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Adding a second battery — Tesla finally makes it possible
When Lightning Energy installed our Powerwall 2 back in December 2023 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Anc2vKKqZ/ it was great. Paired with our 13 kW Enphase/Jinko solar system and 10 kW inverter, it's been handling our fully electrified home in Emerald pretty well — five reverse-cycle ACs, heat pump hot water, EV charging, and grid outages lasting up to nine days. But as we've added more loads, I've been thinking about expanding battery storage. There was a problem, though. The Powerwall 2 is no longer CEC-approved for new installations in Australia. Tesla stopped taking orders for it in late 2024/early 2025, and as of January 2026 it's no longer on the Clean Energy Council approved list. So you can't add a second one. And until very recently, the Powerwall 3 — Tesla's current model — was completely incompatible with the Powerwall 2. They couldn't talk to each other. That meant anyone with a Powerwall 2 who wanted more storage faced a painful choice: rip out the existing battery and…
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High tech “sandal” to prevent the tailgate from hitting the wall.
I typically reverse into car parks. But that often leaves not enough space to open the tailgate. I wasn’t sure whether it would clear the wall, so I wedged my sandal there, just in case. Lucky I did. I hadn’t planned to open it, but we had some leftovers from dinner out with friends, which I wanted to put in the fridge in our subtrunk before we went to the movies. It would be handy if the Tesla could accurately gauge if there’s room to open the hatch, or open it just short of hitting anything. Until then, I just have to use a shoe, or just move the car out and back in.
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Finally unpacked the Teraglide shelf from the back of the Tesla.
Only took about ten minutes. But I’m keeping the fridge in the subtrunk. Links:
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Car camping in my Tesla, beside a creek, off the beaten track in the Snowy Mountains.
It took me a while to find the site. Earlier, in my search, I pulled off onto two tracks that ended up in someone’s property. At least it gave some local kids an excuse to run outside to see what the UFO sound was I did a three point just outside their gate. I waved and grinned. A cup of tea and a snack from my Teraglide drawer, sitting in my camp chair, watching the bush life. Until the bush life started eating me (just a few bugs), signaling time for bed. I again wished I had remembered to pack a collapsible stool, to help climb into the back of the car. Followed by the commando crawl to get on top of the Snuuzu mattress and Teraglide platform. This is the highest sleeping option, which gives lots of storage space and a very comfortable bed. The only down side is requiring more effort getting in and out. Once I’m in, it’s great with plenty of room to move. Please forgive the “Tesla Tripping – after dark” photos. Hopefully it helps give a real world idea of the space inside. Sleeping…
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Wow, possibly the best amenities for a road trip, at this spot in the middle of nowhere…
…(in the Snowy Mountains). Seats and tables, beautiful location, playground, water, toilets, WiFi. Even has a shower and laundry tubs. Oh, and a pizza oven. Hard to beat! Gotta love the various signs on the amenities (see photos). Thanks to Gippsland Climate Change Network and Chargefox for the destination EV charger here. It’s probably the only public fuel source (of and kind) for over 100km. There are no shops or food outlets here. Fortunately, I grabbed some supplies when passing through Bombala and Cooma, over the past few days. Instant kitchen: pop the Tesla tailgate, pull out the Teraglide drawer and table, flip up the lid to reveal the fridge in the sub trunk. After a couple of hours to eat and chill, off to find a campsite for the night, nearby along the river. I’ll come back in the morning to use the shower. Charging: The EV charger here is just AC single phase, 7kW. That’s much skewer thana fast charger, but enough to give me 14kWh (about 23%) in the two hours I was parked…
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No petrol, no worries.
The small town of Dalgety has no working petrol station. The last working bowser I passed yesterday was about 50km away in Cooma, along with the nearest fast EV charger. But Dalgety does have hundreds of power points, including the powered camp sites at Snowy River Holiday Park. I could have used any one of them to fill up my car. It’s a beautiful spot. I car camped there last night. This morning, I pushed the Teraglide kitchen drawer back in, pressed the Deflate button on my Snuuzu mattress, flipped back the top (pictured), and moved the drivers seat back into my preferred position by hitting the Restore button in the Tesla. Super quick transformation, ready to drive on to the next camp site today. Snuuzu mattress: https://www.snuuzu.com/?bg_ref=4fKkJb495B&country=AU Discount code: TRIPPING
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DIY laundry line, in the Tesla’s “frunk”. After
my morning shower, the sun started to blaze near the front of the car. Perfect opportunity to set up a laundry line. A couple of suction cups have been very versatile, for quick adaptations, like this. I also washed off the previous day’s bugs from the windscreen, using the small squeegee that lives in the subtrunk.
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I wish my Tesla Model Y had a power point, where I could plug in my induction stove to…
…make breakfast 😞. What I need is “V2L”, which stands for “vehicle to load”. Unfortunately, my Tesla Model Y RWD does not have it. This omission almost made us switch to BYD, Kia, Xpeng or one of the many other EV car brands that provide V2L. Tesla’s CyberTruck, new Model YL, and Model Y Performance all reportedly now provide V2L. The Cybertruck has built in power points. The other two require an adapter plugged into the charge port. I can only hope that in the near future Tesla offers some retrofit option for my car. In the mean time, I just have to find a power point, in order to cook. If I had booked a powered site at this location, that would work fine. This morning, I just used the camp kitchen. My car’s massive (by camping standards) 60kWh battery provided air conditioning all night, and has run my camp fridge non stop, via the 16V outlet. It powers other mod cons, such as the lights, wireless phone charging pads, powered tailgate. For more details on this car camping trip, see…
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Good morning! Time for breakfast, after a great night’s sleep in the Tesla.
“Siri, open Tesla boot”. The tailgate opens to reveal a beautiful day, beyond my bare feet. Breakfast mode: 1. Pull out the Teraglide drawer and table. 2. Flip open the Teraglide rear lid. It’s assisted by gas struts, so it’s easy to lift and stays up, even with bedding on top of it. 3. Open the fridge in the subtrunk to get brekky supplies. This morning, that’s eggs, butter and milk. 4. Use the kitchen drawer bits to crack and whisk the eggs, add milk, soak some bread, ready to make French toast. 5. Stroll over to the camp kitchen. Fry the toast and boil some water for my thermos. Return to the Tesla. Enjoy my French toast, with a cuppa tea, overlooking the Snowy River. Nice. Links: Snuuzu: https://www.snuuzu.com/?bg_ref=4fKkJb495B&country=AU Discount code: TRIPPING
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Sleeping in the Tesla, on a Snuuzu mattress, on a Teraglide platform.
The obvious question: can I fit? Short answer: plenty of room to sleep, rollover, look at the sky, out the window, or my phone. I never banged into the glass or support arch. But, getting in is a bit tight. I had to shuffle through, like a recruit in a commando course. I also forgot to pack a collapsible stool, to step onto, high enough at the back to crawl in. The Snuuzu mattress is super comfortable. It has a few layers of foam, supported by an inflatable layer. With the back seats down, the Tesla floor slopes down towards the back, with a kink where the seats hinge. This makes sleeping uncomfortable, and slides the occupants slowly down to the boot. One way to rectify this is to add a slightly elevated floor, that is truly horizontal. That’s where the Teraglide platform comes in. Teraglide also has a basic model, without the drawer, that isn’t as high as ours. And there are car mattresses that aren’t as thick as the Snuuzu. So, my set up here is probably the highest option. This…
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Dinner next to the Snowy River.
I grabbed soup and butter from the fridge in the sub trunk. Heated the soup and toasted bread at the camp kitchen. Enjoyed the simple meal as the sun set, listening to the river. Happy place. My 35L Kings fridge is in the sub trunk. It’s powered by the car’s 16V supply, with an outlet available in the boot and driver’s console. The 16V in turn is powered by the car’s massive 60kWh battery. No need to run an engine, with noise and fumes, to keep it going. Charging: I charged up the car battery earlier today, while parked in Cooma. The hosts here at Snowy River Holiday Park confirmed that in a powered site, I could have plugged in the EV to charge. I instead elected an unpowered site, since it was a nicer spot, closer to the river.
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Setting up the Teraglide platform and Snuuzu mattress in the Tesla Model Y.
Steps: 1. Folded back seats down, using the buttons in the Tesla. 2. Slid the interleaved top of the Teraglide platform onto the folded down rear seats. 3. Moved the front seats forward. 4. Unfolded the top hinged bit of the Teraglide. 5. Clipped on the side supports of the Terglide, near the doors. 6. Placed the Snuuzu mattress bag on the Teraglide platform. 7. Unzipped the bag, unrolled the Snuuzu mattress. Unclipped the mattress and opened it up flat. 8. Pressed the `Inflate` button on the mattress. Waited a minute for it to finish, then turned it off. 9. Added bed linen, blanket and pillow. Gotchas: 1. Teraglide (the business) had warned me, after seeing earlier photos of my installation a few months ago, that I had neglected to strap down the front of the Teraglide. With this in mind, I brought along the supplied straps, but I hadn’t yet installed them. When I fully extended the kitchen drawer without anything weighing down on top of the platform, the drawer started to tip over,…
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Along the Great North Road to Wollombi, driving Mum home to Cessnock.
Stopping for a cup of tea and a snack. Instant kitchen and dining, using the Teraglide.
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All packed for another 2000km, from Emerald Victoria to Cessnock NSW, and return.
I’m driving Mum to NSW after spending Christmas in Victoria with us. Then I’m driving back home solo, car camping along the way. I’ve installed the Teraglide kitchen drawer and bed platform. The Snuuzu mattress is ready to unfurl. Teraglide: https://teraglide.com?sca_ref=8962510.vFhGsmKvrx8 Snuuzu: https://www.snuuzu.com/?bg_ref=4fKkJb495B&country=AU Discount code: TRIPPING
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What to ask for, in a battery installation?
I suggest getting your installer to agree in writing that your battery installation will include: 1. Remote control via an app and/or website to monitor your battery and house power. 2. During a grid outage, the battery should provide backup for everything you need. 3. During a grid outage, solar continues to provide power. 4. The ability to curtail export of power to the grid when pricing is negative. 5. Compatibility with Amber Electric, if you might want to use them as your energy retailer. Let’s look at each in detail: 1. Using an app or website, you can: 1. Monitor power in and out of your battery, house and grid connection, instantaneous, daily and historical. 2. At any time, set your battery to a minimum charge percentage. 2. In the event of a grid outage: 1. The battery will switch over automatically. The installer should test it and show you. 2. The battery will power all of your home, up to the battery’s maximum power (which should be at least 5kW). 3. If you have three…
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What do all the electricity measurements mean?
1. Australian household electricity runs at about 240V “volts”. All your power points and devices are 240V. This is basically a measure of the force used to push the electricity. 2. The “current” is basically the throughput of electricity, measured in Amps. It varies for different devices. A modern LED light bulb uses less than 0.1A (Amps). A toaster or heater will use around 8A. The typical maximum allowed by a standard power point is 10A. 3. The total power of the electricity is measured in watts. We multiply the volts by the amps (voltage x current) to get the watts. For example, if your appliance uses 5A at 240V, then that’s 5 x 240 = 1,200 W, which is 1.2kW (kilowatts). A light bulb uses less than 0.1kW. 4. The total energy used by a device is calculated as the power x time. For example, if you use an appliance running at 1.2kW for 10 hours, then it uses 1.2 x 10 = 12kWh (kilowatt hours). A light bulb could run for days on the same 12kWh. 5. When you use electricity from the…
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Home Battery Introduction
Are you considering a battery for your house? Here is a basic introduction, based on our experience. I hope it’s helpful. Please comment about any errors, omissions or questions. 1. Why is there more talk lately about getting a battery for your house? 1. As of July 1 this year, the federal government will pay for 30% of your home battery purchase. This makes it 30% cheaper to buy one. 2. What’s the purpose of a house battery? 1. A battery provides power to your house, as electricity. 2. It can power anything in your home that runs from electricity, including your fridge, lights, power points, TV. 3. It can keep your house appliances running when there is a grid outage (a “blackout”). 4. If you have solar panels, a battery can store the excess power generated during the day, so you can use it at night to avoid paying for electricity. This is why it is often called a “solar battery”. 5. You can also charge a battery from the grid when electricity is cheap, and use it when electricity is…
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Our home Powerwall battery is one of a million deployed so far.
The Tesla app celebrated by listing the stats of our install, and the fleet as a whole. Our battery has saved us (and our neighbours via extension cords) from 13 days of blackouts, without any noisy smelly generator, or trips to refill it with petrol. Our solar system has generated 16MWh of energy so far, used by our house appliances, home battery, our car and exports to the grid. At an average ball park price of say 15c per kWh, that’s $2400 worth of electricity, with no ongoing running cost.
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After two years in the Dandenong Ranges, we finally visited the Dandenong Ranges Botanic…
…Garden. Amazing to see in Spring. It’s a huge place. I think we covered only 20% of it. Parking seems to be extremely limited and unmarked, in a dirt section across the road, which led to highly questionable parking. Charging: Today’s trip was partly due to a frequent oddity of owning an EV. We had an excess of fuel. It feels like a shame not to use it, for free. The solar production from our roof fully powered our EV, home and house battery, and it wasn’t worth exporting any to the grid (negative feed in tariff). Fortunately, as you can see from the graph, the Amber app shut down our solar production while we were away, after our home battery was fully charged. All automated, so we didn’t have to do anything.
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In today’s drive, from Coober Pedy, this was the final leg from Spud's Roadhouse, Pimba…
…south to Port Augusta. We normally avoid driving at dusk, due to animal activity on the roads. We spotted many sheep along the road from unfenced properties, and a couple of cows. Just as we were leaving Pimba, a kangaroo jumped out on the other side and stared at us. It was the only alive kangaroo we’ve seen out here this trip, probably because we don’t usually drive in the twilight hours. The sunset put on its usual glorious display, tempting me to stop to take photos, but we drove on. A police car pulled over a speeder heading north. Might have saved their life, or at least a wrecked car. We drove on slowly, far behind a road train. I wasn’t game to overtake into possible oncoming wildlife. We had the Tesla on Autopilot, so it drove while we watched for movement on the sides. The maximum follow distance setting is 7 (as in the photo), but that’s too close at speed, or behind a truck that can toss up a stone, so I just manually tweaked the cruise speed to keep us further back. The…
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We arrived a day ahead of schedule at Ayers Rock Campground.
We had booked a powered site, starting from tomorrow, but none were available tonight. The staff offered us the unpowered overflow campground area. Our original plan was to charge the car at our powered site, while also running the air conditioning and accessories. Without a powered site tonight, we had to charge up the car a bit first, so we could just run it off the giant battery. We used the auto inflate button on our Snuuzu mattress, added pillows and doona. We moved the baggage to the front seats, so the bed wasn’t obstructed. While car camping in Coober Pedy a few days ago, we discovered that even with our portable wheel ramps the car’s bed floor still leans backwards too much. So, we backed the car up a small hill as well. We used our fold up spade to fill in a couple of holes from previous campers. We set the Tesla to “camp mode”, so we could sleep in the back of the car at 20°, while it was 3° outside, overnight. The trudging to the toilet in the middle of the night a couple…
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This morning, we said goodbye to The Grampians and Halls Gap, after staying a couple of…
…nights. The cockatoos came to say goodbye. The laundry bag has started to fill the frunk, along with our shoes, charging cables, water and windscreen squeegee. We repacked the car with the Snuuzu mattress in the subtrunk, replacing the fridge, which we moved to the boot. Much easier to access it now, and we can pack the whole boot. Next leg today, to Hahndorf in South Australia. Charging: We charged up last night from the power point in the cabin. All set to go with a full battery ☺️.
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We bought a Kings camp fridge for about $208 from 4WDSupacentre.com.au.
They seem to have a different sale on every 24 hours. The staff kindly brought a display model to the car so I could check the size. It just fits in the subtrunk. We opted for the 30L model. We already had the 50L version on previous trips, but it’s a bit too big to manage in the car. After trying the sub trunk and back seat, we eventually settled on the boot, since it’s easier to access, keeps the noise away from the passengers, and allows more packing space in boot, without worrying accessing the fridge in the sub trunk. We’ll probably move it to the subtrunk when we sleep in the car. The boot cover leaves ample opening in either side for ventilation, as long as we don’t block the side wells. And the 12V power supply is conveniently located in the boot.
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We installed a Teraglide Pro in our Tesla Model Y Juniper.
It provides a flat elevated floor that expands when you lower the rear seats, a retractable drawer and table. Gas struts make it simple to access the sub trunk. Brilliant design. Stay tuned to see the assembly process, and how well it does or doesn’t work with the Snuuzu mattress.
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In life you need goals. Today’s goal was to find a cafe we hadn’t yet tried 😉, in our…
…home of the Dandenong Ranges. Ripe Cafe in Sassafras was a great find. Guacamole (avo toast) topped with thin sliced potato crisps, and zucchini slice. Lots of cyclists out today, including this giant Saint Bernard. The local park has interesting seating, or perhaps a one turn swing set 😳. I checked in on our parked car from the Tesla app, after some dodgy parking in front of us. We love driving through the fern trees and tall timbers of the Dandenong Ranges. Beautiful all year ‘round. Charging: While we were away from home, the sun had fully charged our home battery. We returned, plugged in, and filled up the car with the remaining free energy of the day.
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Travel bed research at the Melbourne EV show.
TOCA (Tesla Owners Club Australia) had a Tesla mattress on display in a Tesla Model Y Juniper (like ours). It looks fairly flat, but when we lay on it we realised that it was just hiding the dip at the base of the folded seat, by floating above it. It would be good to test it with a Teraglide flat base. But we think the Snuuzu is going to provide a noticeably more comfortable bed.
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This is probably the busiest we’ve seen our town of Emerald, Victoria. T
he Lost Woods Market draws a huge crowd. It’s a beautiful stroll through the tall trees, past numerous stalls and food outlets, with Puffing Billy Railway choo-chooing past every now and then. It’s a magical place. We parked up the other end of town, starting off with brunch at Over the Road Cafe, then walked through the jammed main road to the markets. The generators of many stalls lined the back path, filling the air with slight fumes and noise. It’s a shame they don’t have grid power. We hoped to see some stalls powered by V2L EVs, as we’ve noticed at some other markets, but none here. Charging: While we were away from home, the sun charged up our home battery. When we returned, it switched over to start solar charging our car. Win win.
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Sizing up the rear tray of our Tesla Model Y Juniper, to see how practical it would be to…
…install a bed, and sleep in it, for some of the stops on our next road trip. The folded down seats at the front are about 15cm higher off the ground than the tray at the rear. This makes it slope down, which makes a sleeper slide down during the night, and puts pressure on your hips. We know, because we had that very problem when we tried car camping in our Model 3, a couple of years ago. Terrible night’s sleep. https://www.facebook.com/share/1AUZJN8N7k/ My second attempt worked a bit better: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Am62mtfe5/ It seems to me that all we need to do is raise the floor boards at the rear, as shown by the ad hoc blocks of wood I added. But, I think I’ll save myself the carpentry, and just buy a Teraglide platform, which is designed for this job. https://teraglide.com?sca_ref=8962510.vFhGsmKvrx8 In case you’re wondering, part of the attraction of car camping in the Tesla is that it has “Camp Mode” to keep the cabin at a comfy temperature all night. Cheaper than a…
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We arrived back home, in Emerald Victoria. Autumn is still in full swing. 🍂
Charging: We charged up for just a few minutes in Yea earlier, since we could fill up cheaper at home. But when we arrived home, our area had a grid outage. Our house PowerWall battery kept our appliances going until the grid was restored. In an alignment of failures, our solar system also stopped producing electricity 😩. So, we can’t charge up the house or car battery from the available sun. We’ve raised a fault with our installer, Lightning Energy, who can hopefully find out what’s going on with our Enphase system. It’s not the first failure. In the mean time, the grid has reconnected, and we’ve charged up during the cheap power times in the day, when renewables are mostly powering the grid.
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Time to pack some bodies into the subtrunk! There’s so much room in this thing.
We prepared for our trip today to the NSW Central Coast, via Cessnock. Charging: Charged up to 100% from the power point on the deck of the cabin. More than enough for our journey today, and no need to stop to refuel.
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We’re selling our EV.
It’s been a fantastic car, never skipped a beat. It drives as well today as the day we bought it. We’re only selling because we need a car that has seating higher off the ground (arthritic hips). Selling for $35,000. No offers. We have a week to sell it, otherwise we’ll just trade in on a new car (another EV). Tesla Model 3 RWD, 2022 (August) 0 to 100km/h in 6 seconds White paint Includes extra purchases from Tesla: - $1500 white seats/interior - $5100 Enhanced Autopilot - $250 Boom box and Pedestrian Warning System Third party included purchases: - Rubber mats for floor. - Rubber mats for boot, sub-trunk, frunk. - Original unused floor mats. - Mud flaps. Unused, not installed. Included if required. - Roof shades. - Rear spoiler. 91000 km No accidents Rego: CGU321 Rego until March 2026 Runs on sunshine ☀️ Pick up from Emerald, Victoria. Or, we can deliver it within 100km.
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The Xpeng G6 is a strong competition against the Tesla Model Y.
We viewed both at The Everything Electric Show (Fully Charged Show) in Sydney. A few weeks earlier, we took a G6 for a test drive at the XPENG Port Melbourne showroom (also pictured). The Xpeng G6 and Tesla Model Y both have great tech, great efficiency, ventilated and heated front seats. The G6 doesn’t have frunk storage, has small subtrunk storage, smaller boot, no glovebox, but has a bit more rear passenger room and probably more comfy seats. It has Apple Maps and Vehicle to Load (V2L). It is $10k cheaper, but requires paid regular servicing and and has longer warranty. It includes auto lane change (extra purchase on the Tesla). The Tesla has faster acceleration, sportier handling, one pedal driving comes to a full stop without the brake, and has more fast charging options. It has a screen for rear passengers and powered rear seat folding. It has much more storage overall, including huge sub trunk, boot and frunk. It has a better sound system, even though it has slightly less…
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Cooling off at the beach under Seaford Pier.
Dinner: Chicken and mango salad, brought from home. Charging: Driving on sunshine, as usual. Apart from charging the car, our home solar system also stored the excess solar power in our home battery, which exported to the grid during peak demand, using the Amber Electric app automation. Nice!
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It’s been wild 36 hours here in the Dandenong Ranges. Y
esterday afternoon, the power went out in our town of Emerald. We heard it was due to a fire somewhere. We sent out a few texts to our neighbours to offer our battery backup power. We ran our heavy duty extension lead over the fence and set up a power board on the front porch for phone charging. A few hours later, the grid was back up and running. But, the pending storm warnings made us cautious. Sure enough, an hour or so later, the storm hit. Heavy rain, pounding hail and strong wind. Marvin the robot mower happily sits charging out in the rain. But I didn’t fancy the chances of his camera eyes surviving the hail stones. I used the iPhone app remote control to drive it under our pergola, while the ice golf balls bounced on the lawn. Sure enough, the grid connection died again during the night, probably due to storm damage to power lines and other infrastructure. In the morning our neighbour reconnected to our power supply. We inspected the hail stones that had formed a layer on our…
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Friday night, pizza and movie at home.
Pick up from Lauritos Pizza, in Emerald, in the Tesla, transporting it in the “frunk” (front trunk) to keep the takeaway smell out of the cabin. Charging: The solar panels on our roof at home topped up the car to 100%, and the home Powerwall battery, ran our home appliances and exported a bit to the grid.
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After crossing Kosciusko National Park, we checked into The Jindy Inn last night.
Great place with a balcony overlooking Lake Jindabyne. The room’s fridge had no freezer which meant we couldn’t refreeze our cold packs for our cooler bag. We didn’t bring the giant Kings Fridge on this trip. No microwave oven in the room, so we drove down the road to The Brumby Bar & Bistro to share a Brumby Burger (presumably not made from brumbies). Delicious! The inn included continental breakfast in the dining room. After slightly burning my finger on the reluctant conveyor belt toaster, I enjoyed autumn colour themed fruit salad and Greek yogurt on my cereal. After checkout, we grabbed a coffee from ESS BOARDSTORES, where they were happy to use our lactose free milk, from our cooler bag, since they didn’t stock that option. The cold temperature lowered the tyre pressures, as you can see on the Tesla’s screen. But they soon warmed up as we hit the road. Next, on to Cooma and then Gerringong. Charging: No power points in the car park at the inn, unfortunately. When we drove up the…
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Double the EVs and double the ice creams.
This time I took a large container to Bam Bam Italian to buy four double scoop ice creams for us and our guests. The car kept the temperature at a chilly 15°C while Kyla accepted the challenge to scoop two spheres into each cone. Tomorrow, we’re off to Emu Plains Markets. Charging: Our guests arrived in their BYD Atto 3 just in time to get the few scraps of solar power from our wall charger. Then we paused the charging until after the peak demand period, resuming after 10pm, mostly from our Tesla Powerwall battery.
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I tried out another “EV”, kind of – an Electric Vegetation cutter 😉. Okay, th
at’s a bit of a stretch. It’s an electric hedge trimmer. Emerald has so much vegetation, and our place is no exception. Hundreds of meters of hedges. The RYOBI electric hedge cutter is fairly quiet, instantly turns on and off, and is fueled for free by the sun via our roof solar panels. While cutting, it did occur to me that using a petrol powered hedge trimmer would be a much less pleasant experience. Much louder, with fumes in my face, heat and higher fire risk. I’d be dependant on an external fuel supplier to truck in petrol from hundreds of kilometers away, and I’d have to drive to a petrol station to get it. When the battery goes flat on this electric model, I just plug it in and walk away to do something else. It will take an hour or more to recharge, but I don’t have to do anything. Plugging in the battery takes a few seconds. If I really wanted to keep going immediately, I could swap with another charged battery, but I like the forced break 😉. I am aware that lithium ion…
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It’s been nine days of grid power outage here in Emerald Victoria. T
he community has pulled together to share resources. Today I received an SMS from Ben to ask if he could charge at our place. I assumed it was another neighbour asking if they could plug their phone or laptop in to the power board we laid out in the porch. We were the only house in the street to still have power after the storm hit, thanks to our Tesla Powerwall battery. It’s been charging up each day from solar panels on the roof. But Ben was actually after a place to charge his EV. I had forgotten about our listing on PlugShare during all of the neighbourhood blackout dramas. I said yes, no problem. Today he had driven from his home in Packenham east to Sale, then back west and up the hills to Emerald, and has a few more nearby drives to do before returning home. The navigation said he would get home with 8% charge, but that wasn’t accounting for extra stops. So, he wanted to play it safe. Charging: He plugged in here for about ten minutes, drawing a max power of about 7.2kW from…
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We’re are back home in Emerald and have power!
The grid is still out, and is expected to be down until mid next week. But our house is getting power from solar and our Tesla Powerwall battery. Driving back home (after our road trip to NSW), we could see why Emerald is still in the dark. Many power lines (and phone/broadband lines) are still down. Emerald featured in the first story on last night’s (Friday) ABC news: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/abc-news-vic At least one of our neighbours is running a fuel generator. Another has a couple of solar panels hooked up to a car battery for night lights and a 12V car fridge. Schools are effectively closed. The local petrol station had one pump going, with a long queue. We have offered our neighbours electricity from our solar/battery power. One family had no power for three days, but now we have connected some extension cords over the fence. History: The grid died on Tuesday 14th. We were away road tripping in NSW. Our Tesla Powerwall battery continued to provide backup power to our…
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Well, that’s not good. The Tesla Powerwall at home has just gone flat (zero percent…
…charge) at about 5pm today. Our new home town of Emerald is one of many affected by the grid outage in Victoria, after a wild storm hit on Tuesday afternoon. A couple of months ago, we had Lightning Energy install solar and a Powerwall battery at our new home. In a grid outage, the solar array is supposed to keep the house electricity going, recharge the battery each day, and keep the fridge cold. But the solar production stopped working when the grid outage started. Something is wrong with the installation. See the lead up story in our previous post: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=439045192389797&id=100088529584679 The battery has slowly depleted, until it hit zero percent two days later (this afternoon). I contacted the installer, Lightning Energy, a couple of days ago to hopefully fix it before the fridge died. No answer from service. So, I SMSed Andrew, who works for them and lives locally. He kindly offered to pop in on his way home to take a look. Here’s hoping we…
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Wow, what a wild weather ride in Victoria yesterday.
We’re still in NSW, but the Weather app summarised the weather at home in Emerald as “Fire Weather” 😮. The heat was followed by a heavy storm that knocked down many trees and power lines. In the middle of the day, wholesale electricity prices peaked at a hundred times the norm at nearly $20 per kWh (normally under 20c per kWh). I checked our home remotely using the Tesla app. It was exporting power from our battery (and solar) to help keep the grid supply going, whilst paying us about $100 per hour for the supply! Our battery has continued to supply power to our home during the blackout. We messaged some of our neighbours an invitation to come over and plug in any needed devices (such as phones or a portable fridge). A few of them also checked on our house for us. Great neighbours and community ☺️. We might need to also offer them showers because those with on demand gas hot water often need electricity to light them. All the petrol stations in the area are also closed. We hope to be…
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Tesla battery and wall charger installation.
The team from Lightning Energy installed the undercover pieces today, while it’s raining, and deferring to tomorrow the installation on the roof of the solar panels, if the sun comes out. We had originally scheduled this installation for December 11 and 12, but rain on December 11 saw it canceled. We had this Tesla wall charger at our last house in Saratoga NSW, a year ago. The new owners there didn’t have an EV, so we modified the contract for us to remove the EV charger. It has sat in storage until the removalists delivered our belongings here a few days ago. It wasn’t really practical for us to bring the Tesla “Powerwall” battery with us from the old house, so we bought a new one for this house. It costs about $15k, which is a lot. There are cheaper battery options, but we know the Powerwall has a large capacity compared to cheaper batteries, and works well with the app, scheduling, blackouts, etc. We have heard from a few people in Emerald and the Yarra Ranges in general that…
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We popped in to see Kylie, Aaron, their family, pets and newly wrapped “Tarquin” the…
…Tesla, in its burnt orange glory. We first met them (back when Tarquin was white) nearly a year ago when we were road tripping towards Cairns (and the Daintree). Since then, Kylie has been following along on our blog, making suggestions along the way. They kindly invited us for some afternoon tea today ☺️. The finished edges of Tarquin’s wrap are impressively neat. Our Tesla is basically the same, except ours is wrapped in bugs and thousands of kilometres of road dust. Francis was ready to adopt a few of the pets. We considered charging in the garage, but the pricing (made especially for us) was too high 😉. We stayed overnight in a motel in Mackay, which turned out to be right under the flight path, next to the airport. It was amusing, rather than annoying, until perhaps the 6am wake up call of what seemed to be a truck on our roof. Charging: Next morning, we stopped at the fast (ish) DC charger in Mackay. Francis takes great delight in plugging it in successfully after it doesn’t…
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We dropped in to the Melbourne Electric Vehicle Show.
Lots of attendees and companies showcasing their vehicles. We were surprised at how small the frunk and sub-trunk storage is on most of the non Tesla cars. As usual, Tesla doesn’t exhibit, leaving it to volunteers from TOCA (Telsa Owners Club, Australia) to show off their cars. The Tesla Model X seemed to have endless people, mainly kids, climbing in and out through the gull wing doors. Francis was the first person to try lying down in the Model Y. We did manage to (kinda) spot a Cybertruck. We chatted to a few attendees considering an EV about their hesitations, which were very similar to ours, just over a year ago. We listened to a couple of exhibitors about V2H (vehicle to home) prospects, which unfortunately doesn’t yet seem to be economically viable. We would love to at least have V2L (vehicle to load) in our Tesla, so we could plug in appliances like a hot plate. A few other EVs on show did have V2L, in the form of a simple 240V power socket. There weren’t many accessories on…
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Today we drove out through the towns of Woodend and Kyneton, Victoria.
Beautiful towns, even on a cold windy day. We’re still looking for a possible new home. We looked at one house at Kyneton Bushland Resort. Another house had 14kW of solar panels, a Tesla Powerwall house battery and a Tesla EV charger. Lunch at Home Grown on Piper was delicious. We bumped into the owners of a blue Tesla Model Y with the licence plate BEM3UP (“beam me up”) at one of the houses and at the Kyneton charger. Of course we discussed Star Trek 🖖. Also had a brief chat with Tony, on a ride on his electric Harley Davison LiveWire, with his other biker mates. Charging: Kyneton and Woodend each have a 50kWh DC fast charger by Evie Networks. Disappointingly only one at each location, which can create queuing. We were only plugged in for a few minutes while using the adjacent toilet, so we were finished anyway when the next person arrived. We’ve been trying out the beta version of Evie’s new app, which is improving. But this one seemed to lack a “Stop Charging” button, so I…
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We helped our friends (and generous hosts) Tim and Krissy, move some of their belongings…
…into storage. Our Tesla Model 3 is a sleek sedan. It doesn’t have as much storage space as say the larger Model Y or X. But it still fits a fair amount of stuff, in the boot/trunk, sub-trunk, frunk (front trunk, since there’s no engine) and the back seat.
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Manoeuvred my way around the bollards with a three point turn again, at the RACQ…
…Chargefox charger. Chatted briefly with Scott (before me in a blue Tesla Model 3 with bikes on a rack) and Patty afterwards. Patty is today moving with his dogs up from The Sunshine Coast to Port Douglas. His wife is driving another Tesla. They are planning to “hippy-fy” their new place with EV chargers for guests.
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We waited for another Tesla Model 3, which was at 99% for ages when we got there, not…
…checked in, in PlugShare. Then had a chat with Linda and Louis who arrived a while later, in their Audi e-tron. They had travelled from Wollongong, passing through Port Douglas. We agreed that we need more than one RACQ Chargefox fast charger in these locations. The layout of this charger is great: easy to park; can charge from either side; near shopping and toilets.
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We stopped in at Mossman Gorge in the Daintree.
Visitors have to park at the center, then catch a shuttle bus to the gorge, then walk a nice 640m boardwalk to the popular river spot. The centre includes a cafe, toilets, gift shop and ticket counter. It’s pretty but seems to be a large overhead for a fairly standard river view, with room at the gorge for a limited number of visitors. There is a longer 2km walk, but we didn’t try it. They advise not to swim, but half the people do. We found out later that a couple of tourists were swept away by the river, prompting a search. Charging: The car park has a type 2 charger, but you need to bring your own cable. It’s only 7kW, but would be handy if you were staying for a few hours (and you had the type 2 cable, which we didn’t). We had more than enough charge, but it would have been handy to charge the car while it was just sitting there, anyway.
Formerly: Tesla Tripping
Come along on our EV road trips around Australia and Europe, and follow as we progressively electrify our home in Emerald, Victoria.
Join us on the road. We set off in late 2022 and drove eastern Australia in our Tesla Model 3 — Sydney, Dubbo, Armidale, Brisbane, Cape Tribulation, then down through Queensland and back. We've since upgraded to a Model Y.
We've kept exploring — Uluru, the Snowy Mountains and Gippsland, and a longer run through Europe in 2024. There's plenty more on the map, so come along for the next leg.
At home in Emerald, in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges, we're progressively electrifying everything: rooftop solar, a home battery, a hot water heat pump, air conditioned heating and cooling, and EV charging straight from the sun. We're going fully electric, off the gas.
Got questions, or insights of your own? We'd love to hear them — please drop a comment on any post.