Where are all the EVs? My trip to the South of France
Discussion
Evening all,
Genuinely surprised. Prior to leaving on my trip I was ready to trade my A4 diesel in for a Q4 on my return.
I have seen less than 10 EVs on my trip, one to be fair was towing a caravan, to the South of France and those that I have seen are trundling along at c60 mph with the lorries whist the rest of the traffic is crusing at 80-85mph (even horsebox lorries and large vans, which made me chuckle inside vs how i am used to seeing traffic flow in the UK). I haven't travelled in Europe by car for 5 years but it is now a holiday style we will continue due to kids and dog accessibility.
Charges were hit and miss in terms of being out of order though to be fair I only stopped 3 times on the way down. I am sure there are charging super stations, though given the lack of EVs I have seen I'm not sure whether they exist.
Is it the higher average motorway speed that drives people to stay ICE? I'm sure 85 ish mph will ruin the range and end up costing a lot more on both time and money on public charge stations.
I am not anti EV, still makes a lot of sense for a second car and much of UK travel where home charging is available. Just surprised at what I have seen on my trip. I think I will hang on to my diesel as the main family car long distance car for a little longer but still change our 1.0 petrol Q2 to an EV as it makes a lot of sense for school runs and my wife's commuting.
Genuinely surprised. Prior to leaving on my trip I was ready to trade my A4 diesel in for a Q4 on my return.
I have seen less than 10 EVs on my trip, one to be fair was towing a caravan, to the South of France and those that I have seen are trundling along at c60 mph with the lorries whist the rest of the traffic is crusing at 80-85mph (even horsebox lorries and large vans, which made me chuckle inside vs how i am used to seeing traffic flow in the UK). I haven't travelled in Europe by car for 5 years but it is now a holiday style we will continue due to kids and dog accessibility.
Charges were hit and miss in terms of being out of order though to be fair I only stopped 3 times on the way down. I am sure there are charging super stations, though given the lack of EVs I have seen I'm not sure whether they exist.
Is it the higher average motorway speed that drives people to stay ICE? I'm sure 85 ish mph will ruin the range and end up costing a lot more on both time and money on public charge stations.
I am not anti EV, still makes a lot of sense for a second car and much of UK travel where home charging is available. Just surprised at what I have seen on my trip. I think I will hang on to my diesel as the main family car long distance car for a little longer but still change our 1.0 petrol Q2 to an EV as it makes a lot of sense for school runs and my wife's commuting.
Last summer when I did Calais to Marciac and back via (3 days each way) mainly on A roads I saw a fair few, mainly Zoes, some Twingos, some Springs (the headlamps make them very obvious when you know what to look for), some Audis, some of the then new Megane. In fact the one EV that was rare to see was actually Tesla. As said though we were taking our time so mainly A and B roads.
Most of France is still diesel-oriented.
They're not as obsessed as we are with having a new flash car.
Business travellers in France often have to cover far greater distances than those in the UK (I had four sales engineers, one of whom covered Paris, and the other three did everywhere else).
I've seen a fair few EVs in the last three or four weeks, but I'd say the majority haven't been French.
They're not as obsessed as we are with having a new flash car.
Business travellers in France often have to cover far greater distances than those in the UK (I had four sales engineers, one of whom covered Paris, and the other three did everywhere else).
I've seen a fair few EVs in the last three or four weeks, but I'd say the majority haven't been French.
VeeReihenmotor6 said:
Genuinely surprised.
I doubt you were, you are just seeing what you want to see. In, France the EV market share is higher than the UK - do you drive around the UK never seeing an EV also?VeeReihenmotor6 said:
am not anti EV, still makes a lot of sense for a second car and much of UK travel where home charging is available. Just surprised at what I have seen on my trip. I think I will hang on to my diesel as the main family car long distance car for a little longer but still change our 1.0 petrol Q2 to an EV as it makes a lot of sense for school runs and my wife's commuting.
Just to confirm, you were going to buy an EV, but because you didn't see many in one particular country, you are now not going to buy one?VeeReihenmotor6 said:
Evening all,
I am not anti EV, still makes a lot of sense for a second car and much of UK travel where home charging is available. Just surprised at what I have seen on my trip. I think I will hang on to my diesel as the main family car long distance car for a little longer but still change our 1.0 petrol Q2 to an EV as it makes a lot of sense for school runs and my wife's commuting.
3yrs / 60k miles in my EV with 4 EU trips, 2 Austria, 2 Skiing in Alps. If anything the charging network in France / Germany / Austria is better than the UK.I am not anti EV, still makes a lot of sense for a second car and much of UK travel where home charging is available. Just surprised at what I have seen on my trip. I think I will hang on to my diesel as the main family car long distance car for a little longer but still change our 1.0 petrol Q2 to an EV as it makes a lot of sense for school runs and my wife's commuting.
Mostly Tesla EVs in France from my casual observation. Perhaps more NL and B reged EVs on the Autoroutes, though.
An EV would certainly be a tedious way to get to the south of France. Doable for sure but would require a lot of stops. Sitting at around 130-140km/h would not be kind to range. But people do these trips in EVs so I guess it’s just a matter of aligning expectations.
An EV would certainly be a tedious way to get to the south of France. Doable for sure but would require a lot of stops. Sitting at around 130-140km/h would not be kind to range. But people do these trips in EVs so I guess it’s just a matter of aligning expectations.
WestyCarl said:
3yrs / 60k miles in my EV with 4 EU trips, 2 Austria, 2 Skiing in Alps. If anything the charging network in France / Germany / Austria is better than the UK.
Been all over Europe. Aside from Eastern Europe and way down the boot of Italy, the UK isn't great. Also annoying charge card situations.
Evanivitch said:
Are the French still buying mainly French brands?
Most French EVs are shared with ICE platforms so perhaps a little harder to spot in the wild if that's the case.
Renault Megan’s and the Peugeot 208 are top sellers. Most French EVs are shared with ICE platforms so perhaps a little harder to spot in the wild if that's the case.
https://cleantechnica.com/2024/08/04/evs-take-20-8...
I took my EV6 GT down through France last summer to Geneva, then Italy, Austria, Germany and Belgium. Used mainly Ionity chargers and saw plenty of other EVs. I wasn’t hanging about either. Cruising at around the motorway limit including hitting 256km/h on the autobahn. Total journey around 2,700 miles.
Charging times on the Ionity ones was around 20 mins.
Charging times on the Ionity ones was around 20 mins.
Got back last week from spending two weeks down on the Lot, in Occitania.
Took the Kia eNiro, which is far from being the fastest charging car but is pretty efficient. For the whole journey, including the UK side to Le Shuttle, I hit 3.4miles/kWh. This was sat at the speed limits all the way, using the 'smart' cruise control to take the load off the driver to a fair extent. I reckon in total it took us about 1 hour longer than it would have done in a petrol car.
Charging was effortless, other than trying to read the screens in bright sunlight, and I found the Octopus Electroverse card widely accepted.
Lots of EVs, but lots of chargers, so there was only congestion once when we stopped around lunchtime (along with all of France). Rather than queue up I looked on the app, established that there was another bank of Ionity chargers with plenty showing empty about 10km away and scooted there instead.
Just booked next years jaunt which will be to Ile-de-Re, and will definitely be taking the eNiro again.
Took the Kia eNiro, which is far from being the fastest charging car but is pretty efficient. For the whole journey, including the UK side to Le Shuttle, I hit 3.4miles/kWh. This was sat at the speed limits all the way, using the 'smart' cruise control to take the load off the driver to a fair extent. I reckon in total it took us about 1 hour longer than it would have done in a petrol car.
Charging was effortless, other than trying to read the screens in bright sunlight, and I found the Octopus Electroverse card widely accepted.
Lots of EVs, but lots of chargers, so there was only congestion once when we stopped around lunchtime (along with all of France). Rather than queue up I looked on the app, established that there was another bank of Ionity chargers with plenty showing empty about 10km away and scooted there instead.
Just booked next years jaunt which will be to Ile-de-Re, and will definitely be taking the eNiro again.
There seems to be a new thread every couple of months that comments on EV's trundling along at 60mph - I have not yet heard of that practice from any EV drivers on here or outside of the forums. I think in 4.5 years I did once slow down for the sake of stretching a journey so I didn't have to stop to charge - but only because I was nearly home where I can charge. I've done the equivalent in petrol cars to stretch out reaching a local supermarket fuel station for the sake of buying a bottle of wine.
I work in France, Switzerland and Germany often - I see endless EV's, endless charging stations and no greater instances of EV's driving slowly on the highways than at home, or than an ICE cars.
I honestly don't think its a thing that EV drivers are more likely to do that any other driver. I also haven't heard much from actual EV drivers that turn the AC of in the summer or the heater off in the winter... These mileage saving tactics no doubt work in terms of extending range by a small % but... People just don't think like that. In the same way as an ICE car will get an even larger % mpg return by slowing down or turning the heater off, it might be true but who thinks like that when they have a journey to get done..?
The charging network is good in the UK now, even better on the continent ime. Nobody needs to drive slowly for fear of running out of charge.
I work in France, Switzerland and Germany often - I see endless EV's, endless charging stations and no greater instances of EV's driving slowly on the highways than at home, or than an ICE cars.
I honestly don't think its a thing that EV drivers are more likely to do that any other driver. I also haven't heard much from actual EV drivers that turn the AC of in the summer or the heater off in the winter... These mileage saving tactics no doubt work in terms of extending range by a small % but... People just don't think like that. In the same way as an ICE car will get an even larger % mpg return by slowing down or turning the heater off, it might be true but who thinks like that when they have a journey to get done..?
The charging network is good in the UK now, even better on the continent ime. Nobody needs to drive slowly for fear of running out of charge.
Been traveling to south of France and Croatia for years, I've seen a steady uptake.
Especially in Croatia, a lot of stores and supermarkets these days have chargers as well.
Of course, it's all perception, but the sales numbers don't lie.
Here in central Europe it's hard to deny. Nearly every driveway here in my street has an EV at this point.
Especially in Croatia, a lot of stores and supermarkets these days have chargers as well.
Of course, it's all perception, but the sales numbers don't lie.
Here in central Europe it's hard to deny. Nearly every driveway here in my street has an EV at this point.
I don’t have an EV myself but on our recent Euro trip saw plenty of EV’s including a couple of Dutch registered Teslas towing caravans and stopping to charge in Luxembourg.
Talking of chargers, the E Leclerc hypermarket at Champfleury just south of Reims has 2 huge banks of chargers, one Tesla the other Ionity each with around 50 chargers.
Talking of chargers, the E Leclerc hypermarket at Champfleury just south of Reims has 2 huge banks of chargers, one Tesla the other Ionity each with around 50 chargers.
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