PhilJ
Standard Member
I think it's about time I shared my experience of driving to Barcelona and back from Reading in August this year.
Firstly, I couldn't believe how badly served Dover is with fast chargers. We were staying overnight in Dover before getting a ferry in the morning. It wasn't long after the disastrous queues at the end of July, so we'd decided to be safe. So I charged Sparky (my MG5 Long Range) at a petrol station on the east side of town, next to the filthiest chain pub I've been to in a long time. Fortunately, I managed to peel my arms off the table after some light refreshment to kill 20 minutes, and we had a full enough battery to venture across the Channel.
First stop in France was the nearest Ionity charger, to check that I could get it to work (I'm a worrier by nature). It took a few attempts to realise that I was thick and doing things in the wrong order (having rarely used anything other than my granny charger in the UK). Once I'd established that I could rely on Ionity, we set off for Orleans, charging a couple of times along the way. The biggest frustration was being flashed by a speed camera for doing a smidge over 70kmh while looking for a McDonalds between the autoroute and our hotel. My own fault, but really annoying because I almost never speed. A month on, I've had no notification. I've read elsewhere that it's an unexpected (and rare) benefit of Brexit, that speeding tickets in France are unlikely to be relayed back to the UK.
The next morning, we nipped to a supermarket to buy breakfast in a cafe, and lunch from a supermarket - loading it into our 12V electric coolbox in the boot (please, MG, next time round can we have more than one 12V socket? One in the boot like my old Zafira would be perfect). Two stops along the route for more juice, including a lovely spot in the Massif Central where we had our picnic lunch. Some long downhill sections of the A75 were fun, watching the battery get charged, followed by a huge drop to Millau for an airbnb.
Morning 3 was alarming, climbing back out of the deep gorge that Millau lies in, watching the charge plummet from 30%, and reaching the first charge of the day on 13% after only about 15 miles (still the lowest %age I've ever reached). The Tesla supercharger in sweltering Rivesaltes was almost empty, quick and simple. Then over the non-existent border into Spain, and reached our destination (Santa Susanna) around lunchtime. The first charger I tried didn't even appear on its own app so that was a kick in the teeth, but I found one closer to our apartment in the car park of Burger King. €0.45 per kWh, and over the whole week we were there, I only once saw another car using either of the 50kW machines. They charged at about 48Kw, so that was me sorted for the week.
We had a similar return journey, but coming up the East side of France with overnight stops in Lyon and Amiens. Overall, with a bit of planning, everything was fine. We only once had to wait for an Ionity charger, which was a bit annoying, but had a nice chat with other EV drivers of various nationalities while waiting. I planned my route around Tesla (my preference) and Ionity chargers, with gaps of 200-250km in between (130-165 miles) and everything was hunky dory, even with aircon and electric coolbox on permanently; it was 32-36 degrees the whole time. Overall I got about 3.7 miles/kWh - I always use Econ with Kers on 3. Incidentally, that's another one for the wish list - being able to set that as the default so I don't have to do it every time I start up.
Incidentally, for Spain, I registered the Iberdrola app with the address of the apartment we were staying at, and managed to register a credit card with it (it refused my Halifax card, but took the Sainsbury's Bank one).
Firstly, I couldn't believe how badly served Dover is with fast chargers. We were staying overnight in Dover before getting a ferry in the morning. It wasn't long after the disastrous queues at the end of July, so we'd decided to be safe. So I charged Sparky (my MG5 Long Range) at a petrol station on the east side of town, next to the filthiest chain pub I've been to in a long time. Fortunately, I managed to peel my arms off the table after some light refreshment to kill 20 minutes, and we had a full enough battery to venture across the Channel.
First stop in France was the nearest Ionity charger, to check that I could get it to work (I'm a worrier by nature). It took a few attempts to realise that I was thick and doing things in the wrong order (having rarely used anything other than my granny charger in the UK). Once I'd established that I could rely on Ionity, we set off for Orleans, charging a couple of times along the way. The biggest frustration was being flashed by a speed camera for doing a smidge over 70kmh while looking for a McDonalds between the autoroute and our hotel. My own fault, but really annoying because I almost never speed. A month on, I've had no notification. I've read elsewhere that it's an unexpected (and rare) benefit of Brexit, that speeding tickets in France are unlikely to be relayed back to the UK.
The next morning, we nipped to a supermarket to buy breakfast in a cafe, and lunch from a supermarket - loading it into our 12V electric coolbox in the boot (please, MG, next time round can we have more than one 12V socket? One in the boot like my old Zafira would be perfect). Two stops along the route for more juice, including a lovely spot in the Massif Central where we had our picnic lunch. Some long downhill sections of the A75 were fun, watching the battery get charged, followed by a huge drop to Millau for an airbnb.
Morning 3 was alarming, climbing back out of the deep gorge that Millau lies in, watching the charge plummet from 30%, and reaching the first charge of the day on 13% after only about 15 miles (still the lowest %age I've ever reached). The Tesla supercharger in sweltering Rivesaltes was almost empty, quick and simple. Then over the non-existent border into Spain, and reached our destination (Santa Susanna) around lunchtime. The first charger I tried didn't even appear on its own app so that was a kick in the teeth, but I found one closer to our apartment in the car park of Burger King. €0.45 per kWh, and over the whole week we were there, I only once saw another car using either of the 50kW machines. They charged at about 48Kw, so that was me sorted for the week.
We had a similar return journey, but coming up the East side of France with overnight stops in Lyon and Amiens. Overall, with a bit of planning, everything was fine. We only once had to wait for an Ionity charger, which was a bit annoying, but had a nice chat with other EV drivers of various nationalities while waiting. I planned my route around Tesla (my preference) and Ionity chargers, with gaps of 200-250km in between (130-165 miles) and everything was hunky dory, even with aircon and electric coolbox on permanently; it was 32-36 degrees the whole time. Overall I got about 3.7 miles/kWh - I always use Econ with Kers on 3. Incidentally, that's another one for the wish list - being able to set that as the default so I don't have to do it every time I start up.
Incidentally, for Spain, I registered the Iberdrola app with the address of the apartment we were staying at, and managed to register a credit card with it (it refused my Halifax card, but took the Sainsbury's Bank one).
