Caravan Park EV Charging (Australia)

Six months a year touring and we've had this exact conversation more times than I can count. What's worked for us is offering $10 on top of the site fee before they even ask, most managers just want to feel like it's been acknowledged rather than working out an exact number. The ones who get shirty usually calm down the moment you offer something rather than waiting to be caught.

That 15A outlet was speced for a van fridge and the odd kettle running a few hours, not 8+ hours of steady draw overnight. Doesn't mean you did anything unsafe if the circuit's sound, but that's why he reacted the way he did rather than just asking politely.

Genuinely didn't think to offer anything before being asked. Is there an actual number people land on or does it vary too much park to park to have a rule of thumb?

Varies with park and season but $10-15 covers most complaints we've had before they escalate. Cheap parks out west sometimes wave it off entirely, the flashier coastal ones expect closer to $20.

Ran actual numbers on this before. Granny charger on a 10A circuit pulls about 2.2kW, so 30% to full overnight is closer to 15kWh if it ran the whole stretch, not just a token top-up. At $0.30/kWh that's under five bucks, the $10-15 people are offering is already generous.

Started asking the desk straight up before I even book now, 'do you charge extra for EV charging on the powerpoint,' not just assuming a powered site covers it. Would've saved you the awkward knock.

Getting a knock on the door over a few dollars of power feels heavy handed regardless of the number. Offer to pay, sure, but the reaction says more about the park than about charging a car overnight.

didn't know this was even a thing

Nothing consolidated that actually stays current, PlugShare's the closest but the pins lag behind what's actually happened at a site. What works for me is ringing two days out rather than on the day, and asking specifically for whoever handles bookings rather than whoever picks up the phone. Between Anglesea and Port Campbell I've had two parks confirm a powered site covers charging and one that hedged until I explained what the draw actually looks like.

Matches what we've found heading up and down that stretch for years. The trick is asking two separate questions, not one — powered site, then specifically EV charging — because reception will say yes to the first without clocking what you're actually asking.

That's the bit I hadn't thought to separate out. Either of you got specific parks along the GOR itself that've confirmed yes, or is it still case by case even on that exact run?

Case by case even on that run, but Anglesea Family Caravan Park and the Apollo Bay one both said yes without hesitation when I called last year. Lorne's was the one that hedged, worth ringing them specifically rather than assuming based on the other two.

Powered site just means the outlet exists and is rated for normal van use, it doesn't mean the manager's thought through something drawing load for 8 hours straight instead of a fridge cycling on and off. Some parks are genuinely fine with it, some just haven't had the conversation yet and get nervous on the night.

What's actually different about the load then if the outlet's already rated for it? Not doubting you, just don't get what changes between a fridge and a car on the same plug.

Continuous draw versus cycling load. A fridge compressor kicks on and off, so the outlet gets breaks to cool down between cycles. A granny charger pulling steady current for hours doesn't give it that break, which is where an older or marginal circuit actually starts to show it.

Reading this from Darwin, must be nice worrying about which caravan park to pick rather than whether the charger melts itself at 44 degrees.

We got caught out assuming a powered site meant charging was sorted on a school holiday trip once, ended up idling near a servo for an hour while the kids lost it. Ringing ahead now regardless of what the website claims.

Curious what the actual combined draw looks like if you're charging the tow car and running the van's own systems off the same site at once. Might be worth asking the park that specifically rather than assuming it's fine because the car alone would be.

doing this same trip in Feb

Never had to think about any of this myself, just plug the granny charger into the garage GPO at home and never leave the postcode. Whole thread's making me appreciate how much easier that is.

Carry my own Type 2 cable on every trip regardless of what a park claims, doesn't solve the 'will they let me' question but at least the hardware side isn't a surprise. PlugShare's fine for finding a pin, it's just not built for tracking whether a manager's actually okay with the load.

Does carrying your own cable actually help here though? Sounds like the sticking point is permission, not whether the plug fits.

Fair, it doesn't fix the permission side at all. Just means if you do get the yes, you're not also hoping the park's cable is long enough or even still working.

Atto 3's granny charger draw isn't actually any heavier than most other EVs doing the same thing, so 'EV friendly' labelling probably has more to do with a park's own nerves than anything specific to your car. Wouldn't read into the towing setup as the variable here.

That's fair, hadn't actually thought about whether the car itself mattered versus just the park's comfort level generally.

Pretty much every sub-$40k EV on a granny charger pulls a similar 2-2.4kW, BYD, MG, GWM, doesn't really change site to site. The variable is entirely the person on the phone, not the badge on your car.

Bit of both, honestly. AS/NZS 3123 sets a legal range for the pin tolerances rather than one exact number, so a plug built at the tight end meeting a socket at the loose end always feels different even when both are technically compliant. Add twenty years of insertions wearing the contacts and you get exactly what you're describing. Nothing wrong with your charger.

Good to actually have a reason for it rather than just assuming my gear's on the way out. Does a loose one like that ever tip into an actual fire risk or is it just an annoying fit?

On its own, loose fit's more annoying than dangerous. Combined with a high continuous load, a car pulling for hours instead of a kettle for ten minutes, a poor connection can genuinely arc and heat up. That's the actual risk, not the loose fit by itself.

Started carrying a brand new lead specifically because of this, a slightly worn cable end makes a marginal socket noticeably worse again. Noticed it most at parks further out from the bigger regional centres, where I'd guess maintenance gets less attention.

had this exact thing at Merimbula

Never plugged into enough of these myself to notice a pattern, but is there an easy way to tell before you're already relying on it overnight, or only after the fact once it's already loose?