Charging in Sofia, Bulgaria

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Our laptop broke in Montenegro. We knew that there is a Lenovo Center in Sofia. Therefore, our first destination in Sofia was the mall, where a Lenovo store was located at. As we experienced it before, we found a nice 11kW electrical outlet in the garage and our car was charging, while we were trying to get our laptop repaired and while we had dinner.

The next day we were planning to drive towards the south-east of Bulgaria. To make the 200km to Vishovgrad, the village where our friends Julia and Miroslav live, we needed a bit more energy. Since the hotel that we found (at 11 p.m.) could not offer any electricity outlet, we charged the next day at a public charging station in front of an insurance company in downtown Sofia.

The tiny road was packed with cars when we arrived. An employee of the insurance company helped us by somehow making most of them leave. We charged 22kW for about 2 hours and left with almost 100% to the south-east of Bulgaria.

Charging in Gijan, Kosovo

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Charging in Kosovo was a super easy task. Our host Bekim booked a hotel for us and already asked them to provide us with a three-phase outlet. We again used our three-phase plug from Montenegro. Our stay in Giljan extended itself to 4 days and it was never a problem to park the car right in front of the entrance, where the outlet was.

After a few days, we found out that a bank in Giljan downtown also offered a charging spot. Unfortunately, only one phase. The bank seems to have an EV and for that car the one phase is probably enough. Still, we were surprised to see something like this in Kosovo – one of many positive surprises in that country!

Click here for the biggest of those surprises.

Charging in Shkoder, Albania

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We reached Shkoder in Albania at around 8 p.m.. The first hotel that we approached could only offer a Schuko on their tiny parking lot (we learned: start with hotels further outside the city than with the ones right in the city center. The more downtown a hotel is, the less parking-space it has). The next 2 or 3 hotels didn’t want to let us charge at all. We got lucky a bit outside of town in a pretty low class hotel that was befriended with a car repair shop on the opposite side of the street.

The hotel manager introduced us to the car repair people and they, like any car people, were curious about the Tesla Model S and wanted to help us. We tried for about 1 hour to make their three-phase outlet work with our NRGkick. The car or the NRGkick didn’t take the electricity, no matter what we tried. It was the first time that we were charging without the 5th, protective conductor. In the end, we gave up and charged the car on the Schuko in the car shop. The car charged about 40% during the night. We weren’t sure if we could make it with a 60% battery till Guijan in Kosovo the next day. Charging somewhere else on a three-phase outlet would be an option.

 

Benedikt met a person from Gijan a few weeks ago in Switzerland, while getting new summer tires. Bekim, who became a good friend of ours while staying in Kosovo and who is an excellent host, gave us the address of a car repair place on our way from Shkoder to Kosovo. The people there offered us a three-phase outlet (11kW) that let us charge just enough so that we would easily reach Gijan, the city in Kosovo where Bekim lives. We charged for about 1,5 hours, made a little walk through the village and left for Kosovo shortly after. In the early evening, we arrived in Gijan.

 

Charging in Kolasin, Montenegro

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From Sarajevo to Kolasin, Montenegro, we had an adventurous way through narrow valleys, along spectacular lakes, through very basic tunnels and up on high mountains. I booked an Airbnb in Kolasin already 1 day ahead. We came to that mountain village to spend the following day hiking in the Biogradska Gora National Park.

After already having done a few general mistakes in Sarajevo, we continued just like that in Montenegro. The apartment we choose on Airbnb was ok and the host overwhelmingly friendly. We decided to stay for 2 nights, before we noticed that the bed sheets smelled after cigarette smoke, that it is cold and the bathroom has no heater and that the landlord is rather a moneymaker than a host (What we learned: never book a second night, before you spend the first night somewhere). That landlord “helped” us find electricity in the village, where we ended up paying 0,35€ per kWh. That is roughly at least 20 cents (or 130 %) more than the average electricity price in Montenegro. Benedikt brought the car (still charged with about 15%) to some people in the village that owned a little electricity shop. The 11kW outlet charged our Tesla Model S overnight to about 90%.

The following day we had a great time in the national park. Unfortunately, we did not check the weather report for the upcoming days. We should have noticed that it would snow till about 800m above sea-level (Kolasin is at about 1200m) the next day. The 20 to 30 cm of fresh snow posed a major challenge. We left the Airbnb with an angry landlord, after we charged on one of her three-phase outlets for about 30 minutes that morning (remember: electricity prices are “soooo high”). We were frustrated with her ourselves and offered the true 0,50 € for the electricity (they were denied).

That landlord warned us of the police and high fines for driving with summer tires (we found out later, that there was no obligation for winter tires after April 15th). After ditching the first police control, but totally getting stuck on the first little hill (yes, summer tires just don’t really work to push a 2 tons car through heavy snow), we decided to return to Kolasin. It is fun to tell the story now, but at that point sitting in a car that is totally uncontrollable, I was terribly scared.

We hang out at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Kolasin till the snow started melting a bit on the still warm roads in the afternoon. Since a bridge on the main road collapsed, we had to take a detour along a tiny road. I was so happy, when we finally left the snow and reached a “normal” street again. That evening we made it till Shkoder in Albania, where we were greeted by a warm mediterranean breeze.

Charging in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegowina

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Benedikt booked us a Hotel in Sarajevo that had good reviews, a parking lot and was big enough, so that we expected that they would have three-phase outlets. We arrived Sarajevo pretty low in battery (6-7%). At first the hotel offered us a three-phase outlet (it found it in the back of the building). Though, we did not have the right plug at that point of time.

Until we returned after the visit of some do-it-yourself-stores without having found the plug the hotel called the manager and owner of the hotel to find out that this person is scared of an electric vehicle taking too much electricity. Benedikt already started to improvise with the outlet (opening it to take out the phases and adjust them directly to our adapter), when some hotel person came up and told him to stop working. Even our offer to pay for electricity did not convince them. The Tesla had at that point of time about 4-5% of its battery left. I thought to myself, if this is, how every “electricity-search” is going to look like, the trip is not going to be fun.

One of the reasons why we were in Sarajevo was, that I really wanted to see the tunnel museum. It is a museum about the resistance of Sarajevo during the Bosnian war that is now 25 years ago. I read about it not long ago in the NZZ.  The museum was really interesting, but unfortunately it could not offer us any electricity.

Our last hope was the Marriott hotel in downtown Sarajevo that is offering a 22KW charging station to their guests. Hoping that they would also offer it to us, we drove to the hotel. For 12,50€ we could charge for 3 hours up to 95%. This was enough to make the journey to Kolasin, Montenegro the next day. Only after we parked our car at the Marriott hotel and started charging, we found out that the underground garage of the shopping center, that is only 500 meters from the Marriott, has plenty of 22KW three-phase outlets that we could have used for free… I guess the pretty low battery made us decide for the first best option.

That day realized that we made a few pretty bad beginner’s mistakes in Sarajevo:

  1. booking a hotel when depending on electricity to charge. One never knows if a hotel has a three-phase outlet available and if it wants to offer that to us. Having already booked a room minimizes the room to negotiate.
  2. not going right away for the hotel that offers charging. Even if the hotel is more expensive, the time and nerves one is saving with an easy-charge-solution is priceless.
  3. not searching in a large underground garage for electricity. We found so far in every large garage electricity (11 or 22KW). It is a shame, if one isn’t searching there for three-phase outlets as the first thing.

We left Sarajevo the next day almost fully charged and a bit smarter. Let’s hope it helps for the next “electricity-searches”.

Charging in Split, Croatia

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A deserted supercharger in Split was our last supercharger for the upcoming 3 months. We were enjoying the sun in front of the hotel that is right behind the supercharger. It felt strange leaving the security and easiness of the Tesla Supercharger. From now on, every single charging will be a challenge. Sometimes easier to solve, sometimes harder.

We left the supercharger area with 100% in our car. This would bring us until Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina. That evening, we would make it only to Mostar though.

Charging in Senj – Croatia

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Maybe the supercharger in Senj is one of the nicest supercharger that exist. After descending from the highway for about 30 minutes in serpentines the little town of Senj offers right at the little city harbor and next to the Mediterranean Sea it’s Supercharger. We used our stop in Senj to have a little lunch break at the beach and to watch to para-gliders descend to the harbor-parking lot.

Charging in Lublijana, Slovenia

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Ljublijana is full with charging stations. Most of them are free, it is only required to register online. Since there is free Wifi also almost anywhere in Lublijana this is also not a hard task.After we arrived in the late afternoon in Lublijana and checked in with our Airbnb host, we drove to the city, entered a parking lot, tried for about 10 minutes to get the charging (22 Kilowatt) going and managed eventually.

After a stroll through the city and a walk up to the old fortress the car was charged at 95%. I wish, it would be always that easy.