We’ve had a pretty slow start today so far on our road trip north. I

t took less than an hour to pack the car – we’re pretty experienced at that now. But it took another two hours to tidy our house, then another hour to drop off the cat. Then a “drop in for a quick coffee” turned into staying for lunch, at the best barista and chef in town – our friends Kristy and Tim. By the time we actually started on our road trip, the afternoon had also started.

First stop for a toilet, stretch, and some carrot cake, in Alexandra, Victoria. Fortunately, a couple of cafes were still open at 2:30pm on a Sunday. Friendly staff and a good vibe at Grant St Grocer and Cafe.

Charging:

As is typical, when we park the car, we like to just plug in while we’re there. We used the Tesla car navigation to take us to the fast charger in Alexandra and plugged in, just as a BYD Atto 3 left.

I figured this would be a good chance to try our Evie Networks card for the first time. So easy! Plug in the car, then tap the card and walk away. No app required.

The car charged at just under the rated 50kW. When we returned, a Nissan Leaf had plugged into the second cable of the charger (Chademo), which slowed our charging rate to half.

We’d finished what we came for, so we just unplugged and drove away. No need to wait until 100% charged. We didn’t even need to charge – but we just make use of the parking time, so we don’t have to charge later.

Human time spent charging so far on our trip from near Melbourne to Sydney: 1 minute (rounded up).