Electric Dreams – and 1% nightmares..

Can you have a weekend in the country driving a “Build Your Dreams” BYD Atto 3 electric SUV?

I was heading from Sydney to an off-the-grid weekend in Mudgee wine country and my initial plan had been to rent a Mitsubishi ASX. But Sixt car hire were offering the BYD Atto 3 SUV at about $20 a day less, including free recharging through ChargeFox.

This was an irresistible deal, and a much more interesting thing to do, so I booked the EV instead. When I turned up at Sixt Artarmon my brand new BYD Atto 3 was waiting with just 1,200 kilometres on the clock, 100% battery charge, and showing an estimated range of 480 kilometres.

So how did I end up at 1% battery, running on empty?

Well, the plan was to pick up my passenger then head west over the Blue Mountains, with a diversion to the delightful Megalong Valley tea rooms – where the ChargeFox app said there were two 22kW chargers. There were no ChargeFox options further west than that.

The Atto 3 did very well climbing the mountains and travelling at motorway speeds. No complaints at all, it’s a good looking vehicle inside and out, and comfortable for a long trip. But we were running a bit behind schedule and, with plenty of battery charge left, skipped the Megalong Valley recharge stop and pushed on.

We arrived on the other side of Rylstone having done around about 320 kilometres, and the Atto said it still had 84 kilometres of range left. Not bad considering the steep climbs – impressive in fact. We joined the festivities, and I stayed overnight.

Getting back was more complicated..

When I checked the next morning the Atto was showing 82 ks range. No worries, the apps and websites said there were charging stations at Kandos, about 20 kilometres along the way.

Arrived in Kandos with 42 ks range showing on the screen, and no sign of the promised fast chargers listed on the optimistic websites. But Google Map said there was a 22 kilowatt Tesla charger at the Kandos Museum. So I headed for that and plugged in – the deal was that for $20 you had entry to the museum plus an hour of charging.

Unfortunately the charger wasn’t 22 kilowatts, or it wasn’t running at that rate for a BYD Atto. It was charging at 6.4kW, so this was going to take a bit longer.. I explored the Kandos Museum, which was interesting but not two hours worth, plus I had to pay another $20 for the second hour. But I needed every electron, and when you’ve run out of range you just pay whatever it costs, it’s not like going around the block looking for a better price on petrol. So I had a little catch-up snooze in the car.

After two hours the Atto was showing 125 ks range. It was about 85 k to Lithgow, where Google said there would be a couple of 50 kilowatt chargers, so I hit the road..

Running on empty..

However, the remaining range was dropping much faster than the kilometres to go. It probably didn’t help that it was a cold morning, plus this road is slightly uphill most of the way – I once ran out of petrol on it, spending a night outside the Cullen Bullen service station sleeping in the back of a Volvo. Was I heading for an EV repeat performance?

I pulled in to that same servo in the Atto with less than ten percent battery charge left, thinking “if I can find a standard power point someone might let me plug in and get a bit more juice into the battery”. But there was no sign of life, except a rather ferocious dog behind a very low fence.

Skip that idea, I continued and the available range that had been 25 k more than I needed was soon down to a margin of 10 ks. Then four, then two, before a downhill run where it picked up an extra three or four ks.

But I still had about 30 ks to go, and if this kept up I was not going to make it. I turned onto the main highway with 4% battery remaining, 23 ks of range on the display, and 21 ks to go. Definitely cutting it too fine..

Every extra electron helps..

I pulled into a service station and explained to the attendant that I had just rented this car and was unexpectedly running out of charge. He was very helpful and quickly organised an extension lead from the back of the store.

We plugged in the Atto and it started charging – at a trickle of 1.4 kilowatts. Again, I was going to be there for a while. I bought some snacks and drinks but the attendant refused to take any money for the small amount of power I was using. An hour or so pushed an extra 2% of charge into the battery. Could I be sure of making it to the fast charger in Lithgow?

Back on the road with an indicated 27 ks range, with 14 to go – but it dropped very quickly. Five ks came off just getting onto the highway.

I started hypermiling. Maximum 80 ks per hour, foot off the accelerator for full regenerative braking wherever possible, coasting along very smoothly. I reached the outskirts of Lithgow with the range showing 6 ks and the battery at 1%.

I went through the back streets rather than up the main road. A 50 kph speed limit is your friend in an electric vehicle! It was further than I thought and there was a small hill to climb, and I’m thinking the charge indicator’s been on one percent too long..

Salvation!

I made it over the crest! I could coast now, and the fast chargers were in sight! In a car park – where’s the entrance? No idea, ah, there’s the exit, no one coming out, I’m in!

Arrived at a vacant NRMA charger next to a Hyundai Kona, excellent. Plugged in the Atto, waved my credit card over the reader and off it went, rapidly pouring power into the very depleted BYD battery. I locked the car and went off to the Lithgow Workers Club next door for a meal, and was much more relaxed knowing I would get back to Sydney. No more range anxiety!

I figured I’d charge to 80%, which took less than an hour and cost less than $10. There were mountains to cross but only 140 ks to my destination. And Sixt Rental did not require the car to be fully charged when returned – a nice change from the usual fill-up chore.

From there on it was easy, and the well-travelled BYD Atto 3 was dropped of at Sixt that evening with 50% charge in the battery.

The bottom line for EV road trips:

Moral of the story: in an EV don’t skip top-up stops along the way, allow extra time, and don’t trust charging location apps. Do what the airlines do – have enough spare range to get to at least one alternative airport if you need to, plus a substantial margin!