Doing the Great Ocean Road in the Atto 3 — is there an actual list of EV-friendly caravan parks or am I ringing each one?
Booking a week down the Great Ocean Road for the school holidays, doing it in the Atto 3 towing a pop-top. Found a few caravan parks advertising as EV friendly on their own websites and Facebook pages but the actual detail is thin, some just mean "we have powered sites" not anything specific about charging a car overnight.
PlugShare shows a couple of pins for parks along that stretch but half the comments are two years old and one park listed doesn't even do EV charging anymore according to a reply underneath. Is anyone actually keeping a proper list of which parks genuinely support it versus just slapping the label on for marketing, or is ringing every single park on the itinerary just the reality of doing this trip properly? Don't want to turn up somewhere at 6pm with a flat tow car and find out "EV friendly" meant nothing.
Filed under: Caravan Park Charging
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19 answers
19 ANSWERS
@jonno1985July 28, 2026
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.
@trent_b87July 29, 2026
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.
@shazbot99August 01, 2026
Reading this from Darwin, must be nice worrying about which caravan park to pick rather than whether the charger melts itself at 44 degrees.
@hanny_bJuly 27, 2026
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.
@davo9July 29, 2026
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.
Six months of the year in the caravan and this is exactly the kind of thing that catches people out. It's never just the car's draw in isolation — stack the granny charger on top of whatever the van's already running, fridge, hot water if it's electric, aircon on a hot night, and an older site circuit that was fine for a kettle can end up a lot closer to its limit than either load looks by itself. Ring ahead and ask the park directly what the site's rated for if you're running both at once, not just whether they 'support EV charging' — that's the question that actually gets you a useful answer.
@just_lurking22August 04, 2026
doing this same trip in Feb
@gregolasAugust 03, 2026
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.
@petey_fxJuly 27, 2026
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.
@bazza_wJuly 26, 2026
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.
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