EVs in Australia: Taking Tesla Model 3 Performance on roadtrip from Sydney to ... trends now

It was the first charging stop on the very first interstate trip in our new Tesla, and already the touchscreen technology was defeating me.

I just couldn't get it to work. I'd make my selections, wave my credit card - but every time, my bid to refuel was foiled. The queues were huge, the stress was unbearable. 

Eventually I gave up on the computerised self-service at McDonald's and went to the counter to order our burger and fries in person instead. 

Outside in the Macca's car park though, our Tesla Model 3 Performance was happily plugged in and recharging without a single problem.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, including our own, the doomsday decision to go on a 2,500km EV road trip over Easter went off without a single hitch. Not one.

Almost everywhere we went, we simply pulled up and plugged in, bar one recharge at Wodonga where we had to wait five minutes for a Tesla Supercharger spot on Easter Sunday.

A few minutes later - just enough time for a leisurely toilet stop and a coffee, or even a quick burger and fries - and we would be back on the road again.

The entire fuel cost of the trip was almost the same price as our Good Friday Macca's feed, coming in at $56 for the whole 2,500km. 

In my old Audi S3, the same trip would have cost at least $400.

Don't get me wrong. Australia is just at the start of its EV revolution. There is a long, long way still to go.

While we travelled 2,500km, almost all of it was on the best-serviced EV roads in the country, from Sydney to Yass, to Melbourne to Beechworth, to Canberra and back to Sydney.

Plugshare - the go-to phone app for EV drivers, with location details of all Australia's charging stations and whether they're available, broken or busy - tells me there are more than 100 charging stations on or near the main highway between Sydney and Melbourne.

Each one of those charging stations can have up to a dozen chargers, which can be of varying speeds from slow trickle charging to superfast 350kwh zappers.

To avoid any recharge woes, we topped up every 200km or so without incident. Staying at a friend's remote farm near Yass, we simply plugged it in overnight at a neighbour's barn (to protect it from a rowdy herd of hoon steers). Easy.

I'm the first to admit it's not exactly crossing the Nullarbor from Adelaide to Perth, or taking the Gregory Highway from Cairns to Darwin.

But after almost 30 years in Australia, I've yet to drive either route in a petrol-powered car, so I'm not rushing to do it in a Tesla (although others have successfully EV'ed the Nullarbor.)

The fact is, driving EVs in everyday city life - which, to be honest, is what about 90 per cent of the country does most days - is not just possible, but easy.

Every morning I wake up with a near-full tank which will give me 400km-plus of real-world driving before I'm down to about 10 per cent and have to think about recharging.

If there's a fast charger nearby, you can pump in enough power to take you another 100-200km in about the same time as it takes to fill the tank of a petrol car.

That's one of the first things you learn in an EV - charging times are not linear. 

It can whip up to 60-70 per cent in next to no time, but then slows down to 80, slower still to 90 and you can watch a sitcom episode in the time it takes to get from 90 to 100.

It's a bit like loading luggage into a jumbo jet - baggage handlers can easily pack it two-thirds full, but then they'll need to start re-arranging things more

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