He approached the journey as an opportunity to explore the Balkans. From the Czech Republic, he travelled through Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, and Bulgaria, then across Greece and by ferry to Crete. On the way back, he literally criss-crossed Greece, explored Bulgaria—especially the Sunny Beach region—and on his route through Romania, he made sure not to miss the renowned Transfăgărășan Highway. In total, he covered nearly 8,500 electric kilometres during the entire trip.
“It may not seem like it now, but in 2022 the charging networks in several of the countries I visited were still in their infancy,” says Zbyněk. On Crete, for example, there were only four public DC chargers available at the time, each offering a maximum output of 50 kW. On the other hand, he was pleasantly surprised by the charging infrastructure in Bulgaria even then.
“For peace of mind, I equipped myself with apps and authentication for virtually every local charging provider, so besides PowerPass, I had around 15 more apps. In reality, even then fewer would have been enough—and today, with minor exceptions, PowerPass alone is perfectly sufficient,” says Zbyněk, comparing the availability of services.
