Tesla connects Sydney, Melbourne with superchargers

TESLA continues its rollout of charging infrastructure, officially opening up a pair of supercharger bays in New South Wales and Victoria.

One station is located near the Big Merino in the NSW country town of Goulburn, about two hours south-west of the Sydney CBD, while the second is just off the main street of the Victorian border town of Wodonga.

The Goulburn station can charge eight Teslas at once, while the Wodonga station is set-up for six cars.

The Supercharger stations, as they are known, run at a maximum of 120 volts, and can add 270km of range to the car in 30 minutes.

Eighty per cent of battery capacity can be added in 40 minutes, but topping it off will take an hour and fifteen minutes, as the charge must be slowed to safely top off the battery.

There is no cost to Tesla owners to use the chargers.

“We are excited to offer free long distance travel to our owners from Melbourne to Sydney and Canberra with the launch of Goulburn and Wodonga Superchargers,” Tesla’s local marketing and communications manager Heath Walker told GoAuto.

“This is a way to rediscover the road trip, country towns and it doesn't cost a cent.”

Due to an electronic ‘handshake’ between charger and vehicle, only Tesla vehicles can use the facility. The charger plug type itself mimics the most popular European design.

Goulburn is located two hours south-west from Sydney and an hour north east of Canberra, and is located on the Hume Highway which runs through to Melbourne.

Wodonga is approximately three hours north of Melbourne.

An additional stand-alone supercharger is located in a service station at Euroa, near the Victorian town of Benalla, which is an hour closer to Melbourne than Wodonga.