Who’s bringing the horse - no - EV to France?

fits · 05-04-2023 4:58pm #1

I think there will be lots of us bringing EVs to France this summer. We are going to the Dordogne region in the ID.3 Tour. I’m hoping to rely on Ionity mostly. Probably through the VW wecharge system but not sure yet

Any tips welcome. ( As long as it’s not buy a Tesla 😀)

the_amazing_raisin · 05-04-2023 5:14pm

I was hoping to bring the EV to France but the missus vetoed it. Something about being traumatised while I'm weaving in and out of lanes at 130 while the kids are arguing in the back

Dunno what she's talking about 😏

My general advice is to use ABRP to plan your route, and set the preferred networks to Ionity and Tesla. It'll pick the open Supercharger sites if you put in an ID.3 as your car

Also set the minimum number of chargers to 4, helps avoid the single charger sites

We Charge should work fine for Ionity, you'll need the Tesla app for Superchargers (if needed)

France seems to have a lot of public AC chargers, a lot of them work with We Charge. You could also get the Chargemap app, seems to work well for France

A lot of campsites have EV charging, even when they don't advertise them, worth checking ahead to see what's available

crisco10 · 05-04-2023 7:16pm

Yeah, there was a whole thread on this last summer.

we took our I5 to Bergerac on the Dordogne for a month. Not a bother. Ionity (and Elektra) for the DC charging, then used the local AC 11kW which was fairly consistently in most towns and villages.

chargemap was handy to have and the app good to find chargers, but paying directly via the website url on the charger itself was much cheaper.

by the end of the month, I was starting to miss home charging but the public infrastructure was very good.

ABRP is also your friend for the long journeys

talla · 06-04-2023 12:16pm

Heading to France last week in June / First week in July but not venturing too far for as first trip with electric car (Model Y P) - Domaine Des Ormes in Brittany, arriving into Cherbourg. Mont St. Michel super charger only 20km's away from sit so should be fine. Also subscribed to Elli at the moment for the cheap Ionity rates and slightly cheaper esb rates so that should cover me for any additional changing.

the_amazing_raisin · 06-04-2023 12:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120447621#Comment_120447621

I'm pretty sure Des Ormes has an EV charger on the resort. If you email the resort directly (not Eurocamp or whoever) they should be able to confirm

Might be handy to charge up for the journey home

talla · 06-04-2023 12:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120447639#Comment_120447639

Would pass by the Mont St. Michel supercharger on the way to Cherbourg anyway so not a concern for the journey home.

Lidll in Dol De Bretagne a couple of kms away also has a 150kw and a couple of 22kw ac chargers available.

Only thing i'm a little anxious about is the journey from Cherbourg to Des Ormes, Mont St. Michel may be a bit of a stretch but have Ionity on the way also as a fall back option.

crisco10 · 06-04-2023 12:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120447673#Comment_120447673

Not sure what your drive is like on the Irish side to the boat, but the WB Yeats has onboard charging available, if you booked that you'd be fairly likely to get off the boat with 100%.

Don't forget as well, it's likely to be nice and warm so your efficiency will be good. We drove Cherbourg to the Mont St Michel area and were comfortable for battery in 58kWh Ioniq 5. In any case, my experience of Ionity in France was entirely positive, nice and fast chargers so the one time there was a queue it didn't really last.

talla · 06-04-2023 1:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120447779#Comment_120447779

Driving from Letterkenny to Dublin Port so would be stopping off @ Castlebellingham Southbound Super Charger on M1 or pottentially City North Ionity.

Will have either a roofbox or preferably a cargo box similar to the new Thule Arcos on the tow hitch if I can source in Ireland.

Former will kill efficiency, latter should be only a small hit.

I did book flexi ticket with Irish ferries but don't appear to have the option to add charging after the fact.

Berty · 06-04-2023 2:35pm

Irish Ferries charging is quite limited, so books out very quickly. On my dates It is booked out, I went instead with Brittany Ferries from Cork who asked about if your car is EV but says its just for interest. I guess they might consider charging points onboard if they have enough people who tick the box. I'm taking a PHEV and have my chargepoint card, granny cable(along with proper 3 pin adapter - not cheap Dealz item) where I'm allowed/or not told not to use it at the mobile, it's max 10amps draw). So not a BEV driver but I'd like to put some elec into it as well.

For my first stop in France I see that the local App that is used at that location(Shopping centre) is 56c but Charepoint bill 35c so kind of odd, normally the other way around usually.

the_amazing_raisin · 06-04-2023 7:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120448152#Comment_120448152

I would recommend booking the charging on the way home, give you a clear run to Letterkenny after the ferry

There's two Ecars DC chargers at the Circle K in Dublin Port, if you arrive a bit early you can top up there

I'm pretty sure there's several DC chargers in Cherbourg as well if you want to do the reverse

But you should be fine, plenty of chargers around France

Thumper Long · 06-04-2023 7:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120448152#Comment_120448152

Was looking at the Thule Arcos myself but already have a 550L Thule for the roof so trying to justify, towingequipment.ie should be able to source for you afaik they are the Thule agent for Ireland, have always either had or gotten very quickly any Thule bits I’ve needed they are based off the naas road

talla · 06-04-2023 8:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120449405#Comment_120449405

Plenty of AC chargers around Cherbourg but only 2 two single dc chargers according to plugshare - single point of failure and last thing the family would want is to stop immediately after a 17 hour ferry journey.

I do note Tesla are planning a Supercharger site there but its a Q4 2023 opening and another quite close to the Ionity site but its a Q1 2024 opening so next year should be fine.

GeneralDisorder · 06-04-2023 8:48pm

Evening all,

Sorry for the amateur question, but as a non-EV owner, if I rent an EV in France for 2 weeks, what is story with access to chargers? Do i need to sign up to app or can i just rock-up to a charger and use my credit card?

From looking, there are lots of electric rental options, and i'm not planning and massive single trips and have charging at the camp site so it could be a viable option.

Berty · 08-04-2023 11:46am

This is what will travel with me to France to granny charge as free charging is free charging as I'm renting mobile therefore electricity. If there is a spare hookup on the mobile connection I can try 16a single phase connection otherwise as recommended on various forums that french adapter in black is safer than a crappy adapter from dealz that can't take the load safely.

Anyway, for many BEV folks won't matter a bit for that's what I'll use for my PHEV for my short daily trips so I don't need to put Le Petrol in the car much.

I'll have my standard type 2 cable anyway if they've put on a site charger, most campsite websites are horrendously out of date.

Last year visited a few Siblu sites and they all had EV charging, slow charging at 7.6kw but still. Yet, only one connection at each place. Never ever saw anybody charging. In fact, can't really remember seeing many BEVs in that area of France.

the_amazing_raisin · 08-04-2023 1:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120449672#Comment_120449672

The quickest answer is it depends

I think newer EV chargers in France are required to take card payments but older ones are a bit of a mixed bag

From looking around on Plugshare a lot of them look to require an app

Depending on the rental company, they might give you a charging card to give access to some networks, it's best to check this ahead of time

ECO_Mental · 08-04-2023 7:17pm

HI

Took my ID4 to France last summer and I only had the car 6 weeks at the time so it was a bit new to me still....but it worked out great.

Anyway in summary yes for the long runs you need to have a bit of a plan of where you are going to charge, ABRP google maps etc will be your friend here. The major routes are serviced well enough and I wasn't subscribed or preregistered to any to any (bar Ionity) before I went. I am lucky in that I live in Cork and only 10km from Ringaskiddy so just charged the car before I left home.

I was lucky we stayed in a small Hotel for the first 2 nights and as luck would have it the hotel had free granny plugs in their car park for EVs. Just plugged the granny cable in and that kept me going and it was for free also (result). I was also staying in a mobile home and what I did was discreetly parked the car nice and tight up the mobile home and just plugged the car in on the granny cable😎 was only getting 2-3 kW but the car was parked up a lot anyway just going to the pool and the beach so it just trickle charged for most of the holiday. No one pulled me up on it so that was free charging as well. Just bring a good extension reel 13amp at least. Set the car to car at reduced AC current and you will be grand. Fully unwound the reel as well to keep the heat down.

What I will say there is no real panic to get set with EV charging companies before you go, what you will find is that each region will have a dominant company in that region so once set up you should be good for you holiday. What I did see in the major supermarkets and a few other locations were there Type 3C plugs for 7kW and 11 Kw AC charging posts....would have been handy to have one of these plugs but I think they are expensive to buy for just 2 weeks holidays.

Also have a proper Credit Card (not visa debit) it makes it a lot easier to set up accounts as they reserve sums and they cant do that with Visa Debit.

All in all it worked out great, being able to charge for free off the mobile home was a big result and kept me going for the majority of the holidays. But plan ahead for the long trips

Berty · 08-04-2023 9:01pm

Speaking of Ringaskiddy, although they have 2 charging points at the terminal you'd have to be there rather early to spend maybe 2 hrs at one then up to 2 more hrs pre boarding as the charger is not after check in for cars. Carrigaline has some ESB ones and if you look at various maps you'll see some house on the way into the town on plugsurfing marked as free on his driveway. Must be a mistake, is that a thing now?

Paul Kiernan · 09-04-2023 10:37am

Be careful charging in France. I got an Izivia card last year because it covers the whole country. But sometimes their rates were much higher than the local operator rates written on the charger. At one charger reasonable rates per kwh were displayed for both the 11kw AC and 50kw DC but Izivia charged a fixed rate of 25.5c/min for both. I plugged into the AC and it cost me about €1.30/kwh where the DC would have cost about 30c/kwh!

Sabre Man · 11-04-2023 1:51pm

Here are a few tips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDwezRIiUws

blobert · 11-04-2023 4:52pm

I did 4000+ km to South of France via UK last year in Kia EV6. 2000km done in 2 days both ways so trying to do it as quick as possible.

On the way over I tried some non Ionity chargers in UK/France which led to faffing, calls to call centres and very little charging.

Switched to Ionity only for way back and pretty much seamless stopping for about 15 mins every couple of hours (pretty much no slower than ICE).

A few queues but they can be somewhat avoided by being smart, ie chargers by supermarkets/food places tend to be hogged at midday as people plug the car in and go off for lunch so avoid charging then if possible.

We also used some Fastned chargers which were great, pay at point with card vs silly apps and worked perfectly/you could be charging in 20 seconds of arriving. Even connecting at Ionity with app was more of a headache.

I didn't get to use unlocked Tesla chargers but I'd imagine they would just work also.

Going to do same trip in Model Y long range (if it ever arrives) this year so will be interesting to compare. Kia has faster charging but I suspect when you factor in Model Y being more efficient and supercharger network it'll knock a bit of time off last years time. If not I'll regret selling the KIA!

the_amazing_raisin · 11-04-2023 5:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465986#Comment_120465986

+1 for using the "premium" networks like Ionity, Fastned or Tesla. When I was driving through the UK last year I stopped at an Osprey charging station and although it was a decent hub which took credit card, I got grid limited down to 50kW when I should have been getting over 100kW

By contrast I got full power out of every Ionity charger I used, even saw the fabled 125kW in my ID.4. I'd love to see the Kia pulling over 200kW

My main complaint with Ionity and Tesla is that you need to use the app to do a card payment. I've got the We Charge card for Ionity so it isn't the biggest deal, but an actual card terminal would be so much easier

Having said that, I've yet to actually pay for my adventure in the UK so maybe it isn't so bad 😁

talla · 20-05-2023 5:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120449405#Comment_120449405

Cheers for the tip on towingequipment.ie, took a couple of weeks of ringing but they finally got some stock in and collected yesterday.

Definetely overrpiced (not towingequipment.ie, they were fair and actually gace a 10% discount), the arcos cargobox is about twice the price of a normal roofbox.

Now the only thing I need to check is can you actually charge at the superchargers that you reverse into with the box attached e.g. Castlebellingham - I suspect not due to the short cables although Ionity should be fine.

Will do a run next week weekend to Castelbellingham with the box attachedto confirm.

McHonda · 27-05-2023 11:39am

I have an ev6 and planning for summer, delighted that we might be able to use superchargers but when I look at the tesla app I don't see an option to "Charge your non Tesla". I know you have to live in the country, i.e. France, so have VPN and added a french address to my account. Any tips?

AndyBoBandy · 27-05-2023 9:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120447621#Comment_120447621

I got off the ferry last summer and drove 1,300km to another Ferry in Germany, relying solely on the Supercharger network…. And I only have a 50kWh Model 3 SR+….

You’re in a Tesla, you don’t need to worry about it. I spent the grand sum of 0 seconds planning the drive to Germany… the car does it all for you.

Just take on a nice big top up in Rennes to do you while you are in the camp for the 1st few days while you suss out local charging options….

Just make sure you leave enough space in the car on the way home to stock up on wine in Cherbourg…

talla · 28-05-2023 5:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120621207#Comment_120621207

Did a run today from Letterkenny to Castlebellingham Southbound.

I was just about able to charge with Arcos box mounted on the Model Y - had to reverse back all the way so that the box was practically tiuching the the SC stall & warning sign in the middle of the spot.

I was also curious as to what the drop in efficiency would be with the Arcos mounted.

Suprisingly there was none, if anything the the efficiency was slightly better with the Arcos attached - similar temperature and avg speed as my last run two weeks ago.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120648570#Comment_120648570

Have been to France plenty on times with the ferry so have all the ninja skills required to fil the car with wine 😊.

Won't be heading down as far south as Rennes, as I said Mont St Michel supercharger will only be 20km away from Domaine Des Ormes so that will be go to charger of choice.

AndyBoBandy · 28-05-2023 6:21pm

If it’s only 20km away you’ll be grand so… you might need a visit once a week to keep you going.

when we got there it was 40 degrees, so the feature of being able to leave the AC on while we left the car charging for grub/.toilets was invaluable…. Going from 40 degree heat to a chilly car was awesome…

dingbat · 28-05-2023 6:28pm

Hugely helpful.

We're heading to the Loire Valley this week with the ID4 on the Thursday Dublin to Cherbourg ferry. Like an eejit I paid for on-board charging even though we live in Dublin because when I booked it I presumed we were going to/from Rosslare.... *facepalm*

Based on this thread I'll be sticking to Ionity in France and then hypermarches etc when we get to the destination. It's a big campsite so entirely possible they'll have a local option on site.

We're meeting up with some of our friends down there and there have already been some raised eyebrows about our going over in an EV.

It's just... our car.

the_amazing_raisin · 28-05-2023 7:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120651462#Comment_120651462

Well you'll no doubt enjoy the looks on their faces when you arrive without any problems

Usual advice applies, use ABRP to plan your route there and back and Plugshare to find local chargers as needed. Remember to set your network preferences to Ionity and maybe Tesla in ABRP

If you haven't used your We Charge card recently then it might be worth testing it out before departure. And you can use the Ionity app to start a charger with just a debit card, no account needed. Handy in a pinch, but I doubt you'll have any issues

AndyBoBandy · 28-05-2023 7:37pm

I’d also advise when meeting up with your friends, to have the battery nice and full, and have at least 300-400 in the tank so as to not give them any ‘range/charger anxiety’

then if nipping off to a shop or something offer them a lift and make sure to have the cabin pre-cooled…..

ELM327 · 29-05-2023 7:45am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120447621#Comment_120447621

We're going to the same resort (sounds like) but we're going in august. M3 RWD.

29-05-2023 10:32am

Going for a 6 week trip to Finland and Austria and places in between in July/August on a Model 3 LR. This will be our 3rd Pan-European EV journey, including our first one, a 8000 km return trip to Finland on a L40 back in 2018, so have seen it all before. I expect that it will be a plug and play most of the time. The Tallinn to Warsaw strecth will be the only one that needs any thinking I believe.

ELM327 · 29-05-2023 10:38am

If you did that length across europe in a leaf 5 years ago, doing it in a tesla now will be night and day

29-05-2023 10:47am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653152#Comment_120653152

Right, and even the L40 was fine, just had to be careful with the daily distances and too high average speeds. We had a few charging sessions where the battery was getting toasty as the ambient temperatures back in 2018 in Germany and Sweden were in their 30's.

We had another Finland/Black Forest trip two years ago on the Model 3, and yes it was too easy in comparison. Literally took zero planning until we hit Finland on SuC. And since then that country has been filled with fast chargers.

AndyBoBandy · 29-05-2023 11:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653128#Comment_120653128

Yeah things get a bit barren out in the Baltic's in terms of Superchargers... Though a run from Bialystock to Kaunas to Riga should be doable, and then a light footed 310km run from Riga to Talinn..

Public charging in Lithuania was free which meant always busy, but they are bringing in charging soon enough (if not already done), which should help the situation.... charging limit on the Elinta 50kW public chargers was limited to 30 minutes, but some cheeky folk will unplug, and then immediately plug back in again. Also if using Kaunas Supercharger, expect to queue as its the only SuC in Lithuania, and they probably have more Tesla's there than we do in Ireland, and Kaunas is on the main route from Vilnius out to the coast... There are a few Ionity sites too, but they are largely just 2 units per site, but between them and Tesla you should be grand.

dingbat · 29-05-2023 4:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120651577#Comment_120651577

Why Tesla?

dingbat · 29-05-2023 4:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120651696#Comment_120651696

There’s an Ionity about 20km from the campsite - depending on how we’re getting on I would be very tempted to jump in there and give it a lot of juice. I will have two smallies in the car though who’ll have had a long driving day, including picking up their mummy from the airport… so I might be shot.

the_amazing_raisin · 29-05-2023 5:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120654808#Comment_120654808

The network is open in France, and frankly it's the best there is

For example the Supercharger near Le Mans has 20 chargers, most Ionity sites are 4-6 chargers

So I'd definitely setup an account on Tesla if heading abroad

dingbat · 29-05-2023 7:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120655156#Comment_120655156

I did not know that. Thank you!!!

the_amazing_raisin · 30-05-2023 9:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120655372#Comment_120655372

No worries, only some of the sites are open so be sure to check before rocking up.

ABRP knows the difference and will plan accordingly, and you can look up the Tesla Supercharger map and filter for locations that are open to other cars

AndyBoBandy · 30-05-2023 9:31am

Here is the Tesla Find Us Map, and you can filter to only show opened SuperChargers

https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&bounds=54.397174861695184%2C30.00411168379609%2C41.15051397769267%2C-12.161415659953908&zoom=6&filters=party

ECO_Mental · 30-05-2023 11:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120651462#Comment_120651462

Brought my EV to France last year and stayed in a campsite, I just left it plugged into the wagon all day trickling in about 2-3 kW kept me going for most of the holiday 🙂☺️ for free as well. Just parked it up tight enough to the wagon as not to attract too much attention. Just make sure you have the reduced AC charging setting on.

josip · 30-05-2023 12:03pm

Reduced current very important. My niece was working last year on one of the French campsites and an EV was charging from a mobile socket. Socket went on fire, mobile went on fire, staff or fire service managed to get the fire under control before it reached the gas cylinders. Mobile a write off, car badly scorch damaged and presumably a write off. It was the only fire from EV charging they had all summer, but they do happen.

Berty · 30-05-2023 12:33pm

A reminder to those who will granny charge at the mobile prepare yourself with proper rated adapters. This is what I posted a while back, I will use the granny cable with the french 16amp adapter. The single phase(caravan style) is an option if there is a working post nearby. I leave in a week.

10-10-20 · 30-05-2023 12:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120657500#Comment_120657500

Very valid warning. And also to mention that you really should not use an extension lead if you are jumping off a mobile-home and NEVER use one of the common airport socket converters as these are typically only rated to 2A (circa 500w).

dingbat · 30-05-2023 1:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120657627#Comment_120657627

Where might one find the black cable in that picture? We have access to a little cabin that has electric points.

10-10-20 · 30-05-2023 1:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120657800#Comment_120657800

You would have to make one of those up yourself, they aren't a normal offering in any Irish or French shop. It needs to be made using a 13A> capable cable and europlug (most plugs there are rated for 16A).

But again, that's not to say that the wiring in the mobile is even capable of 13A!!

dingbat · 30-05-2023 1:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120657852#Comment_120657852

Closest I've found is this 'un. Shipping's a beast.

https://toughleads.co.uk/products/heavy-duty-travel-adaptors-worldwide-options

Berty · 30-05-2023 1:48pm

Toughleads were expensive alright for both shipping and duty on top of it so I purchased mine on Ebay, albeit had shipping and duty, little cheaper. (Maybe it wasn't 16amp in the end but depending on which way you read it it is 10amp or 13amp at either end. Enough for a granny cable. Not too much in the pricing between them now.

I paid £25.67 all in for it.

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/153152099134