Driving through France to Provence

[ChrisT]

We are planning an EV adventure for August. Dieppe to Orgon in Provence.

Looking for hints and tips if anyone has experience of charging, toll roads or not toll roads, any nice places to overnight.

Planning a 3 day trip on way down.

This is one thing I will be getting:

EV granny charger weatherproof travel adaptors

Heavy duty weatherproof travel adaptors to enables you to charge your EV using a UK 13A granny charger from domestic sockets across the majority of Europe and Scandinavia. Simple, cost effect and robust solution to driving your EV abroad. 10A, 13A, 16A. Holiday, Europe, driving abroad. Schuko...

toughleads.co.uk

Thanks in advance.

 

[slmorgan42]

We are planning an EV adventure for August. Dieppe to Orgon in Provence.

Looking for hints and tips if anyone has experience of charging, toll roads or not toll roads, any nice places to overnight.

Planning a 3 day trip on way down.

This is one thing I will be getting:

EV granny charger weatherproof travel adaptors

Heavy duty weatherproof travel adaptors to enables you to charge your EV using a UK 13A granny charger from domestic sockets across the majority of Europe and Scandinavia. Simple, cost effect and robust solution to driving your EV abroad. 10A, 13A, 16A. Holiday, Europe, driving abroad. Schuko...

toughleads.co.uk

Thanks in advance.

My mum lives in Dieppe lovely town and I use a starting point for my French trips. Like other. It got my EV yet but I am interested to hear what others advise and hear about your trip.

 

[Tmap]

I haven't used an EV yet in France but done a lot of driving there. Great suggestion for the charger.

Some key points:

• Meal times tend to be quite specific there so plan carefully. You can't just rock up any time (except in a motorway aire).
• Chargemap seems to be a good way to plan charging stops (and indeed pay for them). Just got my card.
• Lidl seems to be champion for cheap charging.
• Fast chargers away from motorways seem to be quite rare.
• On some routes, especially in central France, it's almost as quick and much cheaper to take Route Nationales than autoroutes (I would suggest between Reims and Dijon), although bear in mind that the new-ish 80kmh speed limit is enforced.
• Speed cameras will flash you if you're even a couple of mph over the limit.
• There are so many beautiful places, but some of our favourites are Troyes, Dijon and Beaune, as well as Lyon (esp. St Jean).

-One nice route is to go directly south through Paris and down to the Massif Central through Vichy, and a lot of the motorways that way are free too. Vichy is also delightful.

Keep us posted with your charging experiences.

 

[Gomev]

Bradford to Biscarosse - our trip to Southern France

We reached France on Thursday evening, after a smooth, comfortable and stress-free drive. Left Bradford with 100% charge and then stopped at Baldock Services to use Ionity (pulling 38kWh in 38 minutes for £9.43 and Tesco PodPoint in Portsmouth, before boarding the ferry. Left the ferry with 90%...

www.mgevs.com

Do a forum search there are several people that have done this.

 

[hmadsen]

I haven't used an EV yet in France but done a lot of driving there. Great suggestion for the charger.

Some key points:

• Speed cameras will flash you if you're even a couple of mph over the limit.

But will the ticket actually be sent to the UK ?

For a long time, if "we" were flashed in Germany, we would never get the fine as the german police had no way of looking up who the owner of our, to them foreign, vehicle belonged to.

Now, the German police sadly started sending those tickets to the Danish police that will then send them to the owner, so no more speeding in Germany.

 

[JohnInFrance]

Toll roads are fast, smooth and expensive; if you plan to use them an autoroute telepeage tag is essential, especially as you will likely have a right hand drive car - it will allow you automatically through the toll barriers (some without even needing to stop) and bill your bank account directly. Sanef, who run the autoroutes in northern France, offer a service to bill in Sterling and deliver to a UK address - you can sign up here (the tags work on all motorways in France and some car parks as well).

Non toll roads are undoubtedly more picturesque, but far, far slower; most will be single lane D (departmental) roads with a few bits of dual carriageway thrown in for good measure - they are fine until you get stuck behind a string of lorries avoiding the tolls travelling at 45mph and then they become a little tiresome. A mix of these and the toll roads is generally a nice way to travel.

Kiwhi pass works well for around 95% of chargers here in France - you can order one to be delivered to the UK as well (link). If you have a Shell Recharge card, that works here and Octopus' Electric Juice card lets you pay for IONITY charging by the kW rather than by the minute so can work out cheaper than paying IONITY directly (depending on your charging rate).

ABRP works well in France and has the available Tesla chargers listed (not all superchargers can be used by non-Tesla cars yet). Chargemap is also good.

Download the Tesla app, create an account and say that you live in France (no address check), add a credit card (UK one will work fine) and this gives you the ability to use many of the Superchargers here in France too.

Avoid Lyon, it's just a faff whether you have an electric car, a Lamborghini or a 40 ton truck.

Lastly, have a great trip!

 

[Tmap]

But will the ticket actually be sent to the UK ?

For a long time, if "we" were flashed in Germany, we would never get the fine as the german police had no way of looking up who the owner of our, to them foreign, vehicle belonged to.

Now, the German police sadly started sending those tickets to the Danish police that will then send them to the owner, so no more speeding in Germany.

Actually, a quick Google search would suggest that we can only be nabbed by on-the-spot fines. That seems to be a Brexit result. Woo hoo!

I had a German neighbour who lived in the UK for 7 years and never even registered his car here, and could only pay a speeding fine if a policeman actually took him to a station.

 

[EWD]

On a recent trip to Paris I found the Electric Juice card much more helpful than I expected. Often it was cheaper than some of the other cards.

I suggest if you are going to be in a specific area see if it makes sense to get a local charge point provider RFID or App. Although Kiwhi and Chargemap RFIDs work well they usually have less favourable rates.

 

[ChrisT]

I haven't used an EV yet in France but done a lot of driving there. Great suggestion for the charger.

Some key points:

• Meal times tend to be quite specific there so plan carefully. You can't just rock up any time (except in a motorway aire).
• Chargemap seems to be a good way to plan charging stops (and indeed pay for them). Just got my card.
• Lidl seems to be champion for cheap charging.
• Fast chargers away from motorways seem to be quite rare.
• On some routes, especially in central France, it's almost as quick and much cheaper to take Route Nationales than autoroutes (I would suggest between Reims and Dijon), although bear in mind that the new-ish 80kmh speed limit is enforced.
• Speed cameras will flash you if you're even a couple of mph over the limit.
• There are so many beautiful places, but some of our favourites are Troyes, Dijon and Beaune, as well as Lyon (esp. St Jean).

-One nice route is to go directly south through Paris and down to the Massif Central through Vichy, and a lot of the motorways that way are free too. Vichy is also delightful.

Keep us posted with your charging experiences.

Thanks for all that info, really helpfull. I was thinking of going to Dieppe by ferry, partly to avoid crossing over Paris and heading south of Paris instead, do you think it would make much difference from going Dover Calais?

 

[ChrisT]

Toll roads are fast, smooth and expensive; if you plan to use them an autoroute telepeage tag is essential, especially as you will likely have a right hand drive car - it will allow you automatically through the toll barriers (some without even needing to stop) and bill your bank account directly. Sanef, who run the autoroutes in northern France, offer a service to bill in Sterling and deliver to a UK address - you can sign up here (the tags work on all motorways in France and some car parks as well).

Non toll roads are undoubtedly more picturesque, but far, far slower; most will be single lane D (departmental) roads with a few bits of dual carriageway thrown in for good measure - they are fine until you get stuck behind a string of lorries avoiding the tolls travelling at 45mph and then they become a little tiresome. A mix of these and the toll roads is generally a nice way to travel.

Kiwhi pass works well for around 95% of chargers here in France - you can order one to be delivered to the UK as well (link). If you have a Shell Recharge card, that works here and Octopus' Electric Juice card lets you pay for IONITY charging by the kW rather than by the minute so can work out cheaper than paying IONITY directly (depending on your charging rate).

ABRP works well in France and has the available Tesla chargers listed (not all superchargers can be used by non-Tesla cars yet). Chargemap is also good.

Download the Tesla app, create an account and say that you live in France (no address check), add a credit card (UK one will work fine) and this gives you the ability to use many of the Superchargers here in France too.

Avoid Lyon, it's just a faff whether you have an electric car, a Lamborghini or a 40 ton truck.

Lastly, have a great trip!

Great advice thanks.

 

[Tmap]

Thanks for all that info, really helpfull. I was thinking of going to Dieppe by ferry, partly to avoid crossing over Paris and heading south of Paris instead, do you think it would make much difference from going Dover Calais?

We've done Dieppe when heading towards Rouen although it was a bit of a pain at the time (the passport officers were on a go-slow - might have been a Brexit thing). It made for a very long day.
Generally, ferries are a good option if your timing is such that it's time for a meal (we love our cooked breakfasts on the way over, and our Irish stew on the way back), and they're a good option if you are returning on a busy day - especially from smaller ports like Dunkirk and (I suppose) Dieppe; on the Tunnel on the last day of a school holiday, it makes no difference what time you've booked, you just join the back of the queue and it can get very long.
With the MG, I can see that travelling on quieter days via the tunnel may be a better option. My main reservation about going fully electric is that I think it will be a few years before peak holiday driving is really reliable; a busy Saturday in the summer in France, even filling up with diesel needs some careful planning.

 

[micky]

Toll roads are fast, smooth and expensive; if you plan to use them an autoroute telepeage tag is essential, especially as you will likely have a right hand drive car - it will allow you automatically through the toll barriers (some without even needing to stop) and bill your bank account directly. Sanef, who run the autoroutes in northern France, offer a service to bill in Sterling and deliver to a UK address - you can sign up here (the tags work on all motorways in France and some car parks as well).

Non toll roads are undoubtedly more picturesque, but far, far slower; most will be single lane D (departmental) roads with a few bits of dual carriageway thrown in for good measure - they are fine until you get stuck behind a string of lorries avoiding the tolls travelling at 45mph and then they become a little tiresome. A mix of these and the toll roads is generally a nice way to travel.

Kiwhi pass works well for around 95% of chargers here in France - you can order one to be delivered to the UK as well (link). If you have a Shell Recharge card, that works here and Octopus' Electric Juice card lets you pay for IONITY charging by the kW rather than by the minute so can work out cheaper than paying IONITY directly (depending on your charging rate).

ABRP works well in France and has the available Tesla chargers listed (not all superchargers can be used by non-Tesla cars yet). Chargemap is also good.

Download the Tesla app, create an account and say that you live in France (no address check), add a credit card (UK one will work fine) and this gives you the ability to use many of the Superchargers here in France too.

Avoid Lyon, it's just a faff whether you have an electric car, a Lamborghini or a 40 ton truck.

Lastly, have a great trip!

that is great info john this is what makes this a great forum to belong too..

 

[ChrisT]

We've done Dieppe when heading towards Rouen although it was a bit of a pain at the time (the passport officers were on a go-slow - might have been a Brexit thing). It made for a very long day.
Generally, ferries are a good option if your timing is such that it's time for a meal (we love our cooked breakfasts on the way over, and our Irish stew on the way back), and they're a good option if you are returning on a busy day - especially from smaller ports like Dunkirk and (I suppose) Dieppe; on the Tunnel on the last day of a school holiday, it makes no difference what time you've booked, you just join the back of the queue and it can get very long.
With the MG, I can see that travelling on quieter days via the tunnel may be a better option. My main reservation about going fully electric is that I think it will be a few years before peak holiday driving is really reliable; a busy Saturday in the summer in France, even filling up with diesel needs some careful planning.

We have planned 3.5 days to get down to Orgon and 2.5 to get back to Paris Disney so hopefully that's lots of time to allow for charging. It will be a challenge.

 

[HSI]

Pour la France on utilise pour planifier chargemap très complet après ionity et les Tesla ouvert

 

[cog16]

Living in France, I can only repeat from earlier entries.
Is speed of journey more important than enjoying Route National and the range of views. (Note that speed limits vary from department to department at 80 or 90 kph).
Is cost an important issue within speed, so that you are prepared to come off autoroutes to find a fast charger near an exit which is much cheaper ( use filters on ABRP and chargemap and chargepoint to find 40 or 50 MWh - byproduct is that off autoroutes you can find cafes and restos with better service).
More and more privatised companies are being used to issue speeding fines, using unmarked (!) private cars, who issue automatic fines - which are sent to the car owner, wherever they live! You can find out where these cars are working every day, but only within an area.
It seems that charging costs are going up, my Nouvelle Aquitaine RFID will cost more from 1/6/22.
Regarding Télépéage, I would say this is only a saving if you are travelling at peak times. You can find out details of when these are from Bison Futé site which is always the place to look. ( July and August weekends are always the worst time). In a real bottleneck , it can take quite a long time in a queue of tens of km in order to get to the Télépéage, so it is not an absolute timesaver!
Enjoy France, but take your litter home heh heh

 

[pshotton]

One thing to watch is that many chargers in France charge by time, not kWh. We were stung using a hotel charger. We booked the space when we booked the room, plugged in when we got back after dinner, and unplugged when we left in the morning. One month later the chargemap bill came in, 90€ for 25 kWh. Ouch, more expensive than petrol. Take care!

 

[John Sauve Rodd]

Living in France, I can only repeat from earlier entries.
Is speed of journey more important than enjoying Route National and the range of views. (Note that speed limits vary from department to department at 80 or 90 kph).
Is cost an important issue within speed, so that you are prepared to come off autoroutes to find a fast charger near an exit which is much cheaper ( use filters on ABRP and chargemap and chargepoint to find 40 or 50 MWh - byproduct is that off autoroutes you can find cafes and restos with better service).
More and more privatised companies are being used to issue speeding fines, using unmarked (!) private cars, who issue automatic fines - which are sent to the car owner, wherever they live! You can find out where these cars are working every day, but only within an area.
It seems that charging costs are going up, my Nouvelle Aquitaine RFID will cost more from 1/6/22.
Regarding Télépéage, I would say this is only a saving if you are travelling at peak times. You can find out details of when these are from Bison Futé site which is always the place to look. ( July and August weekends are always the worst time). In a real bottleneck , it can take quite a long time in a queue of tens of km in order to get to the Télépéage, so it is not an absolute timesaver!
Enjoy France, but take your litter home heh heh

Following this thread with interest, a local EV owner suggested I look at Chargemap, a French service that provides a single RFID card that works with the great majority of Fr, Be, Nl, Sw, De charge networks, has an excellent app and all for a one off €19.90. Card and booklet in English arrived in 4 days. Payment is taken for elec used by deduction from debit card. Almost too easy. The app/route planner allows filters e.g. only 43Kw+ chargers, CCS sockets, avoid motorways/tolls and more. The biggest surprise is the sheer number of coloured dots on the maps - so many charge points. I searched their www for routes + charges Calais to *Amsterdam *Frankfurt *Basel and all came back with routes festooned with charge points. Why did I not know of this before?

Set up 11 years ago and devloped by EV enthusiasts, this is the one for me. Pity they don't operate in the UK. Chargemap - charging stations for electric cars

 

[ericgrand]

Chargemap is adding a 10% mark-up on any invoice. So it is for us a last option if we can't use the dedicated app or card for the selected charger. It is nevertheless a good back-up plan to have, just in case...
You can use Chargeprice to compare the price at each charger depending on the plan you have available.

 

[John Sauve Rodd]

Chargemap is adding a 10% mark-up on any invoice. So it is for us a last option if we can't use the dedicated app or card for the selected charger. It is nevertheless a good back-up plan to have, just in case...
You can use Chargeprice to compare the price at each charger depending on the plan you have available.

I'd say 10% is a small price to pay compared with getting cards/apps for each supplier - and there are plenty. I'd take such a scheme in the UK rather than get 'memberships' for BP, Shell, Ecotricity, Ionity etc. And there is that little issue of getting an account set up in France with a UK address - I am still watiting for Izivia and another one to reply to my query - and in French too.

Unrelated but it has been raised is the télépeage tag for automatic passage through the tolls. We've had the SANEF tag for years (had a maison de vacances near Tours) and would never go back.

 

[ChrisT]

Getting there with the bits and pieces everyone advised on in this post.

Bip and Go Tag for Toll Roads, Charge Master Card, Octopus Energy Electric Juice Card and one thing that I picked up on, the Crit Air Emissions sticker to avoid fines in some city's or towns.