For those interested in some real world stats and experience …...

For those interested in some real world stats and experience … we’ve just completed a little 4,500km driving trip involving Phillip Island, Albury, Port Macquarie and Brisbane return in a hired Tesla model 3.

It was a bog standard 2023 RWD base model with the LiFePO battery and about 420km max range at highway speeds. We travelled at speed limit on autopilot pretty much all the time, not just on highway sections. The only time the autopilot had any real issues was on country roads with no line marking - it then tended to take the middle of the road and move over when cars approached. Fine for me as I knew what it was doing but disconcerting for other drivers so I stopped it doing its own thing on those roads.

The hire company also owns a charge network so we had no-cost recharging at those charge stations. It also meant we didn’t use the Tesla supercharger network much (only 5 times) and got to experience the so called “delays” at standard highway charge stations. First thing I’d say is “What delays?”. Longest we waited for a charger to be free was 10 minutes, during which time my passengers went and got lunch and brought it back to watch the next segment of our Netflix movie in the car while it charged for 25 minutes and we ate lunch.

Total energy used across the 4,550 km and 10 days was 628kWh. Total cost to me was nil due to the hire arrangement (available to any driving club member in eastern states). Now if I was paying for that energy at the approx 58c average we would have paid, the fuel would be about  $365. At the rough average going petrol price we were seeing of about $1.80, that would buy you about 200L of fuel. With that 200L of fuel, you’d need an ICE car to average around 4.4l/100km to cost the same in energy cost for the trip.

Now there are cars that can do that … but they’re not the ones that happily cruise at 110 on autopilot with super comfy seats, climate control at all times, auto adaptive headlights, internet connection and Netflix and other entertainment on demand.

When I drive larger distances nowadays I do it because I chose to do so and I want to see the surrounding countryside. Oh how easy is the driving in an EV doing that now! And cheaper than taking any other car for the run too.

These galufes who want to say that long distance driving in a quality EV is hard work finding chargers etc … get a grip!  When we did use Tesla supercharger stations I recon the average sitting time for cars here was about 20 minutes. - about the time it took for the occupants to hop out, stroll to the local attraction/pie shop/tourist shop or park to stretch the legs and come back to drive on in quiet.

We enjoyed the trip and from a “cost” point of view, cost us less than flights or even driving our efficient hybrid the same distance.

Oh and Devious one, you’ll be glad to hear, not one spark or fire from our car in the whole trip!