I think I forgot to post last night, so here is my last two days of superchargers:
Check-ins for 2023-08-03
- Mellbystrand, Sweden (#2391)
- Halmstad, Sweden (#2392)
- Falkenberg, Sweden (#2393)
- Västra Frölunda, Sweden (#2394)
- Varberg, Sweden (#2395)
- Kungälv, Sweden (#2396)
- Uddevalla, Sweden (#2397)
- Hogstorp, Sweden (#2398)
- Tanum, Sweden (#2399)
- Strömstad, Sweden (#2400)
- Grålum, Norway (#2401)
- Solli, Norway (#2402)
- Rygge, Norway (#2403)
- Vestby, Norway (#2404)
- Jaren, Spydeberg, Norway (#2405)
- Töcksfors, Sweden (#2406)
- Oslo Central - Sentrum P-hus, Norway (#2407)
- Ullevaal, Norway (#2408)
Check-ins for 2023-08-04
- Liertoppen, Norway (#2409)
- Lier (north), Norway (#2410)
- Lier (south), Norway (#2411)
- Hokksund, Norway (#2412)
- Holmestrand, Norway (#2413)
- Fokserød, Norway (#2414)
- Ringdalskogen, Norway (#2415)
- Porsgrunn, Norway (#2416)
- Skien, Norway (#2417)
- Lasses, Norway (#2418)
- Bamble, Norway (#2419)
- Brokelandsheia, Norway (#2420)
- Treungen, Norway (#2421)
- Arendal, Norway (#2422)
- Lillesand - Circle K, Norway (#2423)
- Bygland, Norway (#2424)
- Lyngdal Handelspark, Norway (#2425)
I think I posted one of them out of order because I forgot to check in, but I can't remember which one. Töcksfors is not a mistake however. I did actually cross the border twice for that one. It's a mostly open border where they apparently take a picture of your car as you pass through (and I'm sure they could come out and pull you over if they wanted to). This surprised me somewhat since Norway is not a member of the EU, but I'm aware that it is all part of the Schengen Area.
Also of note is that Lyngdal and one other site (in Sweden I think) had two completely separate superchargers. The one in Sweden was even on different properties. Both had separate transformers. Lyngdal had an old v2 on one side of a mall parking lot and then a v3 completely out of sight on the other side of the lot. But alas, each of them only had one dot in the Nav so I guess we stick with that rule, even though it's ridiculous that Beaver, Utah gets like 3 unique superchargers while these ones only get one. (I plugged into both just in case they add a dot in the Nav later.)
The drive up the SW coast of Sweden was kind of meh, but I've really enjoyed the driving in Norway thus far. I made a wrong turn on the way into Oslo and ended up on the slow road along the fjord and it was quite scenic even just after dark. I remember liking the city when I visited back in 1997 and it still seems like it would be a very nice place to live even though my time there was very brief on this trip.
I stayed the night in Drammen and then began my day today with the meet up with
@Bredo at Holmestrand. From there, the next couple hours were kind of dicey. Fokserød was frustrating as it was "full" with several non-Teslas blocking multiple stalls. To make matters worse, there was one broken stall which I and everyone else had to plug into and try before beginning our wait in earnest. Fortunately, after jockeying in and out of 2 stalls where I could not charge, someone pulled out and I pulled in for a quick touch and go (probably leaving the next person in line thinking that that stall also didn't work
). Then I drove past the Ringdalskogen exit by mistake which cost me about 10 extra minutes of driving (and two trips through the same tunnel).
At Ringdalskogen, the rental company's app stopped connecting to my car completely. I had had some hiccups with the app prior to this, but this was the first time it was something I could not fix on my own. I was seated in the car and could open and close the doors, but it would not let me shift into drive. I spent about 10 minutes trying to troubleshoot it on my own, restarting my phone, scroll wheel, reset, etc. but I couldn't get it to work. I could still listen to content from my phone through the car's speakers, so the Bluetooth itself was working fine. To their credit, they responded immediately when I opened a chat dialog and they reset something on their end and it solved the problem and I was able to drive off. Still, not a good system using only a phone app for a key. If I did not have cell reception to start the chat with them, it would have been a difficult situation, and I now worry that the same thing might happen in a more remote area later on my trip.
After getting back on the road, I spent the next hour or two driving through a complete deluge. The drive to and from Skien was particularly bad. Flooded roads all over but nothing I couldn't drive through. After Bamble, the rain calmed down and most of the rest of the drive was on damp roads in cloudy conditions but the sun did peek through every now and then. I charged in Bygland right at sunset, but dusk lasts a very long time this far north due to the shallow angle the sun takes as it approaches the horizon. Sunset was around 9:45, but you start to notice it getting dim around 8:30 and you could easily drive without your headlights until an hour after sunset or so.
I decided to hunt for a hotel room once I got to Lyngdal as driving these roads isn't that fun after dark and it's much better to actually see the scenery. There wasn't much available in the town itself so I ended up going further down the road to Flekkefjord. It's a cute little old village, but it is overrun by drunken 20-somethings on a summer Friday night and apparently my hotel is party central lol. At least I am a night owl and was checking in after midnight anyway because there was zero chance of getting to sleep before 2am with how loud it was. Fortunately the bar closed at 2 and it has mostly quieted down now. I should have known hotels would be limited on a summer weekend, so that is another issue I will have to deal with tomorrow, or maybe I will just drive through the night.
The hotels I've ended up in have been my only complaints about Norway so far, but of course a lot of that is just me being totally clueless about the area. In addition to the party atmosphere here, both towns had limited parking and what little they did have was both expensive and complicated. I asked at the front desk tonight and he sent me to a garage a quarter mile away where the only way to pay was with some "easy" app that seems like it was designed by Rube Goldberg. All the instructions were in Norwegian and that was the least of my problems. Anyways, it would be nice to stay at a hotel that has its own parking lot. Maybe with some better planning, I can make it happen in the next few days. That was one thing that was nice about all the hotel superchargers in Italy and especially France. If you got a room there, you knew that not only could you get a full charge, but you also wouldn't have any difficulties with parking that you tend to run into at some European hotels.
