Another EV drive, but with a different vehicle. Last year, 2024 Dale (my son) and I converted  his 2005 Hilux to electric drive.

This is the first long distance drive for this Hilux

Left home at 5.20am



Drove to Carmilla 140km
Arrived 7.23am
Using 45% (used 271Ah)
Drove mostly at 80km/hr





Charging at Carmilla



Charge rate 119A

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Trev @ drivebynature.com

Early hours of the morning, hardly any traffic on the road.....testing/ calculating potential range. Close on 2500kg travelling weight.
80km/hr, 80% DOD 238km. 100% DOD 298km
60km/hr, 80% DOD 299km. 100% DOD 374Km

100Km/hr range test will happen another time.

The Web link to the show.
https://au.everythingelectric.show/
Edited 2025-03-01 09:23 by Trev

Good luck with the trip Trev. What batteries have you got in the Ute. 2.5 tonnes sounds pretty heavy.
Pete

Here is the Chargefox data for Carmilla.



Left Carmilla at 9.50am. Skipped Marlborough because it was not working.



Thinking my range was a bit short at 80km/hr, I drove the first 30% DOD at 60km/hr. Only saw 10 or 20 vehicles and some of them were going the other way. Easiest enough to pull over and let those behind pass.

Arrived at Rockhampton shopping centre and found the charger outlets were out of action for maintenance.



Then went to the public charger outlets at the Council building. Drove 227km using 76% (455Ah). Arrived 1.22pm.







Lunch time. Some people in the past have asked, 'how much takeaway do I do. Very little.

Pete, we are trialling EVE cells, 300Ah. Winston cells are excellent, but with EVE we could get 600Ah in the space.
This is the best picture I could find on my phone.



Under the bonnet







6 chargers. 3 on each side.




Edited 2025-03-01 14:51 by Trev

Charge for data for Rockhampton



Not quite full. I shut off the charge at 98%. Battery temperature kept shutting down the chargers. I have the BMS set to shut them down at 48C. So from 90% to 98% I could only run 3 chargers to keep the temperature down. A very hot day.

I left Rockhampton at 5.45pm.
Drove mostly 80km/hr. I wanted to drive at 100km/hr but the head wind has been strong all day. The outskirts off cyclone Alfred. Plus the battery temperature being up high.

Arrived at Mt Larcom 6.43pm, just as it was getting dark. 30% DOD. Only 72km.







Simple dinner tonight. Mashed potato, onion, salmon and a little tomato.
Yes I have vehicle 2 load as they call it. With my EV Hilux (not this one yet) I also can do vehicle 2 house.

Charge for data for Mt Larcom.



Left Mt. Larcom at 8.30pm
Drove 238km, mostly at 80km/hr. Some at 60km/hr, it is very hilly. Used 77%, 23% remaining. Used 462Ah, 138Ah remaining.

It is hilly all the way down through Gympie. Though Gympie has the new bypass/ freeway now which is much better.





Arrived at Childers free  RV and Camping  at 11.53pm. Plugged in and set up swag for a sleep. Picture this morning, day 2.





Chargefox data for Childers



Left Childers at 5.40am
Drove to Cooroy. Skinny took me on a scenic tour, 32km through the mountains. Google maps, I call her skinny. She has to be skinny to fit in my phone. Up and down, round and round. Swapping roads, must have been like 10 different roads or something. See the freeway to the right of skinnies billy goat track.



Arrived at Cooroy at 8.11am
Drove 179km, no different to the freeway distance, but......much slower.
Used 62% or 375Ah.






Edited 2025-03-02 09:32 by Trev

The conversion job looks great Trev.
Just curious what is the approximate cost of doing the conversion. I have read that it is almost more expensive than just buying an EV. But then EV utes are not so easy to come by yet.
enjoy the trip
Pete

I keep forgetting to post the speedo reading at the start.



I also tested the range expected at 100km/hr. I will write them all here for easy comparison.

100km/hr 80% DOD 190Km, 100% DOD 238Km
80km/hr  80% DOD 238Km, 100% DOD 298Km
60km/hr  80% DOD 299Km, 100% DOD 374Km

Chargefox data for Cooroy.



Heat on the batteries became an issue again at Cooroy. The last 7% was charged at 80A. I had to turn 2 chargers off to keep temperature below 48C.

Left Cooroy at around 11.50am.
I wanted to charge next at IKEA North Lakes, but the app showed them not working. Spent a little time looking for another on the app, but decided just to head to IKEA Springwood (south side of Brisbane).

Much crawling bumper to bumper on the freeway coming into Brisbane. Drove at 80km/hr where I could.

Drove 153km. Arrived at IKEA Springwood 2.40pm. Used 51%

  Quote  

Arrived at IKEA Springwood

Thats just a few Km's from Moss St Slacks Ck, where I bought a set of batteries.
Have A safe trip Trev.

Pete, we have around $40,000 of electric parts in this Hilux. Just over half of that is batteries. Dale has put in a lot of other extras on top of that as well.

Cost to convert really depends on what vehicle you use and what you want to achieve with it. We have a big battery pack ($22000) and $6000 worth of chargers ($1000 each). We wanted fast charging and long distance driving. Most conversions will have half that battery size and 1 or 2 chargers. My EV Hilux only has 300Ah (half the size of this Hilux,  Dale's Hilux), but I am using Winston batteries which are a bit more expensive than EVE. Winston are known and trusted to be good.

Chargefox data for IKEA Springwood.



Left IKEA at 1.45pm
Drove 156km mostly at 80km/hr.
Arrived at Lennox Head at 8.46pm.
Used 51%.







Chargefox data for Lennox Head



Left Lennox Head at 4.50am.
Drove 209km mostly at 80km/hr.



I didn't get a picture of the battery screen and I can't remember how much power used.
Arrived  at Coffs Harbour at 7.30am. Got plugged in at the show ground by 8.10am
After finding the groundsman and then finding an outlet. Apparently the power upgrade started early last year is still not complete. Then shifting a rock to get to the outlet. Then finding the switch board to turn on power to the outlet. All good. All 6 chargers running. Thanks heaps Groundsman. Paid $20


Edited 2025-03-03 08:50 by Trev

Current position of cyclone Alfred, while I am charging at Coffs Harbour show ground. The cause of all the strong head winds. Hopefully the wind will ease off as I get further down the coast.



Trip so far. Destination-Sydney. This info is more for those in other parts of the world who are watching this EV drive.


Edited 2025-03-03 09:19 by Trev

Apart from the wind, you wouldn't know the cyclone is out there. White puffy clouds and blue sky.

Good luck Trev, time to head south as quick as you can. There may be a lot of water coming down in the North of NSW soon.
Drive safe
Pete

No charge data from Coffs Harbour as it was a 3 phase outlet.

Left Coffs Harbour at 12.06pm.
Stopped off at Kempsey to drop off batteries and solar gear.

Arrived at Mid Coast Council at 3.53pm. Drove 215km mostly at 80km/hr.
Used 71% or 427Ah.

The last bit of charge had to be slower to keep the battery temperature below 48C.

No charge data from Mid Coast Council as it is a free outlet. Thanks heaps. I noticed 2 new wall outlets and wires hanging out of the wall for a third outlet



Left Mid Coast Council at 8.06pm.
Stopped in road works quite a bit north side of Newcastle. Drove to Cooranbong to my brothers place, 192km mostly at 80km/hr. Arrived at 10.57pm.
Then this morning drove to Morriset for a charge.

I forgot to zero the trip meter at Mid Coast Council so it is 411km - 215km = 196km. Used 62% or 600-224Ah = 376Ah.






Edited 2025-03-04 08:42 by Trev

I should point out too. The times stated, changed an hour when I crossed the border between IKEA Springwood and Lennox Head, so this section it will appear to have taken an hour longer than it really did. NSW is running on 'daylight saving' time. The famous American Indian once said 'yeh I cut a foot off the end of my blanket and sowed it on the other end to have a longer blanket'. I wish they would leave the clock alone. The sun comes up and goes down the same for NSW as it does for Qld. It feels weird to get up at 8am. Yesterday morning leaving Lennox Head at 4.50am is really 3.50am proper time (AEST). Getting in at my brothers place last night at 10.57pm is really only 9.57pm (AEST).
Edited 2025-03-04 09:01 by Trev