Concluding the third leg of our trip from Emerald Victoria to Coolum Beach in Queensland…

…we stayed the night in Maclean. Good value little motel.

Takeaway dinner from up the road at the Peking Chinese Restaurant. Along the pretty walk on the levee bank, I noticed that the road and river seem to be at about the same height.

Jeremy has run the Waterview Motel for the past two years. He installed a bank of EV destination chargers, 22kW of solar panels and 60kWh of battery storage. The solar charges up the battery and any cars during the day. At night, the battery powers the site and any cars still plugged in. Jeremy has his own BYD Atto 3 EV, which he drives locally and to Brisbane.

Like many motels, this one has a sign to ask drivers not to back into the parking in front of the rooms, since it fills them with carcinogenic fumes. EVs are of course exempt. I watched the driver of one large 4WD take several attempts to back in, idling in between, which made the porch air unbreathable. I pointed out the sign, then they moved on.

Charging:

We plugged in while the sun was still shining to grab some of the direct solar. While we slept, the car finished charging from the motel’s battery.

The motel charges a flat $20 to charge an EV. We filled from 25%, so that was a bit cheaper than using a fast charger, and of course much cheaper than petrol. Unfortunately the EV chargers, from the approved list in the government grant, don’t yet facilitate per kWh pricing, so the motel can only charge a flat fee.