Charging across Europe

[EVsince2016]

I've noticed that charger availability on my route has doubled since my last trip. More chargers at each services, at supermarkets and in isolated places.

Even the France-Spain border gap seems to have better availability developing.

 

[EVsince2016]

I passed 100k on EVs this week!

Just replacing my rear tyres before my next adventure, 39k on them, inner wear to minimum and some side wall cracking, that's it.

Not long for my next trip. What do people want to me to report about on this years trip? Charging, costs, efficiency etc? Anything you want me to try out?

 

[Gomev]

I passed 100k on EVs this week!

Just replacing my rear tyres before my next adventure, 39k on them, inner wear to minimum and some side wall cracking, that's it.

Not long for my next trip. What do people want to me to report about on this years trip? Charging, costs, efficiency etc? Anything you want me to try out?

Are you planning charging stops or winging it like you would in an ICEv ?

 

[EVsince2016]

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.

Across Spain into Portugal, I know where the chargers are & prefer Zunder as it is the cheapest / best. A bit of planning is still required.

In Portugal, I have no stay charging so it's find a local charger & try out the McD chargers that failed me in 2022.

Winging it now does work, and I do a bit but charging costs vary by up to 40p/kwh, so that's big. Also activating a charger has very different prices on each card / app.

So, planning is now more about cost than charging. It does mean that I can be a bit more daring on charging options.

 

[Archev]

I passed 100k on EVs this week!

Just replacing my rear tyres before my next adventure, 39k on them, inner wear to minimum and some side wall cracking, that's it.

Not long for my next trip. What do people want to me to report about on this years trip? Charging, costs, efficiency etc? Anything you want me to try out?

Yep, all of the above, you report it we’re all here ready to read your stories. Always good to hear how other folks are faring out in ev land.

 

[Gomev]

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.

Across Spain into Portugal, I know where the chargers are & prefer Zunder as it is the cheapest / best. A bit of planning is still required.

In Portugal, I have no stay charging so it's find a local charger & try out the McD chargers that failed me in 2022.

Winging it now does work, and I do a bit but charging costs vary by up to 40p/kwh, so that's big. Also activating a charger has very different prices on each card / app.

So, planning is now more about cost than charging. It does mean that I can be a bit more daring on charging options.

That will be interesting to read, the cost versus convenience choices. Charging has certainly come along in the last few years.
I'm sure you and others will have seen these but MrEV, Andrew Till does regular road trips to Italy and back and last year did the journey in an e-Niro with no planning at all. His videos are long but enjoyable for the whole content not just the EV stuff.

 

[EVsince2016]

Yes I did watch these and yes they are enjoyable to watch, lovely family.

I find his charging process & planning frustrating. I guess at least he has reduced charging up to 100% at rapids!

When I plan, I simply have a list of chargers on route that I could use with a high level plan, that I can change. My spreadsheet has priority chargers highlighted and last resort chargers in red. This is important in Spain and off motorways in the more rural areas.

When I wing it, I just check the route to make sure there's enough options not to plan. So on French, Portuguese & Swiss auto routes I can wing it.

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. I have found the local rapids near my stay and a close by fast charger which is cheaper.

Stage 2 is on autoroute with plenty of rapids. Get me to southern France. May check for Tesla chargers for lower costs.

Stage 3 - across Spain, find the Zunder chargers, apparently there's more now so easier. Portugal, it's my regulars. At stay, it's find suitable fast chargers.

 

[rjhfandclf]

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.

 

[EVsince2016]

The perils of toll motorways and planning restrictions.

Being at a service station hub on the southbound with a huge queue, whilst the northbound has rows of empty chargers with only some bollards between. The pointless need to keep north/south bound traffic apart.

Looking through a fence at rapid chargers in a service area from a N road, that are within touching distance whilst you don't have enough range to reach an accessible charge point!

Some do like rules for rules sake!

 

[EVsince2016]

My 5th MG5 adventure is under way..

Dodgy connectors on Tesla at Eurotunnel, busy ionity charging and an amazing Ivizia unit

You'll have to await my return for a full report.

 

[EVsince2016]

I have now completed EU trip 5 in my MG5, the 6th by EV.

Day 1 was the usual trip to Eurotunnel.

To find the Eurotunnel chargers you have to follow the Flexi-plus / charger directions within the car park.

I tried to charge a 2x Tesla units but the connectors were so worn, that neither could establish communication. I instead swapped to a now empty Engie unit and charged using Electroverse.

All units here are currently a flat 50p/kWh (48p/kw on Electroverse) so it doesn't matter which you use. Of course an older MG without the "Tesla EVCC upgrade" cannot charge on Tesla or often Engie units

Despite being a busy day, I found Eurotunnel hassle free & customs delays of just about 30 mins.

Driving south on the A16, I stopped at Ionity at Abbeyville. It seems that Ionity have a membership promotion on, so their units are disproportionally busy. I arrived & seemed to be the only person waiting, so as a car left, I went to drive in, but an angry ID3 driver parked, yes parked at another unit demanded access. The reason seemed to be that he was parked at the 50kw unit and wanted a faster one. Well, the 50 kw unit is cheaper and quite fast enough for me to go for a drink. 28p/kW on Electroverse

Heading south from here, we left the Autoroute to avoid tolls, enjoy villages and find a nice cafe.

We stopped at an Izivia unit at an Intermarche in Vernon. It was very quick and just 45p/kWh on Electroverse

A very chilled & simple drive of about 165 miles from the tunnel.

Worth the Monet.

 

[EVsince2016]

As my stay didn't have any charging facilities, well not for the car anyway!

These were at the local super market

But I found this 22kw unit in a nearby car park for 32p/kWh. Simple tap, unlock access to T2 socket, plug in, lock access to T2 socket with cable in place & charge. Done to stop cable theft. Unlocking process was the reverse.

This got me all topped up for my next stage south.

 

[EVsince2016]

So, for the journey south we headed cross country. The French have gone traffic calming crazy! Villages have stop signs on entry & within villages for which you must stop at even if it's clear, all sorts of calming and cameras. They've also copied the Portuguese with speed activated traffic lights!

Our first stop was at an Ionity near Tours. With the offer on, there was a queue, I was 3rd but had no idea on arrival as neither of the other 2 cars were visible! My wife took on queue management as she speaks French to find out what was going on. There was also a man there scanning all the chargers, I thought to check them for accuracy, but apparently he got points for scanning them that ended in free charging credit!

Of course, when I came back to the car, everyone had left!

Travelling south, I spotted an illegal registration on a car. It was a silver c2008 Vauxhall, with a GB sticker and registration YY90 ABC (ABC is a guess as I forgot it), a 2040 registered car! Clearly up to no good and was speeding excessively.

My next stop was on the N10 toll avoidance diversion south of Potiers, at a new Fastned station and auto-charge worked! You could see these chargers long before I got to them, really nice set up.

It was really hot here, 35C.

Traffic around Bordeaux was awful as usual, so I had to go around the west side, longer but quicker. My next stop was my first French Zunder south of Bordeaux. Autocharge naturally, but wow what a set up. Large vehicle areas, 4 units had car cleaning facilities & air lines to pump up your tyres too.

Whilst there, a hybrid plugged in on a 300kw unit using the T2 connector for the cheaper power! He couldn't be bothered to use the 22kw T2 units as the required him to use his own cable.

My destination this time was Bayonne, a flat with off site parking & no charging of course. There 3 kw ones in the car park but nobody seemed to know how to activate them!

 

[EVsince2016]

On the last night in Bayonne, I went to Tesla charger to charge up for the trip south.

The scale of charging in France really has to be seen to be believed now.

Whilst I had my first use of the newer Tesla units, of which there were 2 groups

There were these nice Electra units

And, rows of 22kw units

With more going in behind under the other canopy!

Bayonne, the city itself is fully pedestrianised in the central area, quite a large area and is an effective ZEZ with all vehicles allowed in overnight having to be electric. Most of the town buses are electric and there's a free inner electric bus service too. A beautiful city to visit.

 

[mystreet]

So, for the journey south we headed cross country. The French have gone traffic calming crazy! Villages have stop signs on entry & within villages for which you must stop at even if it's clear, all sorts of calming and cameras. They've also copied the Portuguese with speed activated traffic lights!

Our first stop was at an Ionity near Tours. With the offer on, there was a queue, I was 3rd but had no idea on arrival as neither of the other 2 cars were visible! My wife took on queue management as she speaks French to find out what was going on. There was also a man there scanning all the chargers, I thought to check them for accuracy, but apparently he got points for scanning them that ended in free charging credit!

Of course, when I came back to the car, everyone had left!

View attachment 39149

Travelling south, I spotted an illegal registration on a car. It was a silver c2008 Vauxhall, with a GB sticker and registration YY90 ABC (ABC is a guess as I forgot it), a 2040 registered car! Clearly up to no good and was speeding excessively.

My next stop was on the N10 toll avoidance diversion south of Potiers, at a new Fastned station and auto-charge worked! You could see these chargers long before I got to them, really nice set up.

View attachment 39150 View attachment 39151

It was really hot here, 35C.

Traffic around Bordeaux was awful as usual, so I had to go around the west side, longer but quicker. My next stop was my first French Zunder south of Bordeaux. Autocharge naturally, but wow what a set up. Large vehicle areas, 4 units had car cleaning facilities & air lines to pump up your tyres too.

View attachment 39152

View attachment 39154

View attachment 39153

Whilst there, a hybrid plugged in on a 300kw unit using the T2 connector for the cheaper power! He couldn't be bothered to use the 22kw T2 units as the required him to use his own cable.

My destination this time was Bayonne, a flat with off site parking & no charging of course. There 3 kw ones in the car park but nobody seemed to know how to activate them!

And nice to see forecourt pricing displayed.

 

[EVsince2016]

So far, across France, I have done very little pre-planning as chargers are numerous. I literally looked for the next charger at each stop along the way as & when I needed it. The choices were driven by driving time, facilities, cost, ease of use, need for a break, the range was never a consideration other than charging enough to reach the intended destination, so usually around 80%, only higher when I took longer to eat/drink etc. 21% was my lowest arrival charge, but 30-40% was most common.

I used the Electroverse RFID for the first 5 chargers: -

Engie at Eurotunnel - 48p/kWh
Ionity 50kW unit at Abbeyville - 28p/kWh
Izivia in Vernon - 45p/kWh
Local type 2 - 32p/kWh
Ionity near Tours - 47p/kWh

Then

Fastned app auto-charge - 62p/kWh
Zunder app auto-charge - 49p/kWh
Tesla app - 25p/kWh

Both Ionity had a queue, the rest were lightly used with spaces.

Only the Tesla chargers at Eurotunnel refused to charge and all charging sites had several back up options within range.

So, basically I reached the Spanish border for £89.48 in energy plus £41.91 in tolls for around 830 miles.

All service stations have banks of chargers bar a few tiny ones near Calais, most supermarkets & shopping centres have banks of chargers, even the smallest have 1-2. Villages at T2 chargers often 22kW.

France is now actually easier tan ICE in an EV.

 

[EVsince2016]

So, with the ease of France over, Spain beckoned.. Whilst not as bad as before, as charger numbers have doubled, still absolutely none on motorway services, I had to exit the motorway every time!

My 1st charge was at Vitoria-Gasteiz, a Zunder auto-charge unit, the easiest to use of all chargers and the fastest! Being a Sunday in Spain, everything is closed but at least this service station had toilets & a tiny shop in shipping containers.

Whilst for me, I pull up, plug in & it starts charging automatically, 3 others from Spain, Netherlands & France tried & failed to start a charge here, no idea why!

My next Zunder charger was a regular near Palencia that I've shown before in an excellent Cepsa service area off the motorway.

Then at Benavente I tried out a new Ionity station. Busy, but no waiting for a change. I did at least have other nearby options here.

I next drove the deadly A52 motorway west towards Galicia, the section were the Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota & his brother died. To my surprise (not), the pothole ridden motorway that destroyed my tyre in 2012 had at long last been resurfaced. If only they had done this earlier!

My next charger was a very short top up at a Zunder in Castro de Sanabria off the A52, I had to wait here as the Spanish are in the early stages of charging and still insist on charging to 100% on a rapid charger. Fortunately, I was early & there a great cafe there. Again no pics as I've done this one to death!

I decided then, just because, to try out a brand new Iberdrola / Porsche charging area just down the road. A bit pricey, so I only added a few kWs, but a really nice machine. Took a few attempts as the charging cables were unnumbered and reverse of my logic. It could cut out one charging stop for me on this section.

I then did my usual stop at Casino Chaves at the Power dot chargers. Whilst I forgot to take a photo of the charger, I did take one of the naked women in the men's toilets (I'm sure I can't share this on here?) before driving down into Portugal.

 

[EVsince2016]

Spain was a lot easier than before as charging options have increased significantly. I again just planned my next stop as I went, but this time checked the route beforehand to determine spacing / gaps / reliability. The only downside is the Spanish wanting to charge to 100% on rapid chargers!

Chargers: -

3x Zunder auto-charge - 48 p/kWh
Ionity via Electroverse RFID - 48 p/kWh
Iberdrola via Electroverse RFID - not billed
Powerdot - Miio RFID - 57 p/kWh

A wait at 1 Zunder as the Spanish still want to charge to 100%
At Iberdrola I got mixed up on the connectors 1 & 2
Otherwise super simple, Spain is not longer a complete pain, just a bit of a pain

 

[Gomev]

So, with the ease of France over, Spain beckoned.. Whilst not as bad as before, as charger numbers have doubled, still absolutely none on motorway services, I had to exit the motorway every time!

My 1st charge was at Vitoria-Gasteiz, a Zunder auto-charge unit, the easiest to use of all chargers and the fastest! Being a Sunday in Spain, everything is closed but at least this service station had toilets & a tiny shop in shipping containers.

Whilst for me, I pull up, plug in & it starts charging automatically, 3 others from Spain, Netherlands & France tried & failed to start a charge here, no idea why!

The ramp up to the roof parking looks a little steep

 

[Archev]

The ramp up to the roof parking looks a little steep

Helps for swift egress though