I'd say that I'm in a hybrid state now.
Across France planning is not required, but if I want to take advantage of the cheaper Tesla chargers it is a bit.
I fully agree that with (apparently) 168,000 charging stations across France, planning is not entirely necessary, but I still find that with only four charging stops needed for my regular 750 miles trip each way to SW France, it helps to plan my route via the stops I want, using my favourite 0.25€ but very basic IECharge stops, to stretch legs and nap – and Teslas secondarily – and then to stop off separately at Aires as nature demands for ‘other’ purposes – more and more, these days it seems!!. I do, nevertheless, always check the apps to make sure the chargers are free and working; but also, I make sure there are alternatives not too far away in case of unexpected problems. I find it all makes for a stress-free journey … so far.
Example - Stage 1 to France. I will charge at Eurotunnel & if not available can use chargers in Calais. I will then need to find 1 rapid as I'm going on rural roads.
We start from only 85 miles from Folkstone, so can miss any Shuttle/Calais charging and autoroute-it to an IECharge at Quièvrecourt (30m N of Rouen) for a first stop.
Stage 2 is on autoroute with plenty of rapids. Get me to southern France. May check for Tesla chargers for lower costs.
Not sure where your off-autoroute starts and ends, but just a word of caution from my own bad experience …
beware If you should ever travel on N/D roads between anywhere north of Alençon down to Le Mans (Saint-Saturnin – Tesla). We have stayed for many years at a lovely hotel/restaurant just north of Sées, and post-EV we have taken to driving from there to Le Mans via the (straight and cheap) country roads.
Last year we decided to stop en-route at the Aire de Repos La Dentelle d'Alençon for a natural break and to pick up a splash charge. We followed both of two Sat-nav instructions and the road signage from the D438/N12 to access the Aire, where we found that (unlike ICE vehicles and pedestrians that had their own separate access to the Aire outside the autoroute system), we were directed through the péage towards the TotalEnergies chargers. To get back to our D438 south, we were then directed back out through the same péage again. There is no other way to access the EV chargers from off-autoroute. However, this manoeuvre is considered an illegal autoroute U-turn by the toll operators who will promptly delete your péage entrance record and replace it with a ‘TLPC trajet maximum’ charge. So an effective nil charge (for not driving at all on the actual autoroute) becomes a maximum charge for the full length of that péage section – in this case 32.30€ each way (we foolishly did it twice before being billed)!
We tried challenging the charge in the circumstances of our being thus directed with no alternative access to the chargers, but Emovis would not even consider supporting our claim (unless we falsified our entrance point claim - even suggecting a ludicrous alternative!). We have now chucked our (very expensive and thoroughly objectionable) Emovis account, and bought a
much cheaper tag from Bi&Go direct. We advise others to do likewise to save a lot of money.
