Tesla has declared the Sydney to Melbourne route along the Hume Highway complete, with the establishment of its latest Supercharging station in Gundagai.
The Gundagai facility, located next to the iconic ‘Dog On The Tuckerbox’, joins facilities in Goulburn and Wodonga which launched last month.
Along with a temporary site in Euroa, Victoria, the Hume Highway is now populated with Superchargers to the point where a Tesla Model S owner can achieve a virtual ‘non-stop’ trip from Sydney to Melbourne (or vice-versa).
Unlike the wall-mounted or plug-in chargers supplied with each new Tesla, the Supercharger can achieve a ‘half charge’, or up to 270km of range, in around 30 minutes. Tesla Superchargers are free to use for Tesla owners for the life of the car.
Therefore, even owners of the 60 or 70kWh Model S variants, which offer the shortest range, can safely travel between Superchargers and top up with electric juice along the way – eliminating the need for an extended stop to recharge the battery pack.
An extended stop is also possible should the driver so choose, and a full charge can be achieved in just over an hour; depending on the variant.
With the Gundagai facility established, Tesla owners can also include a trip to Canberra in their Sydney to Melbourne route but Canberra itself is yet to see any Superchargers (although Tesla ‘Destination Charging’ is available in Canberra).
To celebrate the milestone in Australia, Tesla organised a ‘Supercharger Rally’ to encourage owners to try out the new Sydney to Melbourne facilities on route to Gundagai for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
From here, the electric vehicle-maker plans to continue its East Coast Supercharger network with new facilities to eventually connect Sydney to Brisbane. Stay tuned for more.