Day 1: The drive to the South Coast
4 hr 15 min | 280 km
Stop 1: Picking up the BYD Atto from SIXT Domain
On arrival at their Domain location, the SIXT customer service team must have sensed I was a little nervous about using an electric car to get down to Ulladulla and back. My mind was racing with thoughts of: “what if I run out of battery? How do I charge this thing without blowing it up?”
The team walked me to a bright orange BYD Atto 3 (who I later named Terry) and gave me a run through the essentials to ease my mind. They showed me how to use the charging pack and cables in the boot, how to plug in and a few of the features on the dashboard.
They also provided a link to where to find charging stations, before releasing me to zoom off to navigate the city centre in a brand new electric car.
My first task was to get Terry home. I like to think I aced driving this wonderfully silent and smooth vehicle through the Sydney CBD. The car gently warns you of pedestrians or other cars getting too close! It takes a minute to work out what the soothing tones are telling you until you realise you are being quietly judged by your car every time you get a little too close to the curb!
Stop 2: Heading south via school drop off
The kids were very excited to take our bright orange EV to school, although maybe they were just happy to be in a car that didn’t smell of mandarin peels and wet dog.
With drop off done and coffee picked up, I hit the new tunnels to get onto the southern arterial roads, heading for the south coast.
SIXT have E-toll tags in all of their vehicles so there’s no need to panic-call toll companies as it’ll be added onto your invoice at the end.
I left Sydney’s Inner West with about 400km on the dial and around 224km to drive to Lake Conjola, my destination for the weekend.
The car drove like a dream, with smooth, seamless steering and acceleration. The big screen on the dashboard controls almost everything in the car. It was simple to work out and connected to my phone easily.
Within about 40 minutes, I was officially out of Sydney, on the freeway, happily listening to my podcast with my posterior comforted by the power-adjusted seat warmer!
Stop 3: Lunch stop at Berry
With around 250km left of charge, I took my scheduled stop at beautiful Berry for lunch.
Having planned the trip the night before using the my nrma app, I knew I could get to my destination without a charge but I wanted to experience charging at a public charging station, plus get some pastries for lunch.
I easily found the NRMA charging station in the carpark beside Berry Bowling club. I noticed another other EV lined up for charging. We had a friendly chat and they explained they hadn’t got much left to go, so I waited for around 15 minutes for them to finish up.
There are two types of connections. I found it easy to distinguish which one I needed to use by simply looking at the plug size. I plugged in and strolled to the town centre to grab some pastries and a coffee. I returned after 30 minutes and after a quick chat to some Tesla owners, I was back on my way.
Stop 4: Arrival at Lake Conjola
We arrived to Lake Conjola with 230km left in the battery, having nipped over to Ulladulla and back to get supplies.
I parked the car in the carport and plugged her in - literally into the wall socket. How easy! I settled in for the afternoon and waited for the girls to arrive. The girls were excited to check out my electric ride so we took her to the local bowlo for dinner.
We were amused by the ambient cabin lighting Terry offered for our evening trip!
Day 2: Exploring Conjola, Milton, Ulladulla and Mollymook
1 hr 15 min | 80 km
After charging overnight on the normal 240V AC socket of the holiday house, Terry had only gained about 60km – a much slower charge rate than using the public fast charger at Berry.
However, with over 280km to work with, I knew we would have more than enough capacity to roam the area for the day. We drove down to the Lake Conjola Entrance and explored the beautiful beach and boardwalk, before heading to Ulladulla to enjoy the sunshine.
The BYD comfortably fit our group of four as we cruised into town, with the sunroof open (of course)!
We drove to the lighthouse and went for a quick walk to the point to watch the surf and do a bit of whale spotting, before heading to Narrawallee and Mollymook to admire the holiday homes amongst the beach and bush.
Over lunch at Harvest in Milton, the girls mentioned how roomy and easy the car is to get in and out of from the back seat. After a full day of driving from place-to-place, we still had around 180km of charge left and the car was running very smoothly.
Back at the house, we settled in for an evening of movies and wine, enjoying locally made cheese. I plugged the car into the carport again ready for the trip back to Sydney the following day.
Day 3: The drive back to Sydney via Berry
3 hrs 15 mins | 240km
With the girls leaving early, I decided that I was in no rush to get home and let the car charge while I cleaned up the house and went for a morning walk. I started the trip with about 300km, almost certainly enough to get me back to Sydney.
I realised that I could save battery driving in ECO mode while on the highways and country roads.
Stop 1: Pastries and electrons at Berry
I took Terry through Berry again and was delighted to see the station free of other EVs, so I decided to top up. I plugged in and enjoyed the short walk to Berry village, where of course found myself trying to decide which Milkwood pie I was going to devour again.
On the comfortable drive back to Sydney, I was filled with thoughts on how I was going to convince my family to save up for an EV, particularly a BYD, which I was falling for! The car again gently warned me to keep in my lane (oops), with the adaptive cruise control on the highway being a bonus.
On the drive to the Domain, I was surprised at how at ease the car feels in the city. There was no jerking when braking and very little battery use while commuting.
I drove Terry back to SIXT, where she was welcomed back by the friendly team. Returning the car without having to recharge it to full battery was a convenient end to a very smooth and enjoyable electric weekend away!
