Long trips in an electric car?

Summer is fast approaching. Vacations are certainly already booked, or ideas are in the air. For electric vehicle owners, it may be time to plan the first big trip or a new journey. It's precisely at the planning stage that certain new electric car habits need to be established. Even if the recharging network is improving rapidly in Europe, it's advisable to plan your itinerary according to your needs, using the tools available. Charging stations are not always as easy to access as petrol stations.

If you take a break every two to three hours, you'll have time to recharge your car for a few dozen minutes at a rapid charging station, and then get back on the road. When you're on the road, it's also important to think about your charging cable, which must remain within easy reach. Avoid placing it under your luggage, and if you take your 230V charger with you, remember to take a local adapter with you. In any case, a roaming card enabling you to activate most national and international recharging stations is highly recommended. The TCS offers a list of valuable information for motorists in different countries. Travelling by electric car still requires a little preparation and flexibility.

At the SFOE, we have many employees who regularly use electric vehicles and go on long journeys. They agreed to share their tips with our readers.

Daniel Schaller, Transportation Energy Efficiency Specialist

Car (battery size):
Opel Corsa-e, 45 useful kWh (50kWh gross)

Journey:
Switzerland - Luxembourg - Netherlands - Belgium - Northern France (3'500km), and soon the Balkans!

How did you choose this trip in an electric car?
I just wanted to do a summer road trip, cruising from town to town, via the beach! And as a warm-up for our trip this summer through Romania, Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia and Albania.

What planning did you undertake before leaving?
We planned our stages with "A Better Routeplaner" (ABRP), an excellent electric car route planner available largely free of charge on Smartphone and PC. In addition to what google maps can do, this kind of App knows the type of car used and the battery's state of charge. This enables it to automatically suggest recharging stops along the route, without having to worry about the location of fast-charging stations - the App will take you there automatically! And don't forget to buy a good roaming card to activate charging stations in Switzerland and abroad - a must. For our part, we used EnBW's mobility+ most of the time. For this summer in the Balkans, we'll also be taking along a "Juice Booster", which allows us to charge up to 11kW by asking a business, garage or factory to lend us its industrial socket. This will serve as a tranquillizer, which we certainly won't need, as even in Romania and Bulgaria, recharging networks are surprisingly well-developed!

Were your plans confirmed during the trip?
Everything went off without a hitch. The charging stations were perfectly functional and available.

What were the challenges during the trip?
Getting our Gouda from the Dutch cheese dairy back to Switzerland before it melted in the boot! Otherwise, nothing.

Your biggest moment of doubt with your electric car?
On the way back from Brussels, perhaps crossing the Ardennes into France, where the recharging network was less well supplied. If a charging point hadn't worked, there would have been little plan B... But in this region too, the networks are developing fast!

Your 3 essentials for an electric road trip:

• Installation of a Smartphone route planner for electric cars (I recommend ABRP)
• If possible, 2 or 3 Roaming cards to activate the nearly half a million charging points distributed throughout Switzerland and Europe. Mobility+ and the Shell card are particularly effective.
• On the freeway, drive flexibly and don't always need to air-condition at 18°C - it's better for the environment, your wallet and your range!

Peter Raible, Legal Specialist Nuclear Power/Reserve Power/Hydroelectric Power, bi-national

Car (battery size):
VW ID.3, 58.0 kWh; WLTP range 426 Km

Journey:
Switzerland - North Cape (Norway) and return (10'000 Km).

How did you choose this electric car trip?
Norway is a wonderful country for an extended road trip. Forests, mountains, fjords and remote wildernesses are all served by good quality roads. Norway has one of the most developed recharging networks in the world. Even 30 km from North Cape, you'll find 4 Tesla superchargers accessible to all vehicles.

What planning did you undertake before leaving?
Not all VW ID.3s have sophisticated charge-stop planning software yet. The corresponding updates will not be available until the end of May 2023. That's why I switched to the "A Better Routeplaner" app, which can also be connected (for a fee) to the in-car system (Apple CarPlay / Android Auto). This makes it easy to plan charging stops. I've taken out a subscription with VW (WE Charge Plus), in the hope of getting better conditions for fast charging(We Charge | Digitale Dienste | Volkswagen Schweiz). Ionity is very inexpensive, but you still have to go to Ionity stations. These are very popular, and often have charging jams at key points, such as when crossing the Danish border. You lose too much flexibility if you only want to go to Ionity. That's why, in my opinion, a subscription isn't worth it. What's more, the tariffs are so unclear and transparent that it's too difficult to choose a charging station based on price. I planned from day to day. In Norway, I didn't plan at all. On the roads, you drive slowly (generally at 80 km/h), so you have enough range over a day with the ID.3 to recharge only once.

Was your planning confirmed during the trip?
Yes. With a bit of experience, there's hardly any need for further planning, especially in Norway.

What were the challenges during the trip?
It's more a mental question of fear of not having enough autonomy, not finding a charging station or not being sure that the station you're heading for is working. 99% of the stations worked without a problem. However, patience is sometimes required, and in all cases you need a cell phone with a data option. Sometimes, you need an application to load. It's not always possible to use a credit card only.

Your biggest moment of doubt with your electric car?
I've sometimes run out of range because I've been driving too fast. Reduce speed, relax. It always works out one way or another.

Your 3 essentials for an electric road trip:

• Route-planning application, if not already set up on board.
• Cell phone with data option (beware of roaming)
• Credit card
• Be patient and keep a cool head. There's always a solution.

Patrick Kutschera, Head of SuisseEnergie and family man

Car (battery size):
Tesla Y, 77 kWh

Travel:
South of France (and Groningen/Netherlands)

How did you choose this electric car trip?
We're 4 adults and we wanted to test our electric vehicle's ability to make long journeys. Once in the south and once in the north. On our first trip to the south of France, the car was only 3 weeks old, so we were beginners.

What planning did you undertake before leaving?
Actually, nothing at all, apart from checking whether it was possible to load the car at the hotel.

Was your planning confirmed during the trip?
The car itself planned the route and the loading. We simply relied on technology.

What were the challenges during the trip?
On the way to our destination, our little cravings came faster than the battery drained, and when recharging at the superchargers, our passage to the little corner was slower than the battery refilled. Of course, we also had something to eat and drink. At one stop, there was even a swimming pool. But we didn't have time to enjoy it.

Your biggest moment of doubt with your electric car?
In the south of France, the public slow-charging stations, of which there were many, were regularly occupied by combustion-powered cars. Even at the hotel. We regularly had to fight for a space at reception. The advantage was that we could charge overnight and never had to go to a service station during the day. Unlike more northerly countries like Germany or the Netherlands.

Your 3 essentials for an electric road trip:

• Relax, because recharging is always possible when needed
• Taking charging stops into account, you can reach your destination faster at 120 km/h than at 160 km/h (in Germany only, of course).
• Don't forget that below 50 km/h, you can't hear the EV as well as a combustion vehicle.