Today's happy #EV story!

Had a very busy day and a longer travel time than usual into Melbourne, requiring a fast charge while at my daughter's swimming class (fortunately there is a charger at the Aquatic Centre) and then a drive to Warragul which was still, last I checked, waiting for activation of a new charger. There's a relative charging desert between Moe and the outskirts of Melbourne, and it has always caused me some stress, as I have to drive a bit slower than I'd prefer on the highway to not get range anxiety. We had appointments in Warragul from 1-3pm, and because of the longer drive than usual, I was a bit concerned about getting to the eastern Melbourne metro chargers without going really painfully slowly.

I opened Plugshare, wondering if the Bunnings carpark charger had actually been commissioned yet and to my surprise there was a new and apparently active charger listed slightly closer - so curious, and expecting disappointment tbh, I drive over. And I'm both happy and sad - there seems to be a charger working - but it has a Tesla plugged in, curses!

... but it turns out the Tesla owner is just an overly enthusiastic driver who basically heads out to any new charger when it shows up on Plugshare to test it and confirm it's functioning. Yeah! He confirmed he was able to charge, and then I was able to plug in. Amazing! This new charger will save me so much time coming into Melbourne, and will also be good coming back out, though not as big a difference as we can make it to Moe relatively comfortably (but we can't quite get home without top up, and the Moe charger isn't a great spot).

The Baw Baw Food Hub is a not-for-profit organic food store, with cafe coming in the next couple of months. They told me the charger was paid for by the Baw Baw Sustainability Network at no cost to them as they are NFP, and they also had 40 solar panels from them too, so charging during the day is extra green. Nice! The store has a great kids play area, so I was able to do some shopping while the little lady was entertained, and head back over once battery was at about 90%. Could have made it to the city with 80% but I do like having a buffer.

Anyway, so SO glad there will soon be a choice of TWO chargers in Warragul, but it really saved my bacon today having this one pop up out of nowhere!

#electricvehicles #melbourne #warragul #sustainability