France trip

[greeiig]

Thought some might be interested in how a long trip to France goes. We've set of this morning. I've planned the trip on ABRP. First bonus is that the charger at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone is currently free! So a brucey bonus top-up before we got the expensive Ionity chargers across the channel..

 

[sido]

Look forward to updates, have a great time.

 

[Ozzie1989]

Thought some might be interested in how a long trip to France goes. We've set of this morning. I've planned the trip on ABRP. First bonus is that the charger at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone is currently free! So a brucey bonus top-up before we got the expensive Ionity chargers across the channel..

I hope you've read the other threads about the EuroTunnel chargers!!!

 

[CuriousIslander]

Bon voyage.......
Tiens nous au courant de comment ça se passe, s'il vous plait.

 

[greeiig]

I hope you've read the other threads about the EuroTunnel chargers!!!

Yep it that was Calais want it? All good. Changed up to 95%

 

[greeiig]

First Ionity chargers at Baralle and impressed by how easy it is. The app works well. It's 39c per kWh which is cheaper than I was expecting

 

[greeiig]

Well I went quiet for a reason.. the trip out was going OK, but my wife may not allow it again...
Our plan was to get to Dijon for a hotel stopover. Regular charges were going OK - almost all were Ionity and very easy to use (I'd decided to go for convenience rather than worry about the cost). However...
Everything just takes that little bit longer doesn't it? After 4 stops of 30-40 mins each, we were due our final charge before the filnal run into Dijon. This was 8:30pm. Hoping to get into our hotel by 9:30pm. We'd left home in South London at 8:30am..
ABRP sent us to a different station. It was closed. Roped off. This is where we made our schoolboy error. We looked on Chargemap and found the next charging station on our way. It was in a small village... An AC Charger - around 20KwH. We plugged in - first time I'd used my Type 2 charger - found a little restuarant and spent an hours and a half over a meal. Back to the car - 10% had been added on. No chance of getting anywhere.. But this time, filtered for fast chargers on Chargemap.. Drove 25 minutes away from Dijon, back to the motorway, to an Ionity station (IONITY Charging Station, Langres Perrogney if you're interested). 30 minutes later we had enough charge to get all the way to Dijon.
Arrived in our hotel at 2am...

Like I say - schoolboy error. If we'd just looked for the closest DC Charger, we'd have been fine..

 

[greeiig]

General thoughts..
Apart from the nightmare on the first day, things went pretty smoothly, however:

• Everything does take that little bit longer. We've done that trip a few times and would normally take a 10am Eurotunnel and be in Dijon by 6pm. This time the earliest would have been 10pm
• ABRP works well, but it's well worth checking the selected charging stations on another map. Most are in places with services, but not all. It all makes for a slightly more intense, less relaxing experience
• Get all the apps and charge cards you can. We did everything we needed with an Ionity App and a Chargemap Charge card that we'd ordered before leaving.
• I was a bit shocked by just how much our range was reduced - we had a roofbox and 5 people inside. We never drove much more than 90 minutes (apart from the first of the day, with 100% charge) and the range was never more than 130 miles
• It worked well everywhere we stayed having both the granny charger and the Type 2 charger. All hotels had AC chargers nearby and we could charge overnight and set off with 100%..

Anyway, hope this is of some interest to some of you..

 

[smokie]

Yes, thanks. I am thinking of a long foreign trip either in the autumn or next year and will happily soak up all advice and experience people wish to share.