{"id":511128,"date":"2026-03-01T05:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T05:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511128\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T05:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T05:16:15","slug":"yes-it-can-be-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511128\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes it can be done"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinion<\/p>\n

\"BiancaBianca Hall<\/a>Environment and climate reporter<\/p>\n

March 1, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

March 1, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

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The first thing to know about taking an EV on a family camping holiday \u2013 loaded up with kids, tents, eskies, camping gear strapped to the roof racks, and a fully laden trailer \u2013 is that you\u2019d best be prepared.<\/p>\n

Once I left the charging cable at home, assuming the public charger at our bush camping site would have a cable attached. It did not. We limped home days later on 6 per cent battery; hearts in mouths and windows down, air-conditioning firmly switched off.<\/p>\n

\"CampingCamping with an EV? It can be done.Illustration: Matt Willis<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re prepared, it\u2019s not just possible to take an electric vehicle camping for eight nights \u2013 it\u2019s actually fun. You just have to change the way you do things.<\/p>\n

For the past three years, my family has joined a convoy of friends from Melbourne to a sleepy hollow (calling it a town would be overstating it) in south Gippsland for a week-long camping trip.<\/p>\n

The first year was straightforward \u2013 our Volvo tank of a family wagon ran on diesel, and we powered down the highways with no need to refuel.<\/p>\n

But our 10-year-old Volvo wasn\u2019t just expensive to run, it was threatening to get very expensive \u2013 and soon. A growing catch and delay in the gears foreshadowed looming transmission issues. We agreed it was time to make a change.<\/p>\n

\"TakingTaking an EV on a camping trip forces you to slow down.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Once we added the cost of loan repayments, diesel, insurance, repairs and upkeep, it was marginally cheaper to get a brand-new electric vehicle on a novated lease than to keep the gas guzzler. And so, the future beckoned.<\/p>\n

For the past two years, our family has been the only contingent among our annual camping crew of a dozen families to arrive in an EV.<\/p>\n

Figures released this week by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen show we might not be the only ones for long.<\/p>\n

The sale of new EVs has almost tripled<\/a> in the past three years to 13.1 per cent of new cars sold in 2025, helping to drive down the carbon emissions of the transport sector for the first time since COVID lockdowns forced people to stay indoors.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer prime minister Scott Morrison pictured with US President Donald Trump during a White House state dinner in 2019.Sydney Morning Herald<\/p>\n

Remember the political brawl sparked over EVs in 2019, when former prime minister Scott Morrison claimed then-opposition leader Bill Shorten might \u201cend the weekend\u201d<\/a> by wanting EVs to comprise 50 per cent of new car sales by 2030?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what \u2013 it\u2019s not going to tow your trailer. It\u2019s not going to tow your boat. It\u2019s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family,\u201d Morrison declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Shorten wants to end the weekend when it comes to his policy on electric vehicles where you\u2019ve got Australians who love being out there in their four-wheel drives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dear reader, I\u2019m here to tell you that your weekend (or camping trip, for that matter) is safe with an EV.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that some things have changed. Gone are the sticky vinyl seats and swelteringly stuffy back seats of my childhood, when \u201care we there yet?\u201d was less a cry for directions than a cry for help from an airless back seat.<\/p>\n

EVs are quiet, comfortable and fast. Some, like ours, even come with a built-in fart-gag function to amuse children on long trips (less so their parents).<\/p>\n

Even so, just as when Morrison was sounding the alarm on EVs, the main thing that consumes electric vehicle drivers\u2019 minds is range.<\/p>\n

Tesla says its 2024 Model Y \u2013 the model we drive \u2013 offers an estimated range of 455 kilometres to 466 kilometres before the battery runs flat.<\/p>\n

This is probably true in city conditions when stop-start braking engages the regenerative battery. I suspect we got less than half that distance on the open road, weighed down by a loaded boot and roof racks, towing a heavy trailer and running the air-conditioning.<\/p>\n

\"TravellingTravelling with children can be challenging no matter what you\u2019re driving.www.auroraphotos.com<\/p>\n

The weather being really hot, or really cold, also seems to affect battery performance.<\/p>\n

Our maps app predicted our 200-kilometre journey would take us 3\u00bd hours. It took more like five, but largely because we resolved not to push our range anxiety too far after my previous heart-in-mouth experience driving a near-flat car back to the city.<\/p>\n

When we arrived at our first stop, 120 kilometres from home, the car \u2013 which had been on 100 per cent battery when we left \u2013 was on 30 per cent. We disengaged the trailer, plugged the car in, and went to find the closest bakery. So far, so good.<\/p>\n

Once we got to the camping site, charging was a doddle. With powered sites all around, options for trickle charging overnight were everywhere.<\/p>\n

\"ElectricElectric vehicle charging infrastructure in regional areas is plentiful, but not always useable.James Massola<\/p>\n

On the road, too, public charging facilities were noticeably more plentiful than we remembered from last year.<\/p>\n

As far as distances go, our trip wasn\u2019t a patch on my colleague James Massola\u2019s almost 4700-kilometre odyssey from Sydney to Perth<\/a>, but we shared some of his frustrations \u2013 particularly when connecting to public chargers.<\/p>\n

Most of the regional charging stations we encountered offered both CCS2 (Combined Charging System 2) connectors \u2013 the most common fast-charging connector for EVs in Australia \u2013 and CHAdeMO, a Japanese-designed connector.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Electrification<\/a><\/p>\n

For some bizarre reason, there was regularly just one of each connector attached to the stations, despite the fact CCS2 is the standard connection in Australia. As a result, we found ourselves waiting around for our turn to charge, while the CHAdeMO connector was covered in dust and cobwebs.<\/p>\n

At these stops, we shrugged and went into town to find a bakery, or an op shop to pick up pre-loved books for the next leg of the journey.<\/p>\n

For all the mental space taken up by range anxiety, driving an EV forces you to take it slow, and enjoy the journey.<\/p>\n

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\"BiancaBianca Hall<\/a> is The Age’s environment and climate reporter, and has worked in a range of roles including as a senior writer, city editor, and in the federal politics bureau in Canberra.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opinion Bianca HallEnvironment and climate reporter March 1, 2026 \u2014 5:00am March 1, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-511128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}