Three nights at The Coast Motel, Yeppoon
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October 26-29. We checked into The Coast Motel in Yeppoon, for three nights. Nice place, with a pool, laundry, room balcony, tavern next door and undercover shaded parking.
During the middle day heat, we caught up on some of the necessities of life, including work (coding and a virtual meeting), laundry. We’re not sure about the stocking lint filter on the dryer.
We chipped away at the seemingly endless admin of preparing to move into our new home, thousands of kilometres away, in Emerald Victoria, where the temperature is less than half that in Yeppoon. I think we’ll be in for a shock when we eventually go home.
In the cooler parts of the day, we gave ourselves a reprieve, with a morning coffee from Two Sisters Coffee Bar in nearby Cooee Bay, a visit to the Wreck Point Scenic Lookout. One day we drove down to Emu Park, with the soldier crabs and metal emus. We ate lunch there, watching several people stroll past in Oktoberfest clothing.
We also had several visits to Yeppoon Main Beach, mentioned in my previous post.
Charging
I don’t know why there are no EV chargers anywhere around Yeppoon,. It’s a missed opportunity by the Livingstone Shire Council and community. We didn’t spot a single EV in town, until we were on our way out on the last day, and we waved madly at some bemused guy in another white Tesla.
We probably should have topped up at the fast charger in Rockhampton on the way into Yeppoon, but didn’t bother since we already had 80%.
I had hoped that, as usual, we could plug in to charge at our accommodation. I found a good parking spot, next to an outside power point (and painted purple smiley face). I asked at reception if we could plug in, but was surprised by his answer.
He said that he had been told not to allow EVs to charge, because they might catch fire! After my initial surprise, I mentioned to him that petrol and diesel vehicles are statistical over ten times more likely to catch on fire than EVs. But he wasn’t interested. He had been “told”, even “by a firefighter”. I thanked him and just left it there.
It is pretty easy to Google: Do EVs catch fire more than petrol cars?
https://www.google.com/search?q=Do+EVs+catch+fire+more+th…
If you don’t know, please find out ☺️. When you do know, if your previous source is shown to be nonsense, question what else you believed from that source.
It’s a shame that misinformation has made Yeppoon less likely to be visited by an increasing number of EVs on the road. We probably won’t be back until this changes. Ironically, having more EVs will actually reduce the chance of a vehicle fire.
We had enough charge for all our day trips during the three days there, but I did disable sentry mode for one night, just to conserve energy.
After we left Yeppoon, as predicted by the Tesla’s navigation, we got back to Rockhampton with 9% battery (37km), and charged, on our way to some shops.
Links
- Earlier — Yeppoon Main Beach walks: Strolling Yeppoon's Main Beach
One said they kept missing out on funding. But reckoned there was soon to be some EV chargers going in one of the larger car parks there.
I'm so tired of these people that have no idea...I bet he doesn't 2nd guess plugging in his phone every night. 😓😓
Just be polite and remind people about the 2 ICE BMW's this year that caught fire while people were driving them, how Toyota last month I think it was had a recall due to possible fire (this information is easily accessible) the list goes on and on, then ask them to show you the source of their information on ALL the EV fires here.
Maybe you should educate yourself in respect for other businesses trying to still earn a living as they pay for the electricity that you tried to get for nothing. 👍
At the end of the day, the manager can of course say “no EV charging” for whatever reason they want. It’s their business. But if they say it’s because they’ve been told that EVs pose a higher fire risk, which is incorrect, then I question the source of information.
Reception made no mention of gas or insurance. It was just “we’ve been told not to allow EVs to charge, due to fire risk”. If that’s what they’ve been told, then there’s nothing I can do about that, other than pointing out that the EVs are far less likely to catch fire than petrol/diesel vehicles and suggest that they query the source.
If the insurance provider is saying that they’re not covered for EVs charging, that’s interesting and I would like to look into that source. If you’re not insured then you can’t offer it – fair enough ☺️. Similarly, I’d like to find the firefighter who has said that it’s a higher risk and query that source.
If those sources turn around to say that EVs are okay to charge, then I suggest it would be a great opportunity for this small business to offer charging points in the car park.
When we asked about charging, when booking, management replied with just “We can not accommodate your request”. We did not know exactly what that meant, which is why, when we arrived, I found a power point and asked if we could plug into that. Other venues have previously said that they didn’t facilitate EVs, only because they thought we needed some special EV charger, but were more than happy for us to plug in when I explained that we only needed a power point.
If asked to pay extra for charging, we would be happy to do so. It would have cost about $10 to $20. We were staying for three nights.
The lint collecting mechanism was interesting and inventive. I can see it had some advantages over a door filter. Given that lint build up in dryers is a big cause of house fires, it’s also a challenge.
Otherwise, it’s a great place to stay. Shaded parking, pool, laundry, easy drive to beaches etc. We wish you all the best.
AND you've admitted you've had many EV owners previously visit your accommodation.
Any other business owner might see a great business opportunity to investigate the REAL fire risk of EVs & explore how you could provide safe charging points & make yourself an attractive destination for the ever-growing EV community.
As it is, your thinly veiled nastiness means I'm putting a black mark against your property & will NOT be encouraging anyone to stay with you.
Other accommodation providers in Yeppoon will likely be a bit more business savvy & win customers as a result.
Oops!🤷♀️
And instead of bad mouthing somebody who has tried to get things go to Livingstone Shire Council instead maybe you might have success but love you have come to the wrong place if you think I’m worried about your little remark I’m not..
kings regards a coal miners daughter 😊
So the we can’t give you what you need reason seems to change.
Tip for the new owner. Al that is needed is a power point and then set a price to use it (I would suggest being not to greedy) and then EV owners can come to this beautiful spot.
Always seems odd when reps come on and rather than looking for a solution look for a fight.
PS hope the new owners call me back it looks a good spot for the break we are planning with family.
But driving 45 min each way to charge up just does not work.
What they aren’t happy about is misinformation which generates paranoia and is unproductive.
Did you know there has never ever been an EV fire in Australia from a parked EV or an EV charging. All the lithium batteries fires you see on TV are e-bikes, e-scooters and hoverboards due to faulty chargers or incorrect replacement chargers - not EVs.
It's in all our interests to share & inform on our journeys.
Perhaps provide links to management for their enlightenment. 🤷♀️🤞😉
https://www.evfiresafe.business/course/ev-charging-fire-s…
What will happen next is that caravan parks motels will have to install metering for power used by guests not only will this be an extra expense for them it will be passed onto all users. Should only be passed onto EV users they want to use them make them pay more.
I like my ICE vehicles and burning diesel .
Insurance will not allow any high drawing appliances to be plugged in, via extension leads.
This rule isn't new, it predates EV's.
This rule isn't even intended for EV's - EV's just falls into the class that the rule targets - power hungry appliances.
Yes- your EV is an appliance, it uses lots of power, it's the same as a hair dryer, a welder, a microwave, a kettle, an urn etc.
Insurance companies are also party responsible for the wiring rules, and state by state variations.
And as a sparky, can confirm, that power hungry appliances, plugged in via extension leads, do cause issues.
Think about how long the run is, from the transformer, to the main building, to over to the motel, around each one of the rooms to yours, (often at a vd limit that was acceptable 40 years ago when the place was designed and built, but likely wouldn't be considered acceptable in a current build today) and has likely had more power points added to each circuit since then, to accommodate new technologies since building.
If you plug a kettle in, should work fine.
Plug two kettles into same circuit, it will trip (in 90% of cases - feel free to try just do so during reception hours, because you'll have no power till they are able to reset)
But that's not really the issue here.
The heat generated over a few minutes isn't excessive.
But if you boiled kettles back to back for 8 hours, those cables internally, and contacts within the PowerPoint, would heat up and become less efficient & potentially eventually cause damage - hopefully on a more modern building, you would not have any issues, but boiling kettles back to back for hours in your typical motel found in a regional Australia, you would likely run into issues eventually.
Add a standard domestic extension lead, (1mm or 1.5mm2 PVC) and try it again.
Guarantee someone will have issues.
That's basically your EV.
Your EV won't catch fire.
It's not the weak point.
It's the extra PowerPoint added to an existing circuit, intended for bedside phone charging, and max demand calculation completed as a typical domestic installation (it's a bedroom for all intents and purposes)
If you go and plug a hotplate into that same, likely abused PowerPoint, on the end of a 30m extension cord with undersized copper strands and only PVC sheath - the problem should be obvious to all?
Use the dedicated EV chargers, if there is none, request some. Every visit. Everywhere you go.
If you need to use a PowerPoint, try go direct to wall outlet (there is a thermistor built-in, that will protect you).
If you must use an extension lead, 2.5mm² copper cores, minimum.
Ideally rubber insulation rather than PVC also.