Essay by Eric Worrall
“… the journey proved electric vehicles can work across Australia, but not without risk …”
Electric car driver left scrambling for power as chargers go offline on Nullarbor
An Australian Tesla driver has learned the hard way how bad the country’s EV charging infrastructure can be.
Danielle Collis
April 3, 2026 – 12:17PM
An Australian man has been left stranded in the middle of the Nullarbor after multiple electric vehicle charging stations failed.
Jac has been documenting his journey in his Tesla from Sydney to Perth, a journey he says quickly turned into a “bit of a gamble” as key charging sites went offline across remote Western Australia.
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“We’re plugged in to the back of a shearing shed,” he said.
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Regardless of the setbacks, Jac said the journey proved electric vehicles can work across Australia, but not without risk.
Read more: https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/electric-car-driver-left-scrambling-for-power-as-chargers-go-offline-on-nullarbor/news-story/93a559da76ebf3766745d3d4797d1cef
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I personally witnessed the “vulnerability” of outback charging stations in a town in far Western New South Wales called Brewarrina. I had a chat to the repair man. He said he’s out there every other day, the local kids keep vandalising the charging station. He kept the van doors locked the whole time, even though he was only a few feet away.
I’m sure there are nice places in Brewarrina, but not the place where we parked. While I was waiting 5 minutes for my family to have a comfort break, two scruffy looking teenagers did a walk by of my vehicle. The thought of leaving a vehicle there for half a day, or longer if the charger was mysteriously out of order, to get enough charge to reach the next town, let’s just say it probably wouldn’t work out well for the EV owner.
For truly remote charging stations, I mean try leaving a $100,000 charger battery set unattended in the middle of any desert and see how long it stays put, especially the charging stations with expensive diesel backup systems.
Gasoline and Diesel can run out, as millions of Aussies may be about to discover. But our current “not a crisis” is more a government policy failure, a deliberate policy of shutting down refineries to prepare for our glorious green future, than a problem with the technical viability of long distance diesel transport. And with diesel if you have concerns about fuel availability en-route, you can always invest in a bigger gas tank, or load a few jerry cans in the trailer to keep you going.
All he proved is the risks are real.
Now suppose you had, say 10 EVs, trying that same journey 😉
Stated differently, the risk is that an EV may not work across Australia.
Getting stranded in outback Australia can be extremely hazardous to one’s very existence.
Should always be over prepared… lots of extra fuel and water, food, spare tyres engine parts, belts etc etc.
As somebody who lived on the actual Nullarbor Plain for a couple of years, and travelling across a featureless plain without any landmarks, on tracks that might be used once every two weeks if you were lucky, the risks were very real. Always carried plenty of water, tools, a gun and a skinning knife. Had to walk out on two occasions, longest was 40 miles. The week I left, a family on a parallel nearby track all lost their lives, doing everything wrong.
The Eyre Highway doesn’t actually cross the Plain, just briefly touches one corner. So the saying “We crossed the Nullarbor” isn’t correct unless you travelled by train.
So do camels, and more reliable.
BOAC. Better On A Camel.
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert 2, in an EV caravan?
A pogo stick doesn’t require electricity or liquid fuel.
Don’t be so sure about that:
https://www.spaco.org/MachineShop/hoprod.htm
Might be fun.
EV and Outback should never be mentioned in the same sentence.
Maybe not what you had in mind.
I had an Outback for 14 years.
And before that a 1983 first-version 4wd and then the 2nd version model from 1993.
Were all great rides.
Not in the same class for off-roading as my 100 Series LandCruiser though.
I’ve had 3 Subarus (Baja and Outback for me and Impreza for wife) never felt that I could afford a LandCruiser. They’re nice. I’m thinking about maybe getting a Tacoma next year.
Are you in Australia?
I wish.
I had a Series 80, 4.2l diesel for 23 years. Loved that Cruiser.
That was the first thing that came to my mind!
I frequently saw people driving in the Mohave and Sonoran deserts dressed too lightly, no blankets, shelter, food, or adequate water supplies. Adding an EV to the mix sounds a lot like thumbing your nose at fate.
You mean, gasp, you can’t fill a jerry can with, gasp, electricity.
SHOCKING!
The Energy Minister said we can store it just like water. Sort of. In a Jerry can full of nasty chemicals that sometimes goes on fire called a battery.
The greens used to hate dangerous chemicals, now they love them. A lost tribe.
Out there, carrying extra fuel in a jerrycan isn’t much use if you want to drive through the night. Used to strap a 44 gallon drum on the ute and used a double-action pump to refuel for the entire 1000 mile trip.
rimshot
If that is a real photo, and not an AI interpretation, is that charging unit powered by diesel? That has got to produce more CO2 than just an IC engine in the car.
It’s the thought that counts.
Correct. The few roadhouses on the Eyre Highway are not connected to any grid, so have small diesel generators, certainly not powerful enough to charge EVs. One roadhouse claimed to run its EV charger on used cooking oil, but that was BS, as it mostly ran on diesel.
I admit I’m baffled. These Australian EV charging stations run on diesel? Wouldn’t it make more sense simply to burn the diesel in a car engine directly rather than using it to turn a generator which is then used to charge a battery?
The EV charging stations along the Eyre Highway were mostly installed by either the state car body, or the state or federal governments. One was crowd-funded by EV enthusiasts, and another by the Australian EV Association.
“Regardless of the setbacks, Jac said the journey proved electric vehicles can work across Australia, but not without risk.”
Interesting word, “proved” in context of “risk.”
Something is not proven to work if the risk probability is greater than zero and the result is being stranded without any means to get out of the situation.
Jac should admit he was damned lucky to get through this.
Someone “pedaled” a human powered aircraft across the English Channel. Proved it can be done.
Why haven’t commercial airlines installed pedals at each passenger seat?
People have rowed across the Atlantic. Proved it can be done.
Why don’t cruise ships install oars to each cabin?
Why have cruise ships at all? I guess it all depends on the quality of the food and some amount of fear of flying.
QUANTITY of food.
They probably should. Then maybe eventually some passengers wouldn’t need two seats. Tell them they have to pedal to power their devices.
Might have done better with a mountain bike. More fun, too.
I talked with someone once who had tried to set up a roadside service operation using motorcycles. Most people need a flat fixed or gas, and he could carry several gallons of gas and get through traffic jams easier. All he got was bureaucratic shuffle and one excuse after another.
But it has been my go-to answer ever since for why EVs suck. If I run out of gas us US 50 across Nevada, or this guy crossing the Aussie outback, it could take a few hours to flag down a ride or get a response from a call if there’s service. But the response can be a motorcycle with enough gas to get you to the next fillup. Can’t do that with an EV out of charge.
When a motorcycle can bring enough charge to get me even 10 miles down the road, I’ll be interested in an EV.
You can’t count on flagging someone down in the Aussie outback, especially if you go even slightly off the main road. Every other year someone dies because they broke down and assumed someone would notice.
https://www.thegreynomads.com.au/bogged-9/
I took a CB radio on my trip but it wasn’t enough, long stretches of the trip nobody answered radio checks. If I do the trip again I’ll bring a sat phone and a locator beacon.
Forget CB radio.
My son works at Yulara/Uluru/Ayers Rock and travels with a Starlink antenna on his dashboard.
Constant and fast connection through to Alice Springs (5 hours each way through the Outback) or down to us in Adelaide.
He migrated through CB to sat phone to Starlink.
The Russian army USED to have Starlink and they loved them. Now, they’re getting their asses kicked by the Ukrainians without their beloved Starlinks.
Many of the roadside assistance organisations started with motorcycles and sidecars in the early 20th century.
Harley Davidson and Indian had trikes which were aimed at mechanics. They were basically a toolbox on wheels. Once the mechanic got the broken down vehicle going again, the trike could be hitched to the rear of the car and towed back to base. H-D was still manufacturing these until the early 1960s.
https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/motorcycles/road-glide-3.html
I was thinking more of the Dispatch-Tow and Servicar
Pro tip.
If you have a breakdown in the outback, it’s best not to accept a tow from a bloke called Mick Taylor, whose workshop is at a place called Wolf Creek.
Would Mick Dundee be OK? 😎
Only if you wanted to be towed by a water buffalo.
Trying to sing, “Oh, Lord, I’m stuck in Nularbor again.” just doesn’t have the same ring to it (or even the same meter) as, “Oh, Lord, I’m stuck in Lodi again.”
OT.
UAH v6.1 Global Temperature Update for March, 2026: +0.38 deg. C
Not going anywhere. !
USA an outlier for + anomaly.
Walgett and Bre are a bit dodgy, but they’re good compared to Wilcannia.
Then, of course, there’s The Alice, Katherine and Tennant Creek 🙁
We were across the road from the supermarket in that little car park with the public toilet and EV charger. Lots of drunk or drugged up teenagers hanging out next to the supermarket.
I don’t think we were in any immediate danger of being attacked, but I doubt anything left unattended would have lasted long. Every time the charger repair guy reached into his van for a tool he immediately locked the door after he found what he wanted.
So culture does matter? Some cultures are a lot better at peace and prosperity, arising fundamentally from respect: for yourself, others, and their property. Some are better at fostering intemperance and scorn, taking and doing what they want without regard to consequences. You know those places by the crime and lack of public safety.
That does seem to be the crux of it. No-hopers are no-hopers and good people are good people regardless of race. Some cultures (well, social environment is probably more correct) make it easier to have respect for yourself, others, and their property.
The swift application of a size 10 to kids who don’t display that seems to have an effect as well.
Every Aussie knows exactly who he is referring to when he says “the local kids keep vandalising the charging station” and “two scruffy looking teenagers did a walk by of my vehicle”. Unfortunately, there are a lot of places in rural Australia where leaving a $100,000 charger battery set (or anything else of value) unattended is asking for trouble.
The planet is a century away from the end of fossil fuels and many centuries away from the end of uranium and thorium which are energetic enough to provide hydrocarbon fuels indefinitely.
Australia has abundant coal, and all else needed, and could easily be self-sufficient if their government were not a bunch of carrots. Our government is a bunch of bought and paid for carrots too. China is now converting coal by the hundreds of million of tons annually into liquid fuels, fertilizer, and plastics. Chinese leaders are not elected democratically, but seem to do for their people what ours will not or cannot (corruption – bribery?) do for us.
Or maybe they are just smarter!
There are economic reasons for these differences. Coal is very cheap in China, as is labor and companies can pay to avoid whatever environmental regulations are in place. There’s corruption everywhere but it’s especially bad in China.
Nevertheless, China falls only behind the U.S. in oil consumption. It’s so important that they have a strategic reserve approaching 2 billion barrels.
It’s still expensive to convert coal to liquid fuels, primarily because of coal’s hydrogen deficit. We tend to use natural gas as the feed for fertilizers and plastics because it’s clean and inexpensive, in addition to having a desirable H:C ratio.
Dakota Gasification is the only company in the U.S. that currently converts coal to chemicals, fertilizers and fuel. https://www.dakotagas.com/
China’s oil reserve is ONLY for the government VIPs and the military.The same is true for our “Strategic Oil Reserve”.
Expensive? Sure, but if the choice is none, it is cheap at twice the price. Haber-Bosch uses NG to supply heat and hydrogen. Coal is mostly carbon, so obviously the hydrogen has to come from another source, e.g. H2O. The energetics is different, as are the catalysts, but it works for fuel, fertilizer, and plastics. It must also be obvious that sooner or later, liquid fuels must be made, e.g. from carbonate rocks. CCUS is a terminally stupid idea that only politicians can endorse with enthusiasm.
I agree very much.
Thinking of it as a chemist, it comes down to just mass and energy. Given any elemental composition, I can take it to any other molecular form of the same elements, but energy, either internal or external is needed to drive the conversion.
Most often it comes down to the price of energy (heat in many cases) as an input, along with the capital and labor needed for the conversion equipment. It takes a lot of energy to reduce water to hydrogen, less to liberate hydrogen from methane as the energy comes from methane itself.
No matter what, lower cost energy is desirable for any conversion to be viable. Catalysts don’t change the initial and final energy states, but do reduce energy barriers for subsections of the conversion process.
There is a cost for getting rid of sulfur, for example, as it is a catalyst poison. It’s fundamentally easier in the case of natural gas because the separation can be simply physical.
Yes, CCUS just adds to cost, making things more expensive and cost prohibitive in a lot of cases. It could be viewed as a social tool to lock people up/down.
It is almost certain that the Chinese leaders care more about their country…
.. than the current crop of Labor politicians in Australia, care about anything Australian.
It’s funny how there’s no waiting list for CCP politburo to receive organ donations when needed.
Australia has some oil, and actually exports most of what it has. There are oil fields under Australia, but the lazy politicians don’t believe in Australia using its own oil, gas and uranium.
Lazy is not quite the word to use.
It was always said communists were idealists. Looks like the Chinese are not so now in that vast numbers of their college students were educated in STEM and engineering in America. It’s now the Western nations with their idiotic green idealism and their idea that allowing huge numbers of undocumented immigrants is a good thing especially from nations dedicated to destroying the West.
One converts coal to oil only when one has to, not because one wants to. Thinks Wartime Germany and South Africa during the oil embargos. China is doing it because Xi is as paranoid as Stalin. But to suggest the CCP is doing this for its people!? Next, you’ll be telling us they’re all fun-loving hippies who just want freedom and peace.
Mate, ya got them windmills fartin’ along at 33%. Crank ’em up to 100% and she’ll be right as rain!
Would that not be delightful – just crank up the dispatchable wind turbines and PV.
That is what politicians believe, of course, since they know ZERO physics.
Not mentioned in this piece, but noted in another article I saw on the matter, some of the EV recharging points were basically diesel generators, possibly with a solar panel or two to supplement during daylight hours. So yes EVs may work IF there’s enough fossil fuel to support them. 😁
I drove across the Nullarbor last year in a diesel BMW and had the odd problem at sites whereby I couldn’t fuel up and had to move on, thankfully I had fuel enough to continue. I don’t know I’d want to do it in the new EV I’m about to take delivery of.