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All Electric Big Lap: Crossing the Nullarbor and heading home to WA

Written by: Renée McLennan

March 13, 2025

The McLennan family completes the final leg of their all-electric Big Lap with their Kia EV and New Age camper trailer, heading west towards Perth and ticking over the 37,000km mark. But a final challenge lay ahead: the Nullarbor Plain.

As our all-electric Big Lap turned west toward home, our final challenge of the Nullarbor’s treeless plains lay ahead. One of the most frequently asked questions from curious travellers had been, “But how will you go on the Nullarbor?…”. Now we were about to find out!

Crossing the Nullarbor

Crossing the Nullarbor is an iconic outback adventure. It’s a road trip for which Australian travellers have always needed proper preparation with extra water, fuel and supplies, drummed into us. Despite its reputation for remoteness, these days it is a common route frequented by many travellers with well provisioned roadhouses along the Eyre Highway.

It turns out that crossing the Nullarbor is already very manageable when towing with an electric vehicle (EV), but the trip still requires some planning, patience and adaptability. Although originally thinking we would have just one overnight stop, we ended up spreading the approximately 1500km journey from Streaky Bay to Esperance over three days with two overnight camps. Here’s how we tackled the treeless plain, windswept roads and stops at charging stations.

The obligatory photo at the start of the journey across the Nullarbor

Day one — Streaky Bay to Border Village (588km)

Leaving Streaky Bay, very strong headwinds immediately made their presence felt, really reducing our vehicle’s efficiency and dropping our range to 200km. Not ideal, but manageable with some recalculations and adjusted charge times.

While picking up supplies for the road in Ceduna, we got a quick top-up at the RAA 150kW charger powered from net 100 per cent renewables. After travelling a further 200km down the road we took a quick rest stop at Yalata’s 50kW charger to ensure we’d have enough in the battery to reach the Nullarbor Roadhouse’s newly installed and currently free 75kW solar charger.

Along the way, the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight were magnificent. The sheer, windswept edges of the continent are home to the Great Australian Bight Marine Park covering more than two million square kilometres, one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth. We had originally hoped to camp at Bunda Cliffs, but unfortunately, they’ve been closed to camping due to frequent collapse of the cliff walls and strong winds making it too risky. Instead, we had to be content with enjoying the official lookouts, which still offered spectacular views without the danger.

Things were going perfectly until Border Village, where we hit a hiccup. We had planned to get a full charge overnight, but the three-phase outlet had lost a phase, leaving us with only 40 per cent charge by morning. This necessitated some recalculation and a change of plans for day two.

Charger, solar array and battery at Nullarbor Roadhouse

Day two — Border Village to Cocklebiddy (284km)

We set off early and after surrendering all of our fruit and vegetables at the border and some confusion around what time zone we were actually in, we crossed into our home state of Western Australia.

The new plan now included a stop at Mundrabilla, to make up for the failed three-phase charger at Border Village. The roadhouse allows charging from its solar panels during daylight hours for a flat fee of $30, but it is slow and resulted in five hours of unscheduled downtime which we turned into an impromptu camper lunch and streaming session — the kids were delighted at the extended treat of watching their favourite shows thanks to the free wi-fi.

Once on the road again, we did a quick top up during a rest stop at Madura Pass before stopping for the night at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse where we got a full charge while we slept.

The 22kW DC charger at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse, WA

Day three — Cocklebiddy to Esperance (640km)

We said goodbye to Samantha and Bruce, the two resident Wedge Tailed Eagles at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse, and headed off with a full charge towards Caiguna.

Caiguna provided a fascinating stop with its free biofuel charger running on waste vegetable oil sourced from the roadhouse deep fryers along the highway!

Biofuel charger at Caiguna, WA

Next stop was Balladonia, and with its $2/kWh rate for a relatively slow 22kW was the most expensive charge of our entire trip! As soon as the planned WA EV Highway charger is installed, there will be a much faster and cheaper option. The interesting little museum at the Balladonia Roadhouse was a great way to occupy everyone during the stop. The kids found the story of the Skylab’s crash to earth over the remote outback town, and the reward offered for finding parts of the spacecraft, particularly fascinating.

Between Balladonia and Esperance, Norseman’s 150kW charger gave us the fast boost we needed to reach our destination and wrap up the final leg of our Nullarbor trip. Despite a lot of driving, no one was ‘Nullarbored’ on the journey and enjoyed the outback scenery, the wildlife and the challenge! As the remaining sections of the WA EV Network are completed, the journey in an electric vehicle is only going to be quicker, cheaper and easier.

Close encounters of the kangaroo kind

Just out from Esperance it became apparent that the Nullarbor wasn’t in fact our final challenge when we had an unwanted wildlife interaction with a pair of roos that decided to cross our path. The first one darted out of the roadside scrub and, thankfully, we managed to brake in time to avoid it. But its mate followed close behind and collided with the bumper.

Fortunately, the kangaroo bounced straight back up and hopped off into the bush seemingly unscathed. At first, it looked like we’d gotten off lightly too — just minor cosmetic dents and some plastics out of place that we snapped back in before continuing on our way.

But we later noticed the battery cooling system starting to work overtime and the car wouldn’t receive charge. A warning light came on and we detected a coolant leak. It became apparent that the impact with the kangaroo had done some hidden damage to the radiator system.

A closer look revealed several punctures that would necessitate a new radiator. But with an estimated 12 week wait for the part, this would have meant not finishing our lap with only several hundred kilometres to go. Our preferred alternative was to instead call on our bush mechanics skills and create a temporary patch with epoxy to get us the rest of the way home.

Homeward bound

The patch did the job and allowed us to complete the full lap and make it back to Perth, via the magnificent southwest of WA, without any further issues.

Our all-electric Big Lap of Australia has been an extraordinary journey that we are grateful to have experienced together as a family. Traveling more than 37,000km around this vast and beautiful country powered by electrons, has reinforced that electric travel isn’t just possible, it’s rapidly becoming more and more practical and economical.

Wave Rock near Hyden, WA

Returning to the place we love and call home after such an epic experience, we’re more convinced than ever of the important role electrification plays in Australia’s future. Making the electrification of our homes and transport accessible for all Australians is a crucial step in addressing climate change and reducing our emissions, but also in helping to reduce the cost of living.

This trip wasn’t just about showcasing exciting, emerging technology — it was about sparking conversations, inspiring action and giving hope that real climate solutions are within our reach. Together, we can create a cleaner, brighter future for our families, and continue to enjoy exploring this amazing land in clean, efficient, powerful electric vehicles while also treading a little more lightly on the natural world that inspires us all to travel in the first place.

Summit of West Mount Barren, Fitzgerald River National Park, WA

Trip summary

Days: 266 (long service leave on half pay)
Route: Clockwise Perth to Perth
Total distance: 37,132km
Total charger costs: $2442

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