London to Paris EV Rally
Discussion
Driving abroad? The European charging network is really good in most places 
If you meant fear of driving on the 'wrong' side, that's easy and becomes natural very quickly. but fear of French drivers is justified - just always let them go first and give them plenty of space, otherwise they have habit of crashing into you a bit and then shouting at you a lot before driving off again.
In Paris I once saw a Peugeot dealership where they had lined the cars up on the front, to make more space they had driven each of the new cars onto a high kerb and scratched/cracked the front bumpers. Brand new pre-crashed cars!
If you meant fear of driving on the 'wrong' side, that's easy and becomes natural very quickly. but fear of French drivers is justified - just always let them go first and give them plenty of space, otherwise they have habit of crashing into you a bit and then shouting at you a lot before driving off again.
In Paris I once saw a Peugeot dealership where they had lined the cars up on the front, to make more space they had driven each of the new cars onto a high kerb and scratched/cracked the front bumpers. Brand new pre-crashed cars!
anonymous said:
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To be honest, it's not really a cross country road trip car... And I expect that charging every couple of hours isn't going to make the rally that great because most will be in longer range EV's. You'll feel like you're slipping back, not making new friends that you see at each stop and have a laugh with.On the plus side, whatever EV you drive, if the rally is popular enough it'll probably attract some really exciting EV's that will be showing off... I expect a few car YouTubers will document it too.
Short term lease of a taycan would be a good shout! Or lower down, a decent EV6, maybe even the GT.
anonymous said:
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That's more interesting already!You know what... You want to do it, so either you will or you'll regret it. Just do it and blog on a thread on here about the experience
You can tell us about the entire experience, show the daft cars which rock up, maybe even encourage other nervous EV drivers that the maximum range of their car isn't a limit in terms of how far they can actually travel without having a panic attack
Are there events hosted along the way? I see there's a load of sponsors so I assume they'll lay some PR stuff on.
ettore said:
TheDeuce said:
Not half as interesting as your post though.
Possibly, but is this the limit of human endeavour. It’s hardly Alcock & Brown is it?They're just a jolly, a bit of fun.
359 miles is hardly pushing the boundaries of human endurance 
London to Edinburgh is 406 miles
And it's split over two days, so only 180 miles per day, a bit of a joke, really.
It looks like some of the cars might be home builds which would be quite cool, but doing it in a typical off-the-shelf EV, would be very dull.
London to Edinburgh is 406 miles
And it's split over two days, so only 180 miles per day, a bit of a joke, really.
It looks like some of the cars might be home builds which would be quite cool, but doing it in a typical off-the-shelf EV, would be very dull.
anonymous said:
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None I would think, you can make a trip like that in an ICE without any planning or range anxiety anonymous said:
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That bit I get 
anonymous said:
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Go for it then, the BMW won't be a problem at all; if you can't make it in that, then what hope does the EV have as a replacement for ICE.If you do go, report back and let us know how it goes
Keep us updated on how you get on.
I'll be doing Amsterdam to Venice (ferry from Newcastle over night) in a day in my model Y (appreciate quite a difference in range). I'll be using Tesla superchargers, but given these seem to be generally off the main motorways I can see that becoming a pain fairly quickly.
I'll be doing Amsterdam to Venice (ferry from Newcastle over night) in a day in my model Y (appreciate quite a difference in range). I'll be using Tesla superchargers, but given these seem to be generally off the main motorways I can see that becoming a pain fairly quickly.
ZiggyNiva said:
Keep us updated on how you get on.
I'll be doing Amsterdam to Venice (ferry from Newcastle over night) in a day in my model Y (appreciate quite a difference in range). I'll be using Tesla superchargers, but given these seem to be generally off the main motorways I can see that becoming a pain fairly quickly.
Keen to hear more, too!I'll be doing Amsterdam to Venice (ferry from Newcastle over night) in a day in my model Y (appreciate quite a difference in range). I'll be using Tesla superchargers, but given these seem to be generally off the main motorways I can see that becoming a pain fairly quickly.
I think off-motorway is a (minor) pain only in France or Italy with the extra toll-booth visits, but I assume the bulk of your driving would be through countries with no tolls? No first-hand experience from Germany yet, will be wiser next month.
We have done Amsterdam-Geneva (starting in the afternoon - and almost immediately stopping for long lunch...) and Zadar-Geneva (with a similar lack of focus). The extra 200-300km might require more discipline, but hopefully no masochism.
I think it's very obvious that this particular rally is a bit.. short. And of course that opens up mockery of the range limitations of EV and charge times...
What's also very obvious however is that several members of this small forum subsection fairly frequently traverse Europe in EV's and actually don't struggle at all.
I have never struggled personally, just accept the need to charge and find an interesting place to charge at. My only wish is that this rally was a little more ambitious for the sake of proving that a rag tag mix of EV drivers can all perfectly well cope with getting far further than Paris without tears
Enjoy the experience!
What's also very obvious however is that several members of this small forum subsection fairly frequently traverse Europe in EV's and actually don't struggle at all.
I have never struggled personally, just accept the need to charge and find an interesting place to charge at. My only wish is that this rally was a little more ambitious for the sake of proving that a rag tag mix of EV drivers can all perfectly well cope with getting far further than Paris without tears
Enjoy the experience!
This would be far more interesting ... https://acm.mc/en/edition/6e-e-rallye-monte-carlo/...
I'll be there at Madeira Drive during the day helping on one of the stands and will be doing the rally itself from Brighton to Paris. Looking forward to it, I think it'll be a fun day.
I don't think the aim of the rally is to set a truly challenging goal, but even driving to Paris will help dispel some myths amongst people who think that EVs really aren't capable of more than a run to the shops.
OP - try to register for the charging in Brighton (it's limited) if you'd like to aim to set off for Paris on a full battery, you'd probably only need to have a very short stop en route in order to get there.
I don't think the aim of the rally is to set a truly challenging goal, but even driving to Paris will help dispel some myths amongst people who think that EVs really aren't capable of more than a run to the shops.
OP - try to register for the charging in Brighton (it's limited) if you'd like to aim to set off for Paris on a full battery, you'd probably only need to have a very short stop en route in order to get there.
anonymous said:
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Thinking on this point, arriving with a full charge...Are there chargers on car ferries these days? Seems the perfect place because they have a captive customer, the car is parked up anyway, no shortage of power.. anyone with an EV would probably pay over the odds for the convenience alone.
anonymous said:
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Weird, seems like quite an obvious place to put chargers. I bet if you fitted ten chargers on an overnight ferry, that many people (easily) would be prepared to pay a high ££ rate to use them for the sake of arriving overseas and immediately looking around for a charger, and the subsequent pause in their on going journey.Love the idea of vintage conversions / restomods taking part. Having been though France in some classics it’s not always the range that determines the stops anyway.
Do find it slightly amusing that, if my memory serves me correctly, I sponsored a friend to do this - on a bicycle.
All depends on whether it’s about the journey or the destination. Journey back from last summers holidays was around 700 miles. Easily done in a day in an ICE car, less so in an EV.
Do find it slightly amusing that, if my memory serves me correctly, I sponsored a friend to do this - on a bicycle.
All depends on whether it’s about the journey or the destination. Journey back from last summers holidays was around 700 miles. Easily done in a day in an ICE car, less so in an EV.
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