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https://thedriven.io/2025/01/30/ev-touring-what-happened-when-we-ran-our-byd-atto-3-battery-down-to-zero/>
"Imagine you’re on a regional highway and have run out of petrol on the
shoulder of the road. One option might be to knock on the door of the nearest
farmhouse and ask if they could sell you a few litres of fuel in a jerry can.
In our case, I asked if they had a portable generator.
We were 17 kilometres shy of Mildura when we lost our game of chicken with the
range indicator on our BYD Atto 3.
Unlike a Tesla, which has a bit of battery reserve (much like an internal
combustion engine car’s fuel gauge), on the Atto, 0% means 0%, and we’d barely
made it to the shoulder.
We’d decided not to queue at the only charging station – on our entire trip –
that had been occupied when we arrived. And I had been intrigued to test the
limits of the car on this trip, knowing that the Atto’s LFP battery chemistry
is pretty forgiving when it comes to deep discharges.
Of course, we had roadside assistance, and they were on their way. But while we
were waiting, we wandered over to the closest dwelling, a farm house. “Hi –
we’re the crazy city slickers in an electric car who have run out of battery
outside your place,” I began.
I reckoned there was a better than 50% chance we’d get lucky with our request
given the numerous uses of off grid power on a farm.
Sure enough, showing that famous country hospitality, farmer Daniel was most
obliging, quickly loading his generator in a ute and bringing it over. Less
than 10 minutes later, we’d gained enough via our mobile charger to drive the
car into his yard.
I’d noticed a 32 Amp socket on the corner of his shed and had asked if we could
use that to speed up our top up. Our travel charging kit includes an after
market mobile charger that has swappable plugs allowing us to use it at 10, 15
and 32 Amp.
Rather than wait for a couple of hours at 10 Amps on a noisy, polluting, petrol
genset for enough charge to complete our journey, we switched to 7 kW charging.
It turned out Daniel – a commercial table grape grower – had 100 kW of solar on
the roof of his shed, so his power was free and zero emissions.
Not long after that, roadside assist turned up, but we no longer needed their
help. Instead, they were able to give the family a lift into Mildura, where we
were staying that night. After a chat with Daniel about EVs, solar and grapes,
he refused my offer of a contribution for his trouble, fuel and power, and I
bade him farewell."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
