The journey to Brisbane was completed in accordance with the plan. Charged in Tamworth while having breakfast and in Tenterfield while having lunch, and made a couple of other quick stops for driver swaps and toilet breaks.
Tenterfield was the only time we had to wait for a charger, fortunately just for 15 minutes. Tesla's lopsided charger designs are awkward for non-Teslas that have their charging ports on the correct side of the car, but fortunately the cable was just long enough to reach across.
Tesla cars were very much in the minority at these chargers while we were there, a reflection of the fact that there are no other good ones nearby. There are NMRA chargers in Tenterfield and Glen Innes, and a Chargefox in Stanthorpe, but they are all single chargers with max charging rates of only 50 kW for the NRMA chargers and 75 kW for the Chargefox. By contrast the 4 Tesla chargers in Tenterfield are nominally capable of up to 250 kW if your car is too.
Today's plan: charge in Tamworth before we leave, charge again at the halfway point in Tenterfield, then push on to Brisbane. It's 620 km, which will take an estimated 8 1/2 hours including just over an hour of charging time. We'll have breakfast and lunch during our charging stops so it's not just wasted time.
Road trip underway! We're taking our BYD Seal from Sydney to Brisbane via the New England Highway, with an overnight stop in a motel in Tamworth.
One recharge at Cameron Park on the way which we probably could have skipped, but since we wanted to stop to grab a quick bite to eat for dinner anyway I did take the opportunity to top up.
That's just under 400 km driven, tomorrow we'll do the remaining 700 km.
Finally the sun has come out while the car is at home so I can top up for (almost) free using our solar power.
Back at the BYD service centre in Mascot to get the clock spring replaced (under warranty).
When I arrived my car joined a herd of blue Seals, all checking in. Quite a coincidence since the Seal is not BYD's best selling car, and blue is the least common colour. In fact they even dropped blue from the list of paint options available in Australia with the 2025 refresh of the Seal. You can only buy a monochrome one now.
Nem az akkumulátor volt: power bank miatt gyulladt ki egy BYD Seal
Well, the routine service is done, but they haven't fixed the electrical faults.
The clock spring is buggered, which means no electrical connection to the stuff in the steering wheel. Driver's airbag won't work, cruise control can't be used, steering wheel buttons for camera display, media playback, calls, etc. won't work.
BYD service centres don't stock spare parts for warranty repairs. They have to diagnose the fault first, ask BYD for permission to order the required bits, wait for approval, then order the parts, wait for them to come in, then schedule the work to install them.
Such is the customer "service" model of modern automakers, obsessed with supply chain efficiency. We'll see how long this takes, but it's probably going to be several weeks.
Itt az új változat, négymillió forinttal olcsóbban lehet kínai sportszedánunk
Anthony Horton
e-cars.hu főoldal
Villanyautósok
Erin Watson