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Trip Report

🇭🇷 Maiden voyage — Croatia

Switzerland → Croatia · Spring 2026 · First long-distance run with evOS fully operational.

822 km
One-way distance
4
Countries
9
Charge stops
6 days
Total trip
0%
Lowest SoC
822 km
Logged on arrival
Day 1 — April 24

5:26 AM. Route locked. Let's go.

The alarm went off before the birds. At 5:26 AM, streets still empty, evOS had already done its homework: 560 km on the plan for day one, 7 charge stops sequenced, ETA 19:39. Total charging time estimated at 5 hours 44 minutes — more than enough buffer to arrive before dark.

This was the first proper long-haul test of the system. Not a day trip, not a loop around the lake — Switzerland to the Adriatic coast, in a 15-year-old electric city car with a 17.6 kWh battery.

The route: home → Bludenz → Imst → Steinach am Brenner → Kronplatz/Brunico → Oberdrauburg → Spittal an der Drau → overnight → Postojna → Poreč. Through the Alps, over the Brenner, across Carinthia, and down through Slovenia.

evOS navigation screen showing the full Switzerland to Croatia route at 5:26 AM
Pre-dawn drive through Swiss countryside, Alps silhouette on the horizon
5:39 AM — the Alps appear on the horizon
Smart ED at the first charge stop in Austria, early morning sun
First stop — Bludenz, Vorarlberg. Battery topped up, coffee secured.
Charge strategy

evOS planned every stop. We just drove.

Charge stop management was the biggest unknown going in. The smart ED has roughly 100–130 km of real-world range at motorway speeds. Crossing the Alps isn't flat — elevation changes eat into that. evOS accounted for it.

The system planned each stop based on arrival SoC targets, charger power, and estimated drive time — Bludenz, Gewerbepark Imst, Steinach am Brenner, Kronplatz, Oberdrauburg. Each one hit roughly where evOS said it would.

Imst deserves its own paragraph. The plan was to charge at an ELLA charger in the Gewerbepark — a network that had expanded across Austria before being acquired by Wien Energie and folded into their Tanke network. Finding the right building in the industrial estate took a while. Finding the charger took longer. It wasn't there. Gone. Removed at some point between when the data was last updated and when the car needed it. An alternative was found nearby, but the ten minutes spent circling a Gewerbepark in Tyrol are a clear argument for one thing: static charger databases aren't enough. evOS needs live availability data, not just locations.

Spittal an der Drau was not as clean. A wrong turn routed the car onto the motorway instead of local roads — 7 extra kilometres at highway speed with 0% showing and 0 km of range. The car made it to the Hypercharger. Just. The charger only needed 30 minutes. The co-pilot needed considerably longer: the McDonald's across the road from the Tesla Supercharger in Spittal is apparently a family institution, remembered fondly from previous trips, and absolutely not negotiable.

Then Velden am Wörthersee: four attempts, four broken or occupied chargers. The fifth worked.

That's the part no routing software fully solves yet. The stops were right. The chargers were not always there.

evOS screen showing 2% battery remaining and charging notification
Austrian motorway with snow-capped Alps in the background
Austrian A12 — snow still on the peaks in April
Smart ED connected to a yellow Hypercharger in South Tyrol
Spittal an der Drau — Hypercharger, arrived at 0%. 9.5 kWh in 1h 17 min.
Smart speedometer showing 822 km trip distance at arrival
822 km logged — two days, one car, some drama
Day 1 charge stops
LocationArrived atChargerTime
Bludenz, AT~11%e-Ladestation AC~41 min
Gewerbepark Imst, AT~13%AC — ELLA charger gone, found alternative~40 min
Steinach am Brenner, AT~23%ÖAMTC AC~35 min
Kronplatz ski-resort, Brunico, IT~12%AC~107 min
Oberdrauburg, AT~8%AC~41 min
Spittal an der Drau, AT0% · 0 kmHypercharger 22 kW · 9.5 kWh — arrived after 7 km on empty · ~30 min charge, ~47 min McDonald's1h 17 min
Velden am Wörthersee, AT—4 attempts · 1 working charger found—
Day 2 — April 25

Through Slovenia. Into Croatia.

Day two started with a co-pilot upgrade. The back seat now occupied, thumbs up confirmed, snacks loaded. The mood was considerably better than 5 AM.

Slovenia moved quickly — a rest stop charger just past the border, then the Lidl in Postojna. Mountains still in the mirror, the karst plateau opening up ahead. Border crossing into Croatia: short queue, no issues. A final stop at an Istarska charger near Poreč and the job was done.

And then — the Adriatic. After 500-something kilometres of concrete and asphalt, the turquoise came out of nowhere. A bend in the road, a blue drawbridge, and the sea on both sides.

First view of the Adriatic coast — turquoise water and a blue drawbridge near Poreč
Co-pilot giving thumbs up from the back seat
Co-pilot, fully briefed
Eating a pretzel during a charge stop
Charge stop cuisine — Bavaria's finest export
Smart ED at a charge point at a Lidl in Slovenia, mountains behind
Lidl Postojna, Slovenia — charge stop #8
Arrival

Poreč. Made it.

The Valamar Parentino Hotel appeared at the end of a coastal road lined with umbrella pines. Odometer trip: 822.8 km. Range remaining: 47 km. Battery: just enough, exactly as planned.

evOS had routed a final charge stop in Poreč before the hotel — the car arrived with a comfortable buffer rather than another 2% drama. The last charging session was short, the walk to the sea shorter.

From the pool, the old town tower of Poreč was visible across the water. The car was plugged in. The system had done its job.

Smart ED arriving at the Valamar Parentino Hotel in Poreč
Smart ED at a charge point in Poreč, Croatia
Istarska charger near Poreč — last stop before the hotel
Sitting by the hotel pool after arrival in Poreč
Destination unlocked
April 26

Poreč from the water.

Infinity pool with Poreč old town visible across the water
Infinity pool — Poreč old town tower in the background

A city built for walking

Poreč old town is a Roman grid laid out on a peninsula — the Euphrasian Basilica at one end, the harbour at the other. Walking it takes about 20 minutes, which is to say: you'll do it several times.

The car stayed plugged in. No range anxiety, no planning. Just a slow afternoon by the water.

April 29 — Day trip

Rovinj & the Lim Fjord.

With evOS routing and a full battery, a 70 km day trip to Rovinj and the Lim fjord was a non-event. Planned, executed, returned with range to spare.

Rovinj old town from the harbour — colourful buildings and the bell tower
Rovinj — one of the most photographed skylines on the Adriatic
Smart ED parked at the Lim fjord, emerald water and forested hills
Lim fjord — unexpected green
evOS satellite navigation view showing 86% battery and route along the fjord
86% — no stress, evOS routing the scenic way home
Verdict

It works.

An 822 km drive in a 15-year-old EV with a 17.6 kWh battery is not supposed to be relaxing. With evOS, it was. The charge stops were planned, the arrivals were predictable, and the 2% moment was a feature — not a failure.

What evOS proved on this trip

Long-distance routing in real conditions — Alpine elevation changes, variable charger availability, two-day segments — is solved. The system planned 7 stops, we used 7 stops, and arrived at the hotel with exactly the buffer it promised. Next: the return route.