Great chargers, sad site, at Coolac

Snowy Mountains + Gippsland 2025–26

Time for a break and a cup of tea.

The navigation says that the next EV charger is at Coolac, just north of Gundagai, so we stopped there.

Wow. It’s a pretty bad. The chargers are great, simple and fast. But the site is woeful. The hotel is closed or being renovated. The toilets are port-a-loos, but are disgusting . I don’t know how much of that is due to infrequent maintenance versus just being the busiest time of year.

There is a service station nearby with some food and hopefully better toilets, but it’s a ten minute walk away in the heat, and not an option for Mum’s walker.

Some people were sheltering from the sun under the three tall trees begging the toilets. Not a great spot.

Tesla/government really needs to ensure better location for EV chargers.

We enjoyed a cup of tea from our thermoses, and some Christmas snacks (thank you Krissy).

Some way further up the highway, we pulled over into Bookham, for a conveniently located toilet and a bit of a stretch in some broken shade. In the few minutes we were there, two other Tesla ModelY Juniper also pulled in. EV chargers would be better located here.

Charging

Quick and efficient. We only plugged in because we were stopping anyway. It’s the busiest time of year, so when we arrived, all stalls were full, with two blocked off by traffic cones (not working?). We only had to wait thirty seconds for someone to disconnect and free up a spot for us.

10 comments

  1. Stopped at Coolac on our way to Melbourne last week. I agree to what you shared, it's a shared investment with NSW govt. However, on a positive note we now have SC in every 1-1.5 hr gap in Sydney-Mel route.
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    1. Himanshu Ahuja Back in late 2021, I only have Goulburn, Gundagai and Euroa to charge with. But fewer Teslas then too. Sydney to Albury has a few SCs now along Hume. Might need one or two additional Tesla SC between Albury and Melbourne though.
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      1. Sonny Manansala you have wodonga, euroa, mansfield, yea, kilmore

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      2. Himanshu Ahuja along Hume I mean. I think between Albury Wodonga and Melbourne, there’s only Euroa and Wangaratta - but Wangaratta is on top of the building and a bit of a detour from the highway.

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      3. Sonny Manansala you are right. The one in Albury is off the highway but with good amenities
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  2. I would normally miss this and go to Gundagai just because of the amenities. Slower (130 kw and shared) but just the right time while having lunch.
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    1. Sonny Manansala yeah we started here on the way south and decided to go on to Gundagai after a pee and a few minutes gazing around. Fortunately the toilets weren’t too bad at the beginning of December.
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  3. I was there end November. Only car charging. Bins chockers, toilets just OK but could see would be bad in peak time plus hot. And what about nightie?

    Servo was too far to walk. Not much work was happening at pub. Actually nothing and no sign of any works happening. Truely bad spot.
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  4. Well they look like they have only just been installed? Takes a bit of time to truly establish new site?
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    1. Asher Hooghiemstra I think it is only a few months old. The chargers are great. My issue is with the location: they have put the chargers not next to any real amenities, shade, seats etc.

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