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As we enjoyed our last breakfast at The Alpina Hotel, we noticed that the weather had…
…fined up again. So, let’s go climb some mountains, to 3000m above see level… with the aid of a series of four gondola rides. On the ride up, we wondered why there were almost no seats in the gondola. On the way back, it was standing room only. Lots of construction going on. Pretty challenging worksite. Half of the existing facility is closed off. The top station, at Schilthorn, featured in a 1968 Bond film. They promote it a lot, with half the place dedicated to a range of multimedia exhibits. On the return trip, we explored a couple of the other stations, including a sky walk and a mostly car free town. Beautiful. Charging: The carkpark has about four destination chargers, but they were all taken. The side charge port doors of some EVs are ridiculously large. We parked further down the car park. A van pulled up beside us and kept their engine running for ages, ruining the air and peace. Why do people do that? Eventually a German accented man walked up to the driver and asked him to…
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After a full day exploring the Swiss Alps, we stayed another night, a bit closer to Italy.
oser to Italy. Beautiful location, nice food, a chance to chill. Charging: The hotel has a Tesla destination charger (no cost) with built in cable and a third party charger. It required a bit of tactical parking to make the short cable reach. Full tank ready to go in the morning.
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Our luck with sunny weather ran out.
What to do in the Swiss Alps in the rain? Go for a drive around the beautiful lakes. Far across the other side, we spotted a long waterfall near a big building. We found it on Maps as including a restaurant, so we drove over, up a windy mountain road. We missed the turn and soon came head to head with a bus that wasn’t about to yield the too narrow road. After some hurried reversing down the hill, and a seven point U turn, we then found the car park for the waterfall. The road to the restaurant required a pin code, only given to hotel guests. So, off we trekked, through the forest, past the beautiful falls, with the hope of lunch at the end. We looked a bit like a couple of drowned rats, by the time we found the restaurant, but they let us in. The meal and veggie soup were well earned and enjoyed. They charged €8.50 (about AU$14) for a bottle of water. It cost more than the cappuccino or soup! Fresh water is the one thing that they have in abundance here 🙃. Charging: No EV charger in…
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We spent the afternoon exploring the Aare Gorge, along the elevated board walk.
Beautiful. Lunch on site. We couldn’t leave the area without patting a donkey and Shetland pony. So much beauty all around. Delivered spaghetti and pizza for dinner, back at our hotel. We’re in training for Italy in a few days 😉. Charging: At the Aare Gorge car park, we optimistically drove past the parked cars towards the entrance. We were rewarded with not only a free spot but also EV destination chargers. The UFODRIVE supplied payment card didn’t seem to be compatible here, but I paid using the QR code and Apple Pay. They emailed a link for disconnecting, but the charger disconnected automatically when I stopped charging from the Tesla. Pretty easy. It gave us nearly half a tank, topping us to near capacity, while we were exploring.
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First stop on our day trip out, in Lauterbrunnen.
Wow. And again, wow. 72 waterfalls plummeting down into the valley. An overwhelming feast for the eyes. I blame this distraction for my taking five minutes to figure out the parking payment system 😉. We saw evidence (the sign) of what happens if you don’t provide public toilets 😉, although this town does provide them. Beautiful simple church. I chatted with the lady sweeping up the thousands of leaves and asked her if it was a big job. She said, looking at the scenery “no, this is meditation. My big job has been looking after my children and husband”. Fair call. We popped over to Grindelwald, but there was some annual market going on which blocked through traffic and filled the town with people. So, we opted for a more quiet view from the edge of town. Charging: No EV chargers in the car park that we saw. But we won’t need to charge for days.
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We checked in last night to our accommodation.
It is just stunning here. Our balcony and the breakfast dining room both overlook the lake and towering mountains. You don’t fully appreciate the scale of them until you notice how small the cars are on the other side. Our hosts, Richard and his wife, have been lovely. When we realised that, like their own currency, Switzerland has its own power point socket, different to the rest of Europe, Richard loaned us an adapter. So, now we can plug the iPhone Lightning cable into the USB-C into the power brick, into the Australian socket, into the Europe adapter, into the Swiss adapter, into the wall 🤪. Our UFODRIVE Tesla car rental doesn’t give us access to the Tesla app, which we’re really missing. We had a drama this morning when Tom left the car to go back to our room, leaving Francis in the car. A few minutes later, the Tesla’s car alarm went off, half deafening Francis with the noise from the horn and some loud heavy metal music playing through the speakers. The neighbours now know…
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We began our quest for coffee, walking a kilometre towards the lake, finding a coffee…
…“pedaler”. Sofia, at the reception of our hotel, told us that this town is the birthplace of Omega watches, which also adorn the foyer. We opted for a quick and cheap breakfast from our road trip kit, using our cereal, bowls, milk and… I forgot to buy spoons. We shared a takeaway spoon we had collected along the way. Next, on to Interlaken, a Swiss town that, as the name suggests, sits between two lakes. We will stay a few nights at a small family run hotel that looks over one of the lakes. The scenery from the highway looks increasingly spectacular, as we approach the Swiss Alps. Charging: The EV chargers out the front of Hotel Mercure charged our Tesla up to 100%. We have Sentry Mode turned on, which keeps the cameras recording any nearby activity, for security, which then drained about 3% battery. So, we left with 97% charge. But, we don’t really think about any of this. We just plug in while parked and unplug when we leave.
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Late lunch at Schnäggli GmbH Bistro-Konditorei, up the road, before we check into our…
…accommodation, in Ringgenberg, Switzerland, near Interlaken. Today’s hot meal was spinach soup which was delicious. And, of course, coffee. Friendly lady running the bistro. Beautiful town. Narrow streets again, so you take your life in your hands as a pedestrian. But there is a public toilet, with no cost! Civilisation! Charging: No EV charger in town that we could see, but that’s fine. There are plenty of options at our destinations over the next few days. And we still have heaps in the tank from last night’s accommodation.
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Two days ago we were in Belgium.
Last night we were in France. Today we crossed the border into Switzerland. We bought the “Vignette” sticker at the border, for about CHF 40 (Swiss Franks, about AU$65), which allows us to drive on all the roads here. It’s kind of a pay once road toll. There are so many tunnels, with more being built. I can see where the toll money goes. We have only seen about two potholes so far in all of Europe. Like most days, we just book our accommodation in the late afternoon, when we know roughly where we’re going to be at about 4pm. We pick a town on Booking.com, entry a few filters like private bathroom, switch to map view, and look for good value places nearby. We usually choose out of the cities. This time we choose in the town of Biel/Bienne, which goes by its French and German name. Nice hotel, very friendly and helpful Sofia at reception, who speaks multiple languages. We ordered a poke bowl for dinner, via Uber Eats delivery. Chilled evening stay. Charging: As a bonus, the hotel has EV…
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A brief journey through the north east of France.
We stayed last night in Hotel Marso, in Amnéville. We paid to have brekky buffet there, but it was disappointing. We made some cuppas from our thermos at the Tesla before leaving. Along the way, for lunch we popped into the small French town of Lure. The cappuccino came with cream, which turned out to be “heaven” (quoting Francis). The staff’s English was only slightly better than my French (which is about six words). So, we relied on Google Translate to pick from the menu. But even then, when I thought I was ordering the five veg pizza, I ended up with something with meat. Still delicious. Lovely staff. Charging: While having breakfast, we plugged the car into the fast charger across the road. The timing was perfect. Both of us ready to go at the same time. The town of Lure has a destination charger up the road from where we had lunch, but it was too far to bother with. We’ll just charge when the next opportunity arises, in Switzerland.
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Today, we crossed Belgium.
First stop needed for a toilet, and some lunch (long before needing to charge the car). A castle, a moat, and some pumpkin sculptures – that’s what we need 😉. Using the toilet costs €0.50 per person, per pee. Gone are the days of “spending a penny”. This one seemed to use some honour system, where we left coins on a table. You can guess what was offer for lunch: pumpkin soup, pumpkin fries – everything pumpkin. Charging: Along the way we stopped briefly twice to get our bearings. First at our first European Tesla Supercharger. It had no public toilets, but did have one of the many rubbish bins that are mostly underground, which we’ve seen in The Netherlands and Belgium. Second at a supermarket carpark, where another EV had blocked both charging bays, requiring us to reposition to connect. We didn’t need either these stops to charge, but we just generally plug in while parked anyway.
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While our washing dried on our front porch, we headed out in the Tesla to the coastal…
…town of De Hann, Belgium. It’s autumn here. The sun is warm but the wind is cold. Some people are still on deck chairs on the beach, but huddled up against wind breaks. They seem to have a temporary cafe on the beach too. There were plenty of more permanent restaurants along the promenade. We chose Brasserie Paname, which served probably the best lasagna I (Tom) have ever had, served by the most unengaging waiter I’ve ever had. Single word answers with barely eye contact. The tomato soup was also delicious and hearty. I had better luck this time finding an ATM. Withdrawing €400 was about $600, including about $40 in fees. We spotted another tiny electric car. The cars throughout Europe so far are generally much smaller than ours in Australia. Our Tesla Model Y is one of the bigger cars on the road. There are hardly any giant utes, or utes in general, except where they’re actually needed. It’s crazy that our (Australian) government has only just recently introduced fuel efficiency…
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We crossed the border from The Netherlands into Belgium, I think under water, in a tunnel.
This was our first toll road in Europe. We just picked the toll gate that takes card payments, tapped my phone, the gate opened, and we drove into Belgium. We drove into Brugge, navigating the tiny inner town streets, and found a paid parking spot in a street of cafes and specialty shops. Very pretty. Again, no public toilets to be found. So, we walked into a cafe. Tom sat down to check the menu while Francis made a bee-line for the toilet. Then we discovered on the menu that they only take cash, not card payments. We hadn’t come across this previously in Europe. It mentioned the alternative of a particular app, but when I tried to download it, it said it wasn’t available for use with an account from my country (Australia). We checked with the manager who confirmed cash only. So, we apologised and went to leave, since we hadn’t brought cash with us. Then he said loudly “One Euro for the toilet”. We repeated that we had no cash, but could pay by card. He wasn’t happy, made a bit of a…
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We ventured further south through the Netherlands, towards Belgium, hopping across the…
…Zeelandic Islands. First stops at Strand Brouwersdam (which seemed to be a currently mostly deserted popular beach/RV spot) and Neetle Jans, with more towering wind turbines to harness the North Sea wind, and equally huge sea gates to keep the sea out. Charging: We don’t have to really think about charging. So many car parks include an EV charger, so we just plug in most times we park somewhere. Much easier and quicker than deliberately seeking out a fuel station.
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It finally happened. We ran out of power. No electricity available… in our accommodation.
Oh, did you think I meant we couldn’t charge our car? No, it’s fine. Our accommodation – a cabin park in the town of Knokke, Belgium – provided an EV destination charger. 100m up the road was an Esso fuel station that includes fast chargers and on the big price sign out the front lists the electricity cost per kWh along side the petrol and diesel costs per litre. And slightly up from that, the BMW dealer has an EV charger out the front. So many options. I spotted an electric van in one of the suburban streets. What I meant was, our cabin had no power. We couldn’t boil a kettle, but we managed to use the last drops from our thermos to make a cuppa. We couldn’t heat food. We survived, and mostly laughed it off. The manager arrived some time later and was very helpful and apologetic. She gave us a free breakfast hamper to compensate. We had a bunch of other minor hurdles that added to the comedic series of events. We picked this place in part because we needed to do some laundry. The…
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Welcome back to the adventures of Tesla Dripping.
After finding no toilet at the Stellendam Marina or adjacent bird sanctuary, we checked Maps for the nearest toilets. We took a drive to Ouddorp, eleven minutes away. What is it with the lack of public toilets in The Netherlands? We found the “WC” in town. Is more of a port-a-loo, but must be a permanent fixture. We used the opportunity to buy some road tripping supplies from the grocer and Hema: forks, knives, cutting board, a coffee mug with “F” for Francis, and some fridge meals. Oh, and a new thermos! It was an adventure getting out of town, since the only way known to maps was blocked by road works. We did a few laps of the narrow streets. Pretty town and fun day, despite the crossed legs. Our B&B had a microwave. For lunch we nuked the leftover croissant, ham and cheese from breakfast. For dinner we had the fridge meals, while watching the Cluney/Pitt movie “Wolfs”. Charging: EV chargers are much easier to find than public toilets. We plugged in while parked at the bird…
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A short trip out from our B&B accommodation to the bird watching “egg” near the…
…Stellendam Marina. I briefly spotted what I think was a giant eagle, but missed the photo. Plenty of other birds, including swans. I was saddened to see that blackberry bushes seem to have taken over the bush here, like it’s trying to do in our home region in the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria, and our garden. The Tesla’s navigation (driven by Google Maps) gave us some unnecessarily complex directions at one point. Public toilets were again nowhere to be found, in the reserve or at the marina. Our bladders are having range anxiety. Charging: This car park, next to the marina, in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, included a convenient destination charger. We were parking anyway, so we plugged in while there.
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We arrived late yesterday at this gorgeous B&B Logement Hellevoetsluis.
We’re near the southern edge of The Netherlands. Unsurprisingly, it sits on a dyke. The road into town, to grab some takeaway dinner, was just wide enough for one car, with a canal either side. We were welcomed by our host, Carla, and sidekick Ted (the dog). Delicious breakfast included, in the dining room with artistic mural walls. Charging: No EV charger on site, but we spotted some options in town. A few houses up, someone has their own charging point on the street, wired from their house.
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Second stop on our trip south, at Rotterdam.
Just long enough to stretch our legs with a short walk around town, and grab a coffee. Charging: We charged up yesterday at the street EV charger in Krommenie. More than enough for our journey. The highway signs to the service centers along the way show petrol and EV charging stations.
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Time to leave our boat house in the canal, and start our road trip towards Switzerland…
…and Italy. Packed the car, with charging cable and laundry in the frunk. Gave it a “service”, which for an EV just means topping up the washer fluid 😉. While packing the car, I happened to see the local rubbish truck, which is fully electric! Much quieter. First stop for lunch with Helen in Zaandam, under the green municipal building. Charging: Fully charged while parked on the street. Great infrastructure.
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A trip out to Vianen, in The Netherlands.
Francis and Helen met up with their aunt and cousin. Tom found a quiet place to do some work in the mobile Tesla office. Several canals, opening bridges and lochs around town. The UFODRIVE car rental included a parking dial, which we have to place on the dashboard when parking in a spot marked with a blue line.
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Dinner on the beach, in Holland, but it feels a lot like home in Australia.
Our last meal all together, before we head off south tomorrow. Nico explained that they set up temporary dwellings along the beach here each year, then collapse and pack them away during the storm surge season. With climate change, the average sea level hasn’t risen much yet, but the storm surges have grown significantly. The giant sand dunes behind the dwellings require ongoing increased building. And there are smaller sand dunes in rows behind, using a similar principle to the dykes. The country invests a lot to manage its relationship with water. Hundreds of wind turbines, off shore. Charging: Destination charger right here in the beach car park. Might as well charge while parked anyway.
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The big family reunion at Hansel & Gretel pancake house (and fun house).
Everything you want in a restaurant, including: a shower in the middle of the foyer, hidden tunnels through bookcases, slide down to the toilets, jumping pillows, giant animatronic puppets, general craziness. Pancakes came with a wide range of savoury and sweet fillings, including: ham, pineapple, egg, apple. This was the first time Francis has met her uncles (her dad’s brothers) and their families (except for Jordy and family a few days ago). It was wonderful and a bit overwhelming to meet them all. Earlier that day, we visited Sandra’s mum, for a delicious morning tea of cakes, followed by soup and croquettes. Life’s too short, so eat dessert first!
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Maybe a canal cruise today in Amsterdam?
The rain started. Ah, no. How about the Van Gogh museum? The rain started hammering down, with accompanying wind. Ah, no. How about staying in the boat house and house boat and enjoying home made dessert by Sandra and dinner by Nico? Ah, yes! Our boat house started creaking during the night as it rubbed against the wharf buffers. A slow drip started from the sun roof, expertly caught by a glass with tissues in it. We started singing “Six nights in a leaky boat” 🎶
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We drove into Amsterdam. Tom caught up on some work in the mobile Tesla office, next to…
…the canal, while Fran and sister Helen visited the “Artis” zoo. Charging: No need for us to charge, but there were plenty of destination chargers in the zoo car park.
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Late afternoon drinks at a cute pub in Stein.
It was a total pleasure to meet up with Fran and Helen’s cousin Jordy, wife Linda and son Toby. Tom tried out the local cherry beer. The road in front of the pub is only really suitable for bikes. We found out the hard way when I tried to turn around after dropping off passengers. Then back to our newly met cousin’s house nearby. Toby came with us in the Tesla. He drove… the buggy driving game after we arrived. Then we met the fourth member of the family, Billy 🐶, who was super excited to see us. Helen requested reading of some Dutch childhood books, such as “The very hungry caterpillar”. Beautiful family, home and delicious Greek dinner. Time to say goodbye, after the Tesla light and sound show, including writing “Tesla” on the neighbour’s garage door.
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A quiet day on the canal, back in our boat house and house boat.
As a child I used to retell the joke “how did the houseboat owner die? They drowned, mowing the lawn”. But it turns out that our boat house does have some lawn! It’s a small strip on the dyke between our boat’s small wharf and the narrow brick paved road. You might notice some dirt mounts on the lawn – that’s from moles, which burrow in the dyke. The lawn has an embedded small noisemaker, which sounds like a rattlesnake, to deter the moles. It doesn’t seem to be working. It did make us take notice, however, the first time we heard it. We make sure to look both ways when stepping through our gate into the shared road in the dyke. There are plenty of bikes, e-bikes, mopeds, pedestrians. The occasional car leaves room for nothing else. Helen and Francis try to befriend every passing cat and dog. Tom marvels at the engineering of keeping the small canals functioning and clear. We spotted a few robot lawnmowers that dwarf Marvin. More sugar sprinkles on bread as part of breakfast. But it’s…
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We made it to the outback… of Holland, according to the sign. W
e drove across a land bridge, past countless wind turbines, on and off shore. Holland is reliant on energy to keep pumping the water uphill, to the ocean, over a series of dykes. Without power, the land would drown. In some places, the land is eight meters below sea level 😳. Charging: We plugged in to charge most of the times when we parked. EV chargers are plentiful, and mostly powered from the same wind turbines.
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Coffee and then lunch in Deventer (in The Netherlands).
An old church in the center of town is slowly sinking on one side. Beautiful old shops, streets and a large canal. Distracting toilet wall art. We checked out of our accommodation in Nunspeet this morning. We packed a breakfast to go for Tom, since he was in a work meeting in the Tesla (with colleagues in Australia). We were immediately reminded of the narrow town streets when we realised that the reversing semi trailer in front of us blocked the only way out of this section of town. Nico and Tom parked the cars and spent the next twenty minutes directing traffic while the truck driver reversed a few hundred meters around tight bends. Charging: Since we were parking anyway, we plugged into the destination chargers in the car park. Unfortunately, the UFODRIVE payment card doesn’t work with these chargers, so Nico used his. Another reimbursement will need to arrange.
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Final stop, in Oude Haven, District 00, for coffee and an explore, before returning to…
…our boat house in Krommenie.
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Explored the streets, alleyways and canals of the fishing village of Elburg.
Semi public urinal next to the car park. But I want that desperate. Charging: Destination chargers in the car park. I parked close to the hedge, managed to get the charging cable out of the boot, plugged in, but then couldn’t shut the boot. Unplugged, moved car forward, plugged in. We didn’t need charge for the trip, but it’s best to charge while parked anyway.
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a short hike through the Veluwezoom National Park.
Long haired cows, but we didn’t see the expected deer. We had just missed peak heather bloom, but some purple remained. The lookout is barely elevated, so I climbed onto the brickwork to photograph the family. I viewed the Dutch sign through Google Translate, but it was pretty standard instructions. Topped off with lunch at the onsite cafe. Lots of bikes and cycle paths.
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A wander through the town of Nunspeet to get an ice cream.
Sandra showed me how the double storey bike racks work at the commuter station. I marvelled at the housing styles, with tall roofs, embedded with extra rooms and probably skinny stairs. Some thatched roofs using dried reeds (I think), which I’m told increase insurance costs due to fire risk. Lots of houses with solar panels. There’s a deer park in the middle of town, which seems to be for the use of the neighbourhood. Cute. And, of course, cycle paths everywhere.
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Let’s pop over the border to Germany 🇩🇪, for lunch, as you do. And we’
ll check out the Aachen Cathedral while we’re there. Wow. Huge. Old. Shiny. Car park: Small. Grey. Just enough room for the Tesla Model Y. Charging: A couple of destination chargers in the car park. But we didn’t need them. We were fully charged from our accommodation last night.
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After lunch in Germany 🇩🇪, we crossed back into The Netherlands 🇳🇱, driving north to…
…Nunspeet. We’re staying at a kind of cabin park, in one of the neat A frame buildings. Steep stairs and tall buildings seem common. Most have solar panels. Our resident cook and cousin Nico keeps dishing up delicious meals, like this bolognese. I still can’t get over the morning option of various sugar on bread. Charging: We arrived with about 9% battery charge, as predicted by the Tesla navigation. Our accommodation included two destination chargers in the car park near reception. We couldn’t get our payment card (supplied with the UFODRIVE car rental) to work. This charger doesn’t appear on the UFODrive app, or on PlugShare. Sandra tapped her EV payment card for us. I will have to get the payment receipt from her app, and send it to UFODrive for reimbursement – a solution that they suggest. I had previously assumed that I would be able to pay using an app or credit card, if the UFODrive card didn’t work, but that doesn’t seem possible.
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Day trip into nearby Maastricht to pick up Sandra (who caught the train from Amsterdam)…
…and to explore the town. I (Tom) temporarily lost Francis and Helen, and was wandering up and down the street looking. A waiter noticed me and asked “what have you lost”, looked down and said “your shoes?”. After a couple of quizzical or disapproving looks from cafe patrons, I went back to the Tesla to grab my shoes. But, when again squeezing through the eating strip, an older lady moved aside and quipped in Dutch something like “after you, shorts”. For the record, many people were wearing shorts. I can’t win. Croquettes (again) for lunch, with a salad, at one of the many cafes. Yum. With the scarcity of public toilets, we’re learning to make use of the cafe facilities. The first big language error wasn’t mine, surprisingly. Francis, who knows a fair bit of Dutch from her childhood household, somehow managed to end up in the men’s toilet. She emerged to ask me what I was doing in there. I just pointed at the urinals. Oops! We took a tour around Maastricht in a solar powered electric…
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The four of us continued our day trip out in Nico’s Jaguar i-Pace, through the country…
…roads east of Maastricht. Even way out here, there are bikes and bike lanes everywhere. The roads have clear markings for the bike lanes each way, leaving the middle to be shared by cars. It’s a very tight squeeze in places. And then, they throw in the tractors! Second stop for “vlaai”. A traditional sweet pie from this province (Limburg). Cherry was delicious.
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September 13 - 18: A short 50m walk along the canal each morning to breakfast, on the…
…houseboat of our generous hosts/cousins Nico and Sandra. There are canals, creeks, bridges and dykes everywhere. This dyke has a path with a constant stream of pedestrians, bikes, e-bikes, electric motorbikes, and some petrol powered (which seem so antiquated, noisy and smelly when they go by). Breakfast is usually home baked bread, cheese, thin sliced cold meats, various “cultural” sugar toppings for bread. Nico built the houseboat on to of a rectangle U shaped concrete shell. It floats just from the water displacement (Archimedes principle), not foam. They have two electric cars: A Jaguar i-Pace, and a Fiat 500 (pictured). They charge from the outlet next to their houseboat, right on the canal.
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So many fallen soldiers at the American war memorial.
It's hard to imagine how terrible it would have been to live in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries during Nazi occupation, or to spend years fighting to kill fellow humans. The show “Masters of the Air” depicts the bombing runs of US soldiers from the UK over Europe. I expect that some of the people who died in that show are buried here. One of the final scenes shows the US Air Force dropping food packages to war torn and starving residents in the Netherlands, a story which Francis’s mum experienced first hand.
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Final destination today: the intersection of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
We had lunch in Belgium and patted a dog (of course), found a toilet in The Netherlands and checked out the forest in Germany.
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A failed charging story.
We’re heading off on a road trip through the Netherlands for a few days. We’ve been parking near our boat home, but hadn’t yet made use of the nearby charger. When I finally got my act together to plug in our Tesla, I couldn’t find any tap option on the machine for the payment card that UFODRIVE provided. I tried the QR code on the charger to get the app, but it isn’t available for an Australian AppStore account. I checked the UFODrive app for another nearby charging station. I tried to share the location with the Tesla (like I can do from the Tesla app), but it doesn’t offer that option. I shared to Apple Maps and watched my iPhone as I drove around looking for it, but couldn’t find it. Some hours later, when we were about to depart, Nico (a local) pointed out that there was a tap to pay panel on the back of the machine 🤦.
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On our way from Krommenie to Maastricht.
We picked up Nico’s Jaguar i-Pace. Very swish. 0 to 100km/h in about 3.5s. Luxury interior trim. Neat console. It has fast DC charging but only does 3.6kW AC charging (compared to our Tesla’s 11kW). It’s about twice the cost of our base Tesla Model 3 at home. Jaguar had it for a few days to replace the battery. This is the first real example I’ve seen of someone actually needing to replace their EV battery, despite all the hype about it from naysayers. Fortunately, it was all covered under warranty. Our first stop was in Breukelen at a service center. Well, we actually stopped at two of these, because of mixed up convoy instructions. Next to the Shell petrol station here is a FastNed charging bay, with solar panels on the roof. Most service centres seem to have these, which is terrific. It kills me to stop for fuel like this. Stopping specifically for fuel (charging) is something I try to avoid. I prefer to just charge when I’m parked for some other reason. Today, I just wasn’t…
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Stopped for lunch at La Place. Tasty fresh food and smoothies.
Cruising along the highways we see many wind turbines, and some coal power stations. Each wind turbine takes a very small piece of land, and can be surrounded by cows, picnic areas etc. The coal plants sit in a bit of an industrial waste land. Coal pits poor toxic dust into the air, and burning it creates more. It’s great to see the transition away from the polluting fossil fuels. Charging: No EV charger at the restaurant, which seemed odd. It would be a great place to charge, near the highway, while eating lunch. But there are chargers at our destination.
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We arrived at our accommodation in Gulpen, near Maastricht, our home for the next few…
…days. Cute Scandinavian style huts, surrounded be green rolling hills. Steep stairs. Some huts dug into the hillside, with vegetation on the roof, like a Hobbit town. Our first lost in translation moment. At dinner, Francis ordered a lemonade, which was interpreted as red cordial. The after dinner mint came with its own gavel, to break it up for us all to share. Charging: About four EV charging stations on site. Like most destination chargers here, they are 11kW AC, BYO type 2 cable, pay by EV card. Our UFODRIVE rental Tesla comes with the cable and the EV charging card, with all charging costs included in the rental. Fully charged next morning, ready for a day trip out.
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Out for a drive in our rental Tesla, to the windmill village at the Zaanse Schans.
Fran’s sister, Helen, has joined us, flying in from Australia yesterday. Their parents immigrated to Australia from Holland when Helen was seven and Fran was two months before birth. Our cousins opted out of the touristy outing. As tourists ourselves, we loved it. Interesting to see the wooden cogs and engineering used to harness the wind power to roll 3000kg stone wheels. Our own 2000kg wheels (the Tesla), waited in the car park, charged up earlier from the much larger wind turbines that dot the Netherlands. We were surprised to find that the only public toilet here has a couple of attendants to ensure that you pay by credit card to go through the turnstile. I can’t imagine that the €1 entry fee covers the overhead of ensuring that you pay. It’s just weird.
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Continuing our day trip with a stop for lunch at a marina.
Delicious Dutch crocettes and a salad. We wandered along the wharf and spotted Marvin’s (our robot mower) Dutch cousin, “Henk” the Husqvarna mower. Now that’s confidence, mowing on a dyke, next to a canal. I am missing the Tesla app. The UFODRIVE rental car does not come with connection through the Tesla app or with a Tesla card. Instead, everything must be done through the supplied UFODRIVE app. It is not a proper native mobile app, with strange and slow UI navigation. Today it took several attempts to unlock the car to drive it, while I was in it. Charging: We noticed a destination charger where we parked next to the cafe. Adopting our policy of “charge while parked anyway”, we plugged in. This was our first time charging in the Netherlands. It was pretty straightforward. We plugged the type 2 cable into the car and charger, then tapped the card. The cable and card were supplied with the UFODRIVE car.
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Final stop on our day trip through some tourist hot spots.
We parked the Tesla in the neighbourhood streets of Volendam, then climbed the stairs between the houses in the dyke (I guess from below sea level) to the tourist strip overlooking the marina. Poffertjes (tiny Dutch pancakes) were quickly consumed.
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When we entered Netherlands border security a few days ago, they asked my purpose of…
…visit, to which I (Tom) answered "olliebollen". Now that purpose has been fulfilled! Nico taught Francis how to make it. The literal translation from Dutch to English is “oily balls”. It is like deep fried bread pudding, or hot cross buns, but more delicious. Francis befriended a neighbourhood cat, which then managed to make its way to the deck on the house boat, much to Nico’s dismay.
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Our host/cousin, Sandra, took us for an afternoon drive in her electric Fiat 500, out to…
…a nature reserve where we came across a few deer, a burnt orange wrapped Tesla Model 3, some automated weed grabber (to clear the lake), and a pancake house. I am learning to use Google Translate to look at signs to automatically translate the text. Clever app. Sandra bought her Fiat 500 EV second hand a month ago. She loves it. It’s a compact two door that still managed to leave a Porsche for dead at the traffic lights. Charging: She charges it at their house boat, using just the standard household supply rate of about 3.8kW (240V x 16A). That would normally be more than enough for everyday use, except they neglected to plug it in after the last long drive. So, on our journey today, we stopped at a “FastNed” charging station. They are everywhere here, often next to petrol stations along the highways. A neat setup, with drive through bays and solar panels. I chatted briefly with one guy in an EV towing a caravan, which works well at this site. It was weird for us to deliberately stop…
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We drove our rental Tesla Model Y from our boat house to a nearby station, and caught the…
…train into Amsterdam. It really is the city of bikes. And canal boats, and trams, and peanut butter, cheese, mayonnaise on chips, salted herring with pickle, weed, and a fancy cookie. And so many bikes. Did I mention bikes? Many more than cars. If the bikes were replaced with cars, they would not fit. Much better use of space, and better health. People of all ages riding bikes, carrying kids, food, cargo. People dressed well, just riding bikes. The Holocaust memorial was quite sobering. It stated one purpose to remind us to never do that again. It’s very said that we haven’t learned that lesson today.
Formerly: Tesla Tripping
Come along on our EV road trips around Australia and Europe, and follow as we progressively electrify our home in Emerald, Victoria.
Join us on the road. We set off in late 2022 and drove eastern Australia in our Tesla Model 3 — Sydney, Dubbo, Armidale, Brisbane, Cape Tribulation, then down through Queensland and back. We've since upgraded to a Model Y.
We've kept exploring — Uluru, the Snowy Mountains and Gippsland, and a longer run through Europe in 2024. There's plenty more on the map, so come along for the next leg.
At home in Emerald, in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges, we're progressively electrifying everything: rooftop solar, a home battery, a hot water heat pump, air conditioned heating and cooling, and EV charging straight from the sun. We're going fully electric, off the gas.
Got questions, or insights of your own? We'd love to hear them — please drop a comment on any post.