Our first TOCA cruise to Phillip Island
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25 electric vehicles, 44 people, one destination: Phillip Island. Our first TOCA (Tesla Owners Australia) cruise.
Starting with breakfast at @Lilin & Co. The café reserved the entire venue for us, put a "Welcome Tesla Group" sign in the window, and had a TOCA recognition sticker on the door. Breakfast was a gastronomical work of art, the staff were wonderfully warm, and the coffee arrived in quantity. Inside, organiser Garry ran us through the day's itinerary before we set off in convoy.
Next stop was the Bass Coast Market. We love a country market. Fran found flowers at a stall that went straight into the Kings fridge in the sub-trunk to keep them fresh. This prompted a lively comparison with another member, whose Model Y had a neat little fridge built into the boot's side panel — compact and very elegant. Ours is bigger, less elegant, and was at that point full of flowers. Different philosophies.
The market is largely cash only. There was some scrambling, but we were able to buy a lovely serving tray via direct deposit. The hall itself runs on solar — of course.
Then down to San Remo, where we stopped at the Fisherman's Co-Op for the famous daily pelican feeding. A large crowd had gathered on the little sandy spit as the pelicans muscled their way forward with no manners whatsoever. There was also a seal lounging on the wharf steps, completely unbothered. Living the dream.
Then across the San Remo bridge to Phillip Island — with a drone capturing all 25 Teslas crossing in convoy. There's something quietly satisfying about being in that silent line of electric vehicles crossing the water.
One car worth a special mention: a very eye-catching black Porsche Taycan with yellow brake calipers and a personalised plate that could only belong to an EV owner. Fran tried it out for size. Comfortable seat — though getting in and out is something of a hip-breaking exercise. And not quite the level of tech we're used to. We got back in the Tesla.
Something I hadn't known about before this trip: Phillip Island now has seven neighbourhood batteries with a combined capacity of 900kW/1,845kWh — all in live operation within the last year. The organiser behind this event has been part of the community group that made it happen.
Lunch was at the Shearwater Restaurant inside the Penguin Parade Visitor Centre, which was opened specially for our group (it normally doesn't open until 4pm). We didn't stay for the penguin parade in the evening, but we did our own impromptu parade around the car parks when the leader of the convoy took a couple of wrong turns.
On the way home, we stopped at Pannys Amazing World of Chocolate — which is, pleasingly, powered by solar. There was also a display of chocolate penguins standing on chocolate sand, sponsored by Phillip Island Nature Parks. It's either charming or slightly unsettling depending on your perspective. Fran was already at the counter. We bought chocolate. We regret nothing.
A great day, well organised from start to finish. Great event, TOCA. We'll be back.
Charging
Our trip was 233km. I don't think any car in the convoy needed to charge on the road — everyone arrived with a full battery charged at home, for free or a few dollars from solar. There's a Tesla Supercharger (6 plugs) in Pakenham near Lilin & Co, and an EVIE fast charger (75kW, 3 plugs) in Cowes.
The night before, we topped up from 50% to 100% using the grid and home battery between 9pm and 1am. We've had a run of rainy days and high home heating this week, so solar alone wasn't going to cut it. Fifty percent of our 60kWh EV battery at around 10c/kWh works out to about $3.00 — the full fuel cost for the day. We left home at 98% and returned with 39%, enough to keep us going around town for several more days. I am too stingy to spend another couple of dollars on fuel, so I simply waited for the next patch of excess solar to top it back up for free.
With fuel prices the way they are right now, it's hard not to pause on numbers like these. A comparable petrol SUV doing the same 233km round trip would burn around 19 litres — roughly $45 at today's prices. We spent $3.00. Across 25 cars, the fleet collectively avoided burning something like 460 litres of fuel, and kept close to $1,000 in people's pockets — for a day trip to Phillip Island. We're genuinely grateful that this is how it works now. There's something remarkable about a group of 44 people driving all day together and barely thinking about fuel at all. If you're considering the switch, the maths is on your side.
Last I was there, 2001, "The Island" was full of bikes, cars, monster traffic jams... and no EVs.