r/Zeekr7xAustralia

Day 27 of the Zeekr Big Lap saw us venture into central Perth, reliving teenage memories.

Left Point Denison early and cruised down the stunning Indian Ocean Drive, stopping for a charge and breakfast at Jurien Bay.

It then seemed to take forever to enter the city outskirts, but eventually we were on the freeway.

Once in the city, the car got a well deserved hand wash before we arrived at our dog-friendly serviced apartments in the heart of the city. 

Made a few phone calls, organising a meet up tomorrow 4pm at the Lucky Shag at Elizabeth Quay on the Swan River, as well as our service at Zeekr Perth on Wednesday morning.

Spent the evening walking up and down the Hay and Murray street malls, trying to remember hang out spots from the late 80s, but everything has changed.

Dinner was sushi with gelato for dessert. 

Now enjoying have a bed on which to do the vlog. Tomorrow more city wandering, laundry etc

Day 26 of the Zeekr Big Lap and sudden contrast of  arriving in green fields of pasture and golden canola around Geraldton after the previous days in the harsh Pilbara and Gascoyne is what makes the EV lap so special.

Left Carnarvon after the late sunrise and a servo tea heading down across stark desert plains to the busy Overland Roadhouse, where there were lines for fuel but not for the 25kW charger.

During the slow charge, lots of pats for Twig, conversations about EVs and the last remote homemade sausage roll.

The constant stream of caravans and boats heading in the opposite direction north was incredible. 

Journeyed on through the ever changing landscape from harsh scrub into the agricultural fields of Northampton, into the town where we charged and called ahead to book an unpowered site at the beautiful seaside town of Port Denison, a short, hour-long drive through the busy town of Geraldton. 

Walked to the foreshore to catch another stunning sunset, getting snapper and chips for dinner.

Also booked two nights at a serviced apartment in central Perth, arriving tomorrow afternoon, another bit of city luxury and a bed after our outback odyssey.

Trip stats for the day were 536 km, efficiency of 21.2kWh/100km, and the car just clocked over 18,000 km, 11,700 for this trip.

Day 25 of the Zeekr Big Lap and we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn out of the tropics, back into more civilised parts, cooler climes and easier charging, well at least until the Nullarbor.

Woke up at the Karratha truck stop after a semi restful night thanks to the coming and goings of trucks and trains. 

Grabbed a truck stop tea and headed 96 km to the Fortescue River charger at an abandoned roadhouse where we charged back up to 90% at 50kW.

Then it was 160 km to the Nunaterra roadhouse, a hive of activity in the midst of renovations. 

Charged to 100% at 50kW for an hour so at the ever reliable charger, snacking on a couple of legendary homemade sausage rolls and a chocolate milk.

Then we were ready to go the 368 km distance direct to Carnarvon, crossing the line of Capricorn but not before sustaining a second rock chip in the windscreen!! 

We zipped past the the unreliable solar charger at Minilya at the Exmouth turn off, arriving at our destination with 28%. 

Walked around the foreshore while we charged to 80%, the rest we will get from our powered site at the lovely Carnarvon caravan park we booked earlier in the day.

Picked up a local tiger prawn Thai green curry for dinner and some local, sweet baby bananas for dessert.

First shower in three nights never felt so good, topped off by sunset with the NASA satellite dish in the background.

Sleeping in Hotel Zeekr again as too lazy to set up the tent and the car is actually very comfy.

Tomorrow we head 476km to Geraldton, on the way to Perth the following day.

Just sharing some photos from the latest OTA update to the Chinese 7X.

Zeekr China has pushed this OTA to any Zeekr model that has a Snapdragon 8295 SOC, which the Australian model also has. The software system went from OS6 to OS7. For context, our OS2 is the Chinese OS6. By this naming convention, the 9X should come with OS3 built in.

The question is, will the current Australia 7x ever get this OS3? Based on past experience, seems very unlikely.

Have done a few trips now towing our full sized Adria Altea caravan.
The caravan is like towing a parachute. The fuel economy averages around 44kWh per 100km. I generally tow at 90km/hr when on country roads. Much better fuel economy when on smooth freeway type roads - average 37kWh/100km.
Towing mirrors - Camec sell a $26 towing mirror that suckers to the Zeekrs rimless wing mirror. Very happy with this unit.
The V2L solution was just a $50 unit off the Geely website. Works well.
The tow bar was from EV Stealth.
I used to tow the van with a Tesla model S. It’s was about 10% more energy efficient and 70% less comfortable.

Day 24 of the Zeekr Big Lap saw us continue south, with good news that I've booked the car in for a new windscreen and wheel rotation at Zeekr Perth next week!

Left Sandfire Roadhouse after making the necessary calls and loading up the daily vlog, fortified with a cup of tea and homemade sausage roll.

Made the 290km to Port Hedland easily, going straight to the windscreen place where I was given a sticker patch to cover the cracks, probably just psychological but made me feel better.

Checked out the massive port, watching two bulk iron ore carriers being escorted out by the tugs.

Back to my mining roots as I was born and spent my teen years in the Pilbara.

Grabbed a sushi lunch and Japanese marble lemonade, which I consumed as I charged back to 90%.

Then just another short 240 km hop to Karratha, equally as busy with both van parks full as grey nomads and holidaymakers streamed north.

So I charged back to 90% for a night stealth camping with a bunch of other cars and vans at the highway service station, me utilising camping mode.

Tomorrow we head 600 km south to Carnarvon, crossing the line of Capricorn out of the tropics!

Hi all

For some random reason I have a chime sound that happens every 15 to 35 seconds. Even when just sitting in the car or even driving. See video.

A hard reset makes it go away temporarily but it'll eventually come back.

Anyone had something similar?

Saw zeekr at Kedron today and they didnt know, they tgought it was a blind spot thing but theres nothing there. Taught me how to hard reset which worked but it keeps coming back.

Might have to leave it with them for a bit to check out.

Also a second thing. Anyone know how to extend the time before the doors lock. I will unlock the car using my phone, put my child in their seat the when I walk around it will lock the car. Almost got my fingers caught.

Update: turns out it was the car reconnecting to Bluetooth again and again. Thanks to user Werdna54 for identifying the situation.

Day 23 of the Zeekr Big Lap, a day not without some drama including a bit of a blemish on the windshield.

Started off in the Fitzoy River Lodge van park, packing up and loading up yesterday's daily vlog.

Decided to skip Derby, which I had checked out on previous lap, and just drive the 400km direct to Broome.

On the way out of the park, I caught up with Jeff who found me on Facebook and who is towing a teardrop camper with his plug-in hybrid.

Then, perhaps foolishly, I decided to check out the vandalised Fitzoy Crossing charger from the safety of my car, to which the locals took exception, one chasing me out of the car park. That got the adrenaline going.

Back out on the open road things settled down for some 90kph hypermiling most of the way to Broome.

The last 50km I sped things up once the range estimate rose from 16% to 22%.

Entering Broome, there was huge line up of caravans at the town van park and then a literal traffic jam into town, so the vibe was not for me.

I spent two nights here in my last lap, so I felt like I'd seen it all already.

While charging to 93%, I walked to the end of town beach jetty to take in the Indian Ocean, I decided to get the heck out of there.

I headed 325 km down the road to one of my favourite roadhouses in all of Australia, Sandfire Roadhouse, where there is a 50kW solar charger, great food, friendly peacocks and a not so friendly camel.

This place is steeped in history and character.

But just of Broome, karma struck in the form of a rock thrown up by truck into my windscreen.

A beautiful sunset upon arrival into Sandfire cheered me up a bit, as did a lamb chop and salad dinner.

Arriving with 28%, I charged up to 50% on the solar charger, and got a powered site to do the rest.

Spending the night in the aircon of Hotel Zeekr.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can get the windscreen repaired in the next stop of Port Hedland, another 290 km down the Great Northern Highway.

It sure does feel great finally heading due south.

Trip stats for the day were 708 km with an efficiency of 19.8kWh/100km, trip grand total being exactly 10,000km!!

If converting a left-hand drive car to right-hand drive, the pedals should be arranged in mirror image right? or at least both sides have a foot rest? is it only me?

Apologises for the night time image, it was after a basketball game i wanted to rest my foot while on auto driving that it started to grind my gears lol

Day 22 of the Zeekr Big Lap and we made it across possibly the most challenging section, the Kimberley.

Set off from Kununurra at 6.30am, celebrating the 7X reaching 15,000 km not far out of town.

Relatively short first leg of 200 km to the WA EV Network fast charger at Warmun, where I grabbed a breakfast roll and tea while the car charged to 100% at 147kW.

The RFID card reader was faulty so called Chargefox to activate the session.

Then it was a long 355 km stretch at 90kph to the remote Ngumban Cliffs solar charger.

We passed through Halls Creek and checked out the broken vandalised charger.

At Ngumban the 50kW charge from 33% to 90% took about an hour, so I flew the drone for some scenic shots.

While this is one of my favourite chargers on the lap, it did crash at 85%, but that was enough for me to get the 100 km to my overnight stop in Fitzroy Crossing with 70%.

Arrived at 3.30pm, early enough to secure a powered site inside the safety of the Fitzroy River Lodge van park.

I'm finding the heat oppressive, so set up the tent, heated up a soup on the induction stove and retreated into the tent with the fan.

Tomorrow we aim for Broome and the Indian Ocean.

Trip stats for the day were 626 km with an efficiency of 20.2 kWh/100km. We've now done 9300 km on the lap.