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Does size matter? Tesla Model Y vs YL.
A six-seat Tesla Model YL turned up at the Worldwide Light Show meet — parked right next to our red Y, captain's chairs and all. Tesla had loaned it to Garry from TOCA (Tesla Owners Club of Australia), Victoria for a few days to bring along to events like this one, so we got to climb all over it before the show started! Likes: - The captain's chair armrests in the second row — cleaner than the bench in our Y. - The sub-trunk lid that magnetically clings to the back of the seat when you flip it up. Lovely bit of engineering. - V2L! We would love to have vehicle to load on our EV, like most models now have. If only we could cook food on our induction cooktop, while camping, from the massive battery in the car. The Tesla Model Y L and new Model Y Performance both have V2L. Unsure: - Six seats vs our five. The third row is tight — elevated floor, very little leg room. I had to stick a leg out into the aisle just to half-fit. Climbing in and out takes some practice. - The captain's-chair…
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ICE vehicles also benefit from charging points
I’ve come across a few ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles that could benefit from charging points. Bear with me here. This ambulance, parked outside a nursing home, was running the engine, with no-one in it, I presume to keep the air con running, on what was a pretty hot day. Perhaps they were keeping the vehicle cool for a patient they were collecting. Fair enough. But, of course this leaks fumes (and noise) into the car park and reception, which isn’t great for health. I noticed that it has a power socket at the rear of the vehicle. I’m wondering if they could plug that into an electrical supply, if there was one at the parking spot (but wasn’t one handy here). This rental van I’m guessing has refrigeration, parked outside a butchers in Emerald. They made use of the external power socket, creatively plugging in from the shop. No noise or fumes. I wonder if it would be handy to have more accessible power points for these ICE vehicles? Or better yet, have electric vans that can…
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First Tesla service call: a new wheel
First service call for our Tesla Model Y. Replacing our loaner wheel with a new wheel. As you can see in our posts from a few weeks ago, we hit a pothole, damaging our left rear wheel. At the time, we only knew that we had a slow leak. We logged the problem in the Tesla app. They arranged for roadside assistance to come to us, in about an hour, to install a loaner wheel, and take ours away to diagnose. Today, Tesla replaced the loan wheel with a new wheel, costing a whopping $1319. I asked them to clean the damaged wheel and put it in the back of the car. In the photos, you can see the buckle and crack. I am wondering if it is fixable. When I booked this service in the app, I also asked them to fix the water in the light bar, and some issues with the steering wheel buttons. They replaced both. I’ll discuss the steering wheel buttons in a separate post. All covered under warranty. I had a bit of trouble figuring out where to leave the car. Several after me also mistakenly parked in…
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Creekside car camping in the Snowy Mountains
Car camping in my Tesla, beside a creek, off the beaten track in the Snowy Mountains. It took me a while to find the site. Earlier, in my search, I pulled off onto two tracks that ended up in someone’s property. At least it gave some local kids an excuse to run outside to see what the UFO sound was I did a three point just outside their gate. I waved and grinned. A cup of tea and a snack from my Teraglide drawer, sitting in my camp chair, watching the bush life. Until the bush life started eating me (just a few bugs), signaling time for bed. I again wished I had remembered to pack a collapsible stool, to help climb into the back of the car. Followed by the commando crawl to get on top of the Snuuzu mattress and Teraglide platform. This is the highest sleeping option, which gives lots of storage space and a very comfortable bed. The only down side is requiring more effort getting in and out. Once I’m in, it’s great with plenty of room to move. Please forgive the “Tesla Tripping – after…
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I wish my Model Y had V2L
I wish my Tesla Model Y had a power point, where I could plug in my induction stove to make breakfast 😞. What I need is “V2L”, which stands for “vehicle to load”. Unfortunately, my Tesla Model Y RWD does not have it. This omission almost made us switch to BYD, Kia, Xpeng or one of the many other EV car brands that provide V2L. Tesla’s CyberTruck, new Model YL, and Model Y Performance all reportedly now provide V2L. The Cybertruck has built in power points. The other two require an adapter plugged into the charge port. I can only hope that in the near future Tesla offers some retrofit option for my car. In the mean time, I just have to find a power point, in order to cook. If I had booked a powered site at this location, that would work fine. This morning, I just used the camp kitchen. My car’s massive (by camping standards) 60kWh battery provided air conditioning all night, and has run my camp fridge non stop, via the 16V outlet. It powers other mod cons, such as the lights, wireless…
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Sleeping in the Tesla — does it fit?
Sleeping in the Tesla, on a Snuuzu mattress, on a Teraglide platform. The obvious question: can I fit? Short answer: plenty of room to sleep, rollover, look at the sky, out the window, or my phone. I never banged into the glass or support arch. But, getting in is a bit tight. I had to shuffle through, like a recruit in a commando course. I also forgot to pack a collapsible stool, to step onto, high enough at the back to crawl in. The Snuuzu mattress is super comfortable. It has a few layers of foam, supported by an inflatable layer. With the back seats down, the Tesla floor slopes down towards the back, with a kink where the seats hinge. This makes sleeping uncomfortable, and slides the occupants slowly down to the boot. One way to rectify this is to add a slightly elevated floor, that is truly horizontal. That’s where the Teraglide platform comes in. Teraglide also has a basic model, without the drawer, that isn’t as high as ours. And there are car mattresses that aren’t as thick as…
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Oli burger and FSD on the Hume Highway
Lunch stop at Oliver's, just outside Gundagai. I recommend the Oli burger 🍔. Tesla Model 3 with stripes parked near us. FSD along most of the Hume Highway. It does a great job, and avoids human fatigue. A few complaints, though, including it repeatedly thinking that the speed limit is 100, even when it’s actually 110 (pictured). Occasionally it dropped to 80 or 40, presumably after seeing some random sign off the highway. Pretty good driving efficiency with FSD, too, about 14kWh per 100km. See screenshots.
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Savic test rides through the Dandenongs
While driving in our town of Emerald to get some Emerald Thai for dinner, I did a double take when I saw a Savic Motorcycles sign, randomly on the footpath. It turns out that they were running test rides today “winding through the beautiful Dandenong Ranges”. What a great idea! Test drives at dealerships and even EV shows tend to be within urban sprawls, which doesn’t offer much of a driving or riding experience. We’ve seen Savic at a few EV shows, including the recent Everything Electric in Melbourne (pictured). I wish I had known it was on, and that we weren’t recovering from a cold right now. Hopefully next time. Savic is an Australian company building electric motorcycles.
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Final day at Everything Electric Melbourne
Starting and ending with Jack Scarlett. Test drives, a panel talk about road tripping, EV conversions, and a flux capacitor, some of the highlights.
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Snapshots from Everything Electric Melbourne
Some random shots from Everything Electric Melbourne today. After a few years in Sydney, this is their first showing in Melbourne. It’s noticeably smaller, but understandable for the first appearance. Interesting panel talks. Informative staff at product booths. Huge variety of test drives available, including self driving Tesla cars. A few food truck offerings. They need more undercover seating (from sun or rain). We recommend the falafel wraps.
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Arriving early at Ayers Rock Campground
We arrived a day ahead of schedule at Ayers Rock Campground. We had booked a powered site, starting from tomorrow, but none were available tonight. The staff offered us the unpowered overflow campground area. Our original plan was to charge the car at our powered site, while also running the air conditioning and accessories. Without a powered site tonight, we had to charge up the car a bit first, so we could just run it off the giant battery. We used the auto inflate button on our Snuuzu mattress, added pillows and doona. We moved the baggage to the front seats, so the bed wasn’t obstructed. While car camping in Coober Pedy a few days ago, we discovered that even with our portable wheel ramps the car’s bed floor still leans backwards too much. So, we backed the car up a small hill as well. We used our fold up spade to fill in a couple of holes from previous campers. We set the Tesla to “camp mode”, so we could sleep in the back of the car at 20°, while it was 3° outside, overnight.…
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A solar-powered coffee stop at Glenrowan BP
Coffee stop, just north of Glenrowan, at the BP service centre. The Tesla/Google navigation only knew the south bound service center here, so the directions tried to send us over the highway 🤪. Thanks to the nearby solar farm that provides the power to the grid that found its way to our car. We overheard someone paying $1100 for fuel, presumably a semi trailer. Wow. 😮 Home baked Anzac slice (thank you Krissy) was the perfect accompaniment for the coffee and thermos of tea. The small birds begged us for crumbs. On towards Wagga.
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Why we ordered a Model Y 'Juniper' launch edition
Back in January, we took the plunge and ordered a new Tesla Model Y “Juniper” launch edition. “Ultra Red”, white interior, 20” wheels (which was the only option for the launch edition). We chose the same battery and drive as our Model 3: RWD (rear wheel drive), LFP battery (no nickel or cobalt), 0 to 100km/h in 5.9s. The main reason for the upgrade is for the greater ease of getting in and out of the car, which has been increasingly painful on Fran’s arthritic hips. As those of you who follow our Tesla Tripping blog will know, we have looked at and test driven quite a lot of other options. The best contender was the XPeng G6. In the end we stuck with the Tesla Model Y because of the huge storage space, driving performance and the tech. The Tesla app has guided us through the whole process up to now, with registration, trade-in, insurance. Today is delivery day. The final `Start` button is still disabled in the app. I’m guessing it will enable at exactly 3pm, when we’re at Tesla…
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Kia EV6 vs Tesla Model Y, test drive
Feb 1: Test drive of a Kia EV6. Forgive the dust in the photos. Highlights, comparing to Tesla Model Y: - Good acceleration. Handles okay. - More physical buttons (good or bad, depending on preference). - Manual, not auto, adjusting steering column. - Much less storage. - Smaller main screen. Blind spot camera is on an additional smaller screen, behind the steering wheel … in a blind spot! At least, I couldn’t get a good view of it, which defeats the purpose. - HUD (heads up display) was a new discovery for me. It’s terrific to see your speed within the field of view of the windscreen. - 240V V2L outlet in the car, which is great. Apple Car Play. Missing in a Tesla.
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Our 25-minute Model Y 'Juniper' test drive
Our first (and only) test drive of the new Tesla Model Y “Juniper”, at Tesla Mulgrave. We only had 25 minutes in the car, which isn’t much to fully test it. Not enough time to drive to some winding country roads, but we did manage to find a tightly curved on-ramp to a highway. Driving at speed around it, we definitely noticed more body roll compared to our sportier Model 3. This did freak out my passengers. They also found the acceleration more noticeable in the back seat, which seems to tilt down. Tim described the acceleration as prolapsing his sphincter. The Model Y absorbs bumps much better, finding a good median between sport and comfort. This new model has the same acceleration as our Model 3, 0 to 100km/h in 6s., one second faster than the previous Model Y. This is the RWD (rear wheel drive) model, standard range, not the AWD long range. We prefer the RWD because it has an LFP battery, which has no nickel or cobalt, and a longer life span. It’s also cheaper. But slower…
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Driving an ICE car again, after years of EVs
Imagine driving an ICE (internal combustion engine) car for the first time, coming from EVs. April 5: We drove in a couple of ICE cars around town (Airlie Beach and Cannonvale) for a few days. It reminded me of a couple of years ago, hopping back in our Mazda CX-5, after owning an EV. Here are my observations: 1. You can’t charge it up while parked at home, or at a shopping center. You have to go to a special “fuel station” to recharge the car. You can’t just leave the car to recharge – you have to stay with it, holding the recharge nozzle. 2. It smells. And the fumes are carcinogenic. The fumes come from the nozzle, but also out of the back of the car while driving. 3. When the car has enough charge (fuel), you put the nozzle back in the pump. But then you have to walk into the service station to pay at the counter. It’s not automatic at the pump, or it’s too complicated for most people to bother that way. 4. There’s a possibility of fire. The fuel is highly flammable. And the car…
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XPeng G6 — second test drive
We took another test drive of an XPENG G6, this time from a new dealership in Berwick, Victoria, which is closer to us. Nice interior, comfy seats, great tech. The handling wasn’t bad on some windy roads, but not as sporty as the Tesla Model Y. Disappointing storage. The auto driving hesitated quite a bit around bends. The lack of full stop on one pedal driving is annoying, but they will reportedly solve that in a few weeks via an OTA (over the air) software update. The G6 includes auto parking and lane change, which costs extra in a Tesla. It has vehicle to load, but it requires some adapter plug into the external charge port, which wasn’t available. We had a chance to play with Apple CarPlay, which is great to have. But the XPeng doesn't seem to support pinch and zoom in Apple Maps, which makes it very limited. Acceleration was terrible (doesn’t move for a second), until I turned in “launch mode”. I couldn’t figure out how to enable launch mode and regenerative braking (x-pedal) at…
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The final stretch of a 4000 km road trip
The final stretch of this 4000km road trip, to get home. We stayed last night in Gobbagombalin (near Wagga Wagga) with our grandson (oh, and his parents 😉). Just a couple of bakery stops, in Holbrook and Yea. The first cafe in Holbrook was closed, so we looked through the window like lost puppies. While parked, we kept the car in Camp Mode, with the air con on, to keep our camp fridge going and our food cool. No exhaust or additional heat.
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XPeng G6 — first look at the Everything Electric Show
The Xpeng G6 is a strong competition against the Tesla Model Y. We viewed both at The Everything Electric Show (Everything Electric) in Sydney. A few weeks earlier, we took a G6 for a test drive at the XPENG Port Melbourne showroom (also pictured). The Xpeng G6 and Tesla Model Y both have great tech, great efficiency, ventilated and heated front seats. The G6 doesn’t have frunk storage, has small subtrunk storage, smaller boot, no glovebox, but has a bit more rear passenger room and probably more comfy seats. It has Apple Maps and Vehicle to Load (V2L). It is $10k cheaper, but requires paid regular servicing and and has longer warranty. It includes auto lane change (extra purchase on the Tesla). The Tesla has faster acceleration, sportier handling, one pedal driving comes to a full stop without the brake, and has more fast charging options. It has a screen for rear passengers and powered rear seat folding. It has much more storage overall, including huge sub trunk, boot and frunk. It…
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Tetris-ing four people, a fridge and luggage into a Model 3
We know our Tesla Model 3 can fit a 50L camp fridge. And we know it will take a large travel suitcase, or four people and some luggage. But we didn’t know if it would take all that at the same time. It took a fair bit of Tetris-ing, and the boot strained at the seams, but we managed to get everything in. I think we might need a bigger car. First stop at Eumundi Markets. We parked in the shade and later opened the boot so the fridge had some outlet for the hot air. Second stop along the highway at Burpengary for some fast food lunch. Then we delivered Erin and Isaiah to their accommodation in Brisbane before their flight back to Airlie Beach tomorrow.
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Crepes for breakfast at Botero Cafe, Maclean
Crepes filled with chocolate mousse, banana and cherry sauce is a perfectly legitimate breakfast, according to Botero Cafe, in Maclean. Onward north towards Coollum Beach in Queensland.
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Hyundai Ioniq 5 test drive
Ioniq 5 test drive. Sporty handling and acceleration. Nice interior. More physical buttons than Tesla (which may be good or bad). Felt smaller on the inside. At slightly higher cost than a Tesla Model Y, it seemed to be less value.
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Hyundai Kona: a quick look
Continuing our look at EV options. The Hyundai Kona. Good price. Small. But they somehow manage to fit it a spare wheel. We didn’t test drive it.
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Halloween mishaps, then a farm B&B near Paris
October 31 - November 2: After a series of Halloween misadventures, we finally made it to our accommodation, south east of Paris. Beautiful buildings, set on a farm. Breakfast set by Jerome each morning.
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The long flight home from Amsterdam
November 7-8: Via Singapore, back to Melbourne. First, a quick correction to Tom’s inside out t-shirt – it was a chaotic morning getting to the airport. The food and service on Singapore AIRLINES was great. The in flight wifi is good, but connecting to it is more complicated than it should be. We couldn’t sleep. Towards the end, we looked at each other in despair and lamented “the human body was not designed to endure this”. Final leg from Melbourne Airport to home in Emerald via Uber in a Tesla Model 3, just like ours. We were impressed how the driver managed to fit all our luggage in the boot. Just in time for a well earned sleep 😴. Next morning: removal of the Europe road trip beard.
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UFODRIVE return chaos at Amsterdam airport
Up early (ish) to drive the Tesla to the airport. Luckily we allowed extra time, because a bus breakdown at the airport delayed us by an hour. And then trying to find where to return the rental car took us ages. UFODRIVE needs to improve the airport drop off instructions. But the rest of the return process worked pretty well. All from within the app, take some photos and finalise to lock the car.
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Final night in Amsterdam
Our final night in the Netherlands and Europe, before our long flight home tomorrow.
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Crossed off: an electric hearse
We can cross “electric hearse” off our list of electric vehicles to see 😮. Seems to be a custom converted Tesla.
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Last lunch with cousin Nico in Amsterdam
Our last meet up with cousin Nico, in Amsterdam, for lunch at the Noorderlicht Café. Converted docklands with some interesting large artwork. We’ve spent two months in Europe. We hired a Tesla Model Y from UFODRIVE in the Netherlands, visited Germany for lunch, drove all over the Netherlands, then through Belgium, France and Switzerland, down to Italy, and back. We left Nico with a “gift bag” of all the road tripping gear (cooler bag, utensils etc) that wouldn’t fit in our plane baggage tomorrow. Sad to say goodbye, but lots of great memories.
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Watching out for everything, in Amsterdam
A lazy wander around Amsterdam. Really need to pay attention when crossing the road. Watch out for tiny cars, electric bikes, trams, line marking machines, horses, even stilts.
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Van Gogh and silent canal boats in Amsterdam
A day wandering around Amsterdam, starting at the Van Gogh Museum. Lunch next to the canal. No fumes or noise from the many passing tour boats, because they are all electric. Blissful.
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8000 km later, back in Amsterdam
Full circle through Europe, after nearly 8000km, back to Amsterdam. We checked in at the Clayton Hotel. Parking across the canal at QPark – not cheap in the city, for a few days. Tight fit. Several EV charging points. The nearby Albert Heijn store stocked Australian Lindermans wine.
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France to Amsterdam, via a Lesquin McDonald's
We drove from France, through Belgium, back to Amsterdam. First stop, in Lesquin France, at a McDonalds for lunch. This was our first and only fast food chain stop while in Europe. We were curious to see if it was much different to home. The French fries on the menu are, of course, just called “fries” (or “frites”, in French). They also offer plant based chicken nuggets.
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A restored B&B in Flavy-Le-Martel
We arrived last night in this delightful B&B, in the small French town of Flavy-Le-Martel. Our host shared breakfast time with us, telling us the history. She bought the derelict house, which had been abandoned for thirty years. She moved from Paris, and spent a decade rebuilding it, with help from contractors, but mostly herself, with instructions from YouTube videos. Very impressive. We loved being back on rural roads.
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Goodbye Paris, Indian dinner in Saint-Quentin
Goodbye Paris. A quick wave as we passed the Arc de Triomphe and the Moulin Rouge. Northward to Sant-Quentin, France, for a traditional… Indian dinner.
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Lunch at La Petit Palais
Much more inviting, friendly and accessible than most palatial attractions.
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More Paris architecture
We strolled around Paris, checking out some more of the architecture.
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All sorts of EVs in Paris
November 2-4: The inner region of the city now requires vehicles to register and display an emissions sticker. The less polluting the vehicle, the cheaper the permit. The result: noticeably improved air quality, with obvious benefits to health. There are also many electric charging options. The future is looking good.
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How many photos can we take of the Eiffel Tower?
November 2-4: We tried our best, over a couple of days, while we stayed a few blocks away, in Paris.
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A Paris hotel a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower
We used the last of our Luxury Escapes credit to book a couple of nights at this hotel in Paris, a few blocks walk from the Eiffel Tower and the river. Parking on site, but it was a tight fit. The toilets were in the basement, with an impressive arched roof of stones. Many enticing patisseries nearby, even just outside our window. First task was to buy some croissants to have in our room. Then a walk to the Eiffel Tower, and some dinner out, in Paris. As you do 😉.
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A lazy day after two days of Versailles
A lazy day after two days of tackling traffic to and from Versailles. We drove through some of the poorer high density suburbs around us, stopping in a park with a random ruin. Filled with families playing bocci, other ball games, and just enjoying life. Lunch options were difficult to find. We discovered that it was “All Saints Day”, with many businesses closed. We ate at a pub, still Halloween themed, including dismembered body parts. We opted for vegetarian 😉. Tomorrow we’re heading to Paris.
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Inside the Palace of Versailles
Back to the Palace of Versailles. We got to go inside this time, having finally snapped up tickets. Interior decorating overload. Amazing, ostentatious, a bit crowded. The stairs have a well worn groove from so many visitors. The traffic home seemed busier than yesterday. A long slow drive to get back. We later discovered that tomorrow is a public holiday “All Saints Day”. So, we were driving out of Paris suburbs in peak hour, just before a long weekend. We stopped by Best Wok again for dinner, and snapped a photo with the robot waiter.
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More Versailles mishaps, on the road south
Our Versailles string of mishaps continued. First the good news. We finally got out of Versailles and the busy night time suburbs of Paris, heading south east towards our accommodation. Overdue for some dinner, and the EV needing a charge, we looked on the Tesla’s navigation for a stop along the way for both. We picked one of several options along the way, a bank of “V4” Tesla superchargers. We parked, plugged in, and walked next door to “Best Wok” – an all you can eat buffet restaurant. Once we started talking, the designated English speaking staff member came over to help us. The staff were all lovely. Even the robot that collected the dirty plates and delivered drinks, had a smile. Marvin better lift his game 😉. So many food options. We were overjoyed to have fresh veggies. We plated a pile of ingredients, handed them to the wok cook, and watched him fry it up. Fun and delicious. We didn’t have escargot or frogs legs, but this was such a joyful meal to have in France. Returning to…
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Our second run-in with European police
Our second run in with police in Europe. This time in France. After exploring the gardens around the Palace of Versailles, in the evening we drove through the southern suburbs of Paris towards the accommodation we had booked earlier that day. The navigation said to take an exit in 300m, but there were two close together, and I mistakenly took the one, which took us back in the wrong direction, through a low clearance long tunnel with a €12 fee., adding another hour to our trip. This was not going well. We exited the tunnel, back in the suburbs, driving through Versailles. Slow traffic, single lane in each direction. We could hear a siren somewhere getting closer. Suddenly, there was a police car on the wrong side of the road heading straight for our rental Tesla. In addition to flashers and sirens, they started flashing high beams. We stopped, checked rear vision cameras and mirror, and slowly reversed to the side. Bang! We hit something. We felt and heard it. “Shit shit shit” I said…
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Sold out at Versailles, so we wandered the gardens
We arrived at at the Palace of Versailles, passed the golden gates and the armed guards, only to discover that tickets to the actual palace were completely sold out for today. So, we spent the afternoon wandering the magnificent gardens (which also required tickets). But first, lunch at one of the restaurants, which turned out to be big plate (and bill), small meal. Fancy and delicious, though. We bought tickets to the palace for tomorrow, which means another trip back here from our accommodation on the other side of Paris.
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Laundry, then folding while charging, in France
Having finished the laundry and exhausted our hour of parking, we shuffled our now clean clothes into the frunk, drove to the other end of town, plugged into a destination charger, and proceeded to fold our clothes and pack them into our suitcases. Life in Europe is so glamorous! Next to the charger is possibly Cluny’s main attraction: The Cluny Abbey. We felt obliged to visit it.
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Saint-Clement B&B and a regretted kebab
Inching closer to Paris, we stopped overnight at a B&B in Saint-Clement. Breakfast was a hamper delivery in the morning. Dinner was a regretted kebab from across the road. On the way to Saint Clement, we stopped at a patisserie for lunch, followed by Halloween themed cake.
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We stopped at a B&B in Cluny, France
October 27-29: Beautiful historic town. A few streets adorned with strings of bras, which we were told are in support of breast cancer research fund raising. Parking in the narrow cobblestone roads is a challenge. It took a couple of attempts to find somewhere that didn’t block a turning area or garage. On any road trip, the laundry eventually catches up with us. We started some machines going in the local laundrette while we enjoyed some lunch nearby. Then we laid the clean clothes in the Tesla’s frunk to sort out a bit later.
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An Australian-brand charger in central Lyon
A brief drive through Lyon, heading north west towards Cluny and Paris. Parking was at a premium. Then we thought to look on the Tesla navigation for an EV charger, which of course comes with parking. Great! We found one a few blocks away – an Australian brand “Tritium”. One bay way taken, so we parked in the spare bay and had a brief wander in the central park. Again, the toilets disappointed, so back to the car to get toilet paper. Again, EV chargers are easier to find than functioning toilets, in much of Europe.
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A postman's quirky palace, near Cluny
We left our B&B, detouring on our way to Paris, to check out this “palace” suggested by our hosts. What a quirky place. Built by a postman, over several decades, with no particular artistic or engineering skills. It’s kind of like a large sandcastle sculpture. Along the way, we snapped a photo next to a wind turbine. Notice how the crops are planted right up to the edge of it. A great way to keep agricultural land and still generate power.
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.