Hi guys, I thought it’s about time I reported back on my European Adventure. Life has been manic since I got back.
Well I planned to stop my first night in Bruges at the Ibis which has 4 chargers in the car park, but we were told at the last minute that England was on Belgium’s red list and that the police were stopping British cars (you had to get embassy approval before going).
So we booked a hotel in Cambrai (3charge points)
Drove from Bognor to Folkestone, charged to 85% at Eurotunnel. Got to Cambrai about 8 pm, checked in at the hotel then went to find a charge while getting dinner, well all 3 chargers were out of service!! So after dinner, with only 13 miles left, I parked behind the hotel, dropped my 30 meter cable out of the window threw it ove the wall then went around and plugged it in, taping it high up a streetlight. Fortunately I made a euro plug extension, it was a bit warm by morning, but it got us to Reims where there were several rapid chargers at motorway services to choose from.
We got another full charge at a supermarket in Metz, then off to our hotel in Karlsruhe which, quite by chance had 4 Tesla charge points in the car park. Plugged in and it worked!
No problems at any of the motorway services, just expensive! So we found a few free rapid chargers on the way. (Kaufland supermarkets) then another charge at a Munich hotel, underground car park, just plugged into a socket on the wall (this time with permission)
Austria was a breeze, some places had 12 or more rapid chargers and my chargemap fob worked almost everywhere.
Charged up south of Vienna, and that got us home to a village near Veszprem. It stopped showing the miles after 10 left, but we were nearly there.
Lots of free chargers in Hungary, and EV’s don’t pay for parking, charging or not!!
Trip back was a similar story, except I discovered Fastned (Dutch) in Germany, you register your payment card the first charge, then it recognises your car each time you plug in and starts straight away.
Mostly dedicated EV charging stations.
Well I think that’s enough to bore even the most enthusiastic of you, but hope some found it useful.
Cheers, Ant
