. Cradle Mountain and a spot of bushwalking were very high on our must-do list while Tackling Tasmania. I mean who goes on a trip to Tassie and misses Cradle Mountain? We’re not up for overnight hikes, or anything super strenuous, but we really wanted to experience the landscape. There was no way we were going to miss this.
As we start to climb up from the coast and into the mountains our efficiency drops considerably. We’re loaded up with people and luggage and it’s basically all uphill. A light rain starts to fall and we’re starting to get into mountainous windy roads, so I drop the EV6 into sports mode to be sure I’ve got the advantage of all wheel drive in case things get a little slippery.
I’m not known for holding back on the accelerator and as we head up the mountain I’m maintaining a good speed despite the bends. The posted limit is 100km/h for most of the trip with some sections down to 80km/h but care needs to be taken. Some sections really can’t be negotiated at anywhere near the speed limit. I really enjoy the ride and the EV6 seems made for this type of driving. Tackling Tasmania certainly has some fun driving included.
None of this is helping the efficiency, but I don’t care. I’m confident we’ll get a charge at our hotel overnight. This car is the most fun I’ve had in a car in a very long time, and these roads are the best. Overtaking opportunities are few and far between, but the EV6’s acceleration makes it easy when a safe chance presents itself.
Never miss an oportunity to charge!
We arrive at the visitor centre and I know there’s a slow charger here somewhere. We miss the first entry to the car park and swing into the second, at the end closer to the cafe and visitor centre building. All eyes are peeled for the charger, as we’re down to 54% and one of my golden rules is to never miss a charging opportunity. There it is, right near the entrance. It’s a BYO cable affair. We pull in, unpack/repack a stack of luggage to get in under the luggage compartment to get our cable out. We plug in and start collecting free electricity. I’ve got the AC charge limit set to 100% and the dashboard says we’ll need 4 hours to reach that.
For a review of our BYO Type 2 Charge Cable Click Here
Off to the visitor centre to buy our National Park pass. $67 later and we have a 24 hour pass from 11am to 11am next day. I mention to the ranger that I’ve got the car plugged in and ask if there are any time restrictions. She indicates there aren’t any, so we figure we’ve got time for a bush walk.
We grab a snack at the cafe and catch the shuttle bus up to Dove Lake. After a short walk to the boat shed we decide, despite the slow and intermittent light rain, to walk the one hour trip back to the next shuttle bus stop at Ronny Creek via the Lake Lilla track. Ther views are spectacular, and the walking conditions are pretty good, even if a little slippery and muddy in places. We meet a few active wombats feeding on the peat moss, and I regret not bringing a better camera. Despite this I was able to get some ok shots. I’m not overly happy with my wildlife skills on my phone camera.
Check in, and check out the charger…
By the time we get back to the car, it’s after 2:30pm. We notice a Polestar has pulled up next to us and assume they’re waiting for a charge, but there’s no driver in sight. We strip off our wet coats and get set to depart. Almost unwittingly we’ve timed it almost to perfection and the car is at 98%. Off to Cradle Mountain Hotel for our overnight stay. It’s only a few kilometers up the road and we arrive with 97% charge. At check in we enquire about the charger.
I really don’t need a charge, but I’m keen to see the charger and I might as well get that last few percent for tomorrow’s drive. I’m informed they have been having issues with the charger, but it was just fixed this morning. I follow their directions, find the charger and plug in before we start unloading. I figure I’ll be done by the time we get our luggage in and I can free up the charger in case anyone else needs it.
You make your own luck!
I plug in, nothing! Try again, Nothing? Is there some trick I’m missing. My 15YO daughter points out a button I missed. We try that, try several more times, Nothing! Let’s leave it plugged in for a few minutes and see if that helps. Luggage is unpacked and I return 5 minutes later to find no change and no charge.
I move the car and go back to reception to report my findings on the charger. He informs me someone else with a Kia had charged there before, and the car should be compatible. He seems a bit frustrated having been told it was fixed and tells me he’ll get Tesla out to replace it.
Thankfully we’d taken advantage of the charger at the visitor centre. Had we missed that we would have been short for our trip to Strahan the next day. We would have had to make a diversion to go through Queenstown for a charge stop instead of our intended plan to go through Zeehan. We love little side trips when we see an interesting sign, but this would have been out of the question if we were running low.
Was this luck? Maybe, but I think we often make our own luck.
Instead of heading back to the visitor centre to sit and wait for the slow charger, I get to visit the Art Centre in the hotel grounds with the family. Then I get to sit by the fire with my wife and a nice local ale while the girls try their hand at the pool table. A far more relaxing afternoon than stressing about where my next charge would come from.
Take Aways
- Never miss an opportunity to charge
- Always pack your charge cable
- Know your car’s range, and don’t forget to take into account extra load and uphill stretches.
- Don’t put the charge cable under all your luggage. After this, the charge cable was packed at the side of the luggage, relatively easily extracted for a charger opportunity.
- In hindsight, I probably should have plugged in the granny charger at the AirBnB overnight and got the car up to 100% before venturing to Cradle Mountain.
Would I recommend Cradle Mountain in an EV?
Absolutely Yes! Make sure you have a plan, as well as a Plan B and even a Plan C. Get well charged up before you go, and keep an eye on where you might get your next charge if the local chargers are unavailable or broken. Our plan was to use the hotel charger, but our plan B presented itself unexpectedly, so we took it before we even realise plan A would fail. We didn’t have a plan C, I only thought of diverting to Queenstown as I was writing up this blog. Had we got to the hotel and found out the charger was broken it would have thrown me. I would have likely gone back to the visitor centre to sit and wait for at least an hour, maybe two, to get enough charge for the next day. Who knows if it would have been available. Our friend in the Polestar would likely have been there. I would have missed out on the afternoon in the art gallery and sitting by the fire with a nice ale in hand. A Tackling Tasmania road trip doesn’t need to be hard, but can present it’s challenges from time to time.
Electric Highway if you happen to read this, there’s a gap in the network here that needs to be filled with a decent fast charger.
Edit: Thanks for the response Electric Highway – and the good news that you’re working with local sites to improve fast charger access for electric cars, not just near Cradle Mountain, but also in several other areas of Tasmania.
