EV Road Trip 2022: Sussex to the Dordogne
This summer our family of 4 took our longest EV road trip to date from West Sussex down to the Dordogne in France (via the Eurotunnel).
We drove a Kia E-Niro 4+ (MY2021) with a 470L roof box attached.
Trip Summary
Overall the trip went very well, with only a few minor hiccups along the way. After some preparation, the trip was smooth and far more enjoyable than our last road trip to France 4 years ago in our hybrid Toyota Auris.
99% of the issues we encountered were due to human behaviour rather than charging infrastructure — there were more than enough charge points in each destination, however far too many drivers were waiting for their EVs to reach 100% charge, blissfully ignoring the long queue behind them 🤬.
The only faulty charge points we encountered were at Eurotunnel (both sides).
Trip Details
Efficiency
With the roof box we had to charge more often than we were used to, but got a solid efficiency of around 3.45 miles/kWh, which amounts to a range of around 220 miles in the Niro.
We were probably over-cautious with charging, as the lowest state of charge we reached was 30% (~84 miles), so next time I would probably push a bit further on that, in particular to increase the distance from the channel crossing before charging.
We took off the roof box when we arrived at our gite, which improved efficiency, though we didn’t drive a lot outside of the main journey, so the average efficiency wasn’t very different.
Driving Experience
Driving on the long highways in France was a smooth, easy experience, especially with the E-Niro’s adaptive cruise control doing most of the work.
We had a slight issue at the Eurotunnel (both ends) where the E-Niro’s multimedia system got confused and froze (outwards) and reset itself (return). Weird issue and has never happened before, but we had to reset it manually on the way out which was a bit annoying, must be something to do with crossing a border. I blame Brexit.
Charging — Outward Journey
Our outward journey was split into 2 legs — Sussex to Orléans, and Orléans to Dordogne.
Stop 1 — Eurotunnel Folkestone
Our first attempt at charging was at the UK side of the Eurotunnel as we had an hour to kill there. There are a few non-Tesla charge points there that are free, but one was occupied and the others were in very poor condition and didn’t work.
The Tesla Supercharger station was open to non-Teslas, but the cable was too short to reach without taking up 2 spaces and it was busy, so we decided to skip this one.
Stop 2 — Ionity, Aire de la Baie de Somme
This was our first charging stop in France and it was a bad experience — around an hour’s wait in sweltering heat, mainly due to drivers waiting for a 100% charge. As you can see in the picture below, the Tesla superchargers opposite were all but empty most of the time, a frustrating experience, but at least everyone in the queue was patient and friendly.
This station seemed to be a mix of drivers charging straight off the Eurotunnel and those heading back to the UK — clearly a busy bottleneck and the one area where infrastructure (or a charge per minute/overstay tariff) was truly lacking.
Stop 3 — TotalEnergies, Allonne
Another slight disaster, due to one very inconsiderate VW ID3 driver who couldn’t figure out how to charge his car, and sat in a charging spot for 1.5 hrs, ignoring anyone who tried to help him (including an another ID3 driver who was desperate to get to his Eurotunnel on time).
As there were only 2 charge points, this meant we had to wait for another hour for the 2 cars ahead of us in the queue to charge.
Stop 4 — Novotel Orléans
The first AC charge points on the journey, there were 2 charging posts, and 4 sockets. Both posts were occupied when we arrived, and it seemed that the post could only charge 1 car at a time; although the staff at reception had no clue when we asked.
However in the morning they were available, and we managed to get 24kWh in before checking out.
Stop 5 —Tesla Supercharger, Bloise
Empty on arrival — relatively easy to set up (although the Tesla app had forgotten my payment details).
Stop 6 — Ionity, Poitiers
An uneventful top-up at a service station with a big shop and cafe on-site.
Stop 7 — Tesla Supercharger, Champniers
Just outside Angoulême, this was our final charge stop before arriving. No problems, a rather random but quiet location behind a hotel.
Charging — During the holiday
Getting around was no problem once we arrived — most towns we visited had a car park with 2 Mobive (previously known as Izivia) AC chargers that always worked well with our RFID cards.
The Lidl chargers weren’t free, and the instructions on the charge post led me to try to enable charging via a website, which took a €30 deposit, but didn’t work properly. After switching to another charge point and using our Kia Charge RFID card we got it working though.
One slight issue we did have was on a day trip to Bordeaux (~1hr drive away) — there don’t seem to be many out of town car parks with chargers, and we couldn’t see anything at the Park & Ride we went to. When we arrived we noticed there were actually 10x chargers immediately at the entrance, however they were all Schuko 2 pin plugs for which we didn’t have an adapter. This was the one time we used a DC charger in the stay, another TotalEnergies charger just outside Bordeaux, which was fine.
Charging — Return journey
After 2 weeks we pretty much knew what to expect; we topped up to around 80% from Lidl the day before we set off.
The petrol station at Jaunay-Marigny was mayhem, and several EV charge points were ICE’d (the only time this happened in the whole 2 weeks). But we grabbed a space no problem and charged whilst we had lunch, pitying all those queueing for petrol.
Following that we stopped at Aire de la Dentelle (TotalEnergies Valframbert), which was fine, although the chargers were pretty hidden round the back of the car park.
The one downside was we booked Novotel Rouen specifically as it had a car park and advertised EV chargers. So we paid €12 for parking on arrival, only to be told the charge points required a 2 pin plug, so no juice for us overnight.
This meant I had to make a trip specifically for charging (for only the second time) — around the corner there was a Freshmile station with 2x rapid charge points at an Audi showroom.
On the second leg, we used (with much trepidation) Ionity Baie de Somme. Again the Ionity points were full (and Tesla all but empty), and 4 of the 5 cars had over 90% state of charge. Grr.
We were at least the first in the queue, and after about 10mins a Jaguar iPace left and we grabbed a spot.
Our final charge was at Eurotunnel Calais — there were several Engie chargers available despite the peak time crossing. The first 2 chargers we tried didn’t work, but the 3rd did, and we hit 80% just as we were called for boarding.
Preparation
As this was our first trip to France for 4 years, so I wanted to ensure things went as smoothly as possible. A few key things we did:
- Legal requirements: Ordered UK numberplate stickers, warning triangle, family pack of yellow jackets
- Crit-air sticker — this takes a while to arrive so order well in advance. Only really needed for cities though.
- Route planning: a subscription to ABRP for route planning. This was quite useful but the CarPlay experience is very poor and would probably just use the free version next time.
- RFID cards: Ordered cards for Octopus Electric Universe, Kia Charge, Shell Recharge, and Chargepoint. I considered a Chargemap card too, but the €20 cost put me off and I didn’t miss it.
- Road tolls: Ordered an Emovis tag for convenient road toll payment — this was great and saved delay and queueing at road toll booths. You also get a discount if you book through Eurotunnel.
Trip Stats
- Miles driven: 1,655
- kWh consumed: 478.16
- Avg miles/kWh: 3.46
- Avg cost per mile: £0.12
- Total charging cost: £199.70 (£197.40 public charging)
- Estimated equivalent petrol cost: £313.85 (Assuming 35mpg at 146ppl, the average cost in France for this period *source)
