Questions re: EU Charging

[Sebbak]

I'm hoping to drive to the Netherlands later this year, and just wondered what the charging situation is over in France, Belgium and Holland? Not so much coverage, as it looks like there's quite a lot along the routes I'll likely be on, but is it a similar situation with lots of different apps for lots of different providers? Or are most of them a simple contactless payment and off you go?

My car isn't superb for range (i5N), so will likely need a few stops while I'm away, but don't really want to download/register on a bunch of new apps, or faff about otherwise, if I don't have to.

I've spotted the fast charging just outside Dover, so that's handy to top up before crossing the water, but are there any particular 'brands' of charger over on there that are generally better than others/working more often than not etc., and conversely any that are almost always out of order or don't provide advertised charging speeds?

Appreciate any info. This will be my first decent trip in the car and my first time driving abroad, so anything that makes life a bit easier would be handy info to know!

[RotorRambler]

Just use the Tesla ones?

Those visible on the app (with no Tesla registered) are open to all.
No subscription required, usually cheapest!

[Sebbak]

RotorRambler said:

Just use the Tesla ones?

Those visible on the app (with no Tesla registered) are open to all.
No subscription required, usually cheapest!

I've not tried any Tesla charging sites yet, good shout. I completely forgot that they're available to other brands of vehicle. To be honest, I've only charged once away from home using public charging, any other time I've done it was via hotel type chargers that are normally just plug and play.

[Maracus]

Tesla have loads of open to all as has already been said. In addition all you need is the Electroverse app/card.

I'm off to the Alps next week, it's my 5th trip to Europe in an EV and charging is easier and a lot cheaper (especially in France).

[Rhonda]

I mainly used IONITY in France, there’s one in Coquelles by the holiday in if you want to charge once you arrive in France. I got a months subscription and was paying 30 euro cents a KW.

[PetrolHeadInRecovery]

Rhonda said:

I mainly used IONITY in France, there’s one in Coquelles by the holiday in if you want to charge once you arrive in France. I got a months subscription and was paying 30 euro cents a KW.

Another vote for IONITY. Most of the Superchargers are 400V, so reportedly painfully slow compared to what the Ioniq 5N can do on a proper 800V charger (this based on over 70,000km on a standard Ioniq 5, IONITY may have covered 50,000 of them).

Fastned is a good alternative if you don't mind paying a bit extra (0.59€/kWh without contract, 0.44€/kWh with the membership).

[Blue62]

Just to clarify, is it the case that you can’t just rock up to any charging station and expect your credit card to be accepted on the continent? I know Tesla opened some of their facilities to non Tesla vehicles, has that now been expanded? I sold my last EV 12 months ago but planning another now and intend to do some Euro trips so would appreciate any advice.

[Rhonda]

Blue62 said:

Just to clarify, is it the case that you can’t just rock up to any charging station and expect your credit card to be accepted on the continent? I know Tesla opened some of their facilities to non Tesla vehicles, has that now been expanded? I sold my last EV 12 months ago but planning another now and intend to do some Euro trips so would appreciate any advice.

Pretty much, yes. Using an Electroverse RFID card is a good option as you normally get a discount. The Tesla app will show charge stations and you can charge and pay via the app with a payment card linked to it. We used a couple of the EI charge points and they accepted Apple Pay from the phone.

[PetrolHeadInRecovery]

Rhonda said:

Blue62 said:

Just to clarify, is it the case that you can’t just rock up to any charging station and expect your credit card to be accepted on the continent? I know Tesla opened some of their facilities to non Tesla vehicles, has that now been expanded? I sold my last EV 12 months ago but planning another now and intend to do some Euro trips so would appreciate any advice.

Pretty much, yes. Using an Electroverse RFID card is a good option as you normally get a discount. The Tesla app will show charge stations and you can charge and pay via the app with a payment card linked to it. We used a couple of the EI charge points and they accepted Apple Pay from the phone.

I would guess you can also get a charging contact and a RFID card from any manufacturer (except Tesla, I'd imagine) to complement Electroverse. I think they share the payment processing system (or systems), so you should get access to about million chargers in Europe with the RFID card. That's what Hyundai offers, with first year price reductions or initial charging credit on the card.

IONITY app saves money, Credit card is a nice backup (ease of use). Should be enough until venturing to via Baltica, and when there apps can just be downloaded on the spot (Greenway had a bit tricky registration, but simple compared to online road toll payment in Hungary ).

PS. Happy to share Bosnia tips, if the Euro trips extend that far!

[RotorRambler]

ABRP nav is pretty good too, subscription to use carplay, £40 a year I think.
It knows my Enyaq battery status & dest charger availability.
Mine is set to only look for Tesla ones.

Eg if I was going to drive now to Arnhem
Screenshot from the app



If I click on the charger on the nav

Edited by RotorRambler on Thursday 14th August 08:33

[Benny Saltstein]

FastNed in the Netherlands is a great charging network, super fast which will suit your I5N and pretty ubiquitous in the lowlands.

ABRP is your friend as well.

[Blue62]

Thanks for the responses, I’m thinking about the ferry to Santander and spending a few days driving around northern Spain before heading south. I’ll check elsewhere, but seems the strong advice is to get an RFUD card and install ABRP.

[Blue62]

Thanks for the responses, I’m thinking about the ferry to Santander and spending a few days driving around northern Spain before heading south. I’ll check elsewhere, but seems the strong advice is to get an RFUD card and install ABRP.

[PetrolHeadInRecovery]

Blue62 said:

Thanks for the responses, I’m thinking about the ferry to Santander and spending a few days driving around northern Spain before heading south. I’ll check elsewhere, but seems the strong advice is to get an RFUD card and install ABRP.

You can get the ChargeMyHyundai card, right? The nice thing about that is that (as far as I have experienced) all the stations you see in the in-car navigation can be accessed by the card.

But 5N has the manual battery preconditioning, right? So you don't have she to use the in-car navigation to optimise charging speed (although pre-heating is unlikely to be needed in summer in Spain anyway).

If I was driving and navigating on my own, I'd probably use the Ionity app route planner, send the route to Google Maps and use the CarPlay.

[Sebbak]

Excellent, appreciate the tips and info all. Got registered on the Electroverse site and have an RFID card on the way.

Regarding the 'FastNed' chargers, it looks like there's one just before the dover terminal that I can (hopefully) blast back up to 80% on while grabbing a last coffee on this side of the water before heading over. 400kW ones too, so that should shove in the energy nice and fast!