Long distance trip in a BEV - the reality
Discussion
Just came back last Friday from a business trip in the North of Italy to my home near Paris, so I thought I would share the experience. My car is a DS N°8 with a 97 kWh battery and 450 miles of range (best version is 466 but I have the 21" wheels).
Set off with a full battery at 8:00, the sun was shining and I didn"t have many meetings so obviously I decided to do what any sane persone would do : take the scenic road through the Mont Cenis and the col de l'Iseran , adding 3 to 4 hours to the trip. That part of the journey involved a bit of spirited driving, so consumption was quite high but the regen going down helped keeping the average to a very reasonnable 18 kWh/100 km (3,4 mi/kWh) before reaching the motorway near Bourg-en-Bresse.
Took some pictures along the way :
Did a first 25 min charge near Chalon sur Saône after480km while having at late lunch, and a second one 2 hours later. To be honest I could have extended the first charge a little bit and have enough to get home with a reasonable margin, so let's say overall a 35 min charging time for a 850 km trip.
Cost-wise, electricity was around 110€ factoring the initial charge in Italy with a higher price vs. France, so probably 20€ less than a equivalent ICE.
So long story short, BEV long distance trip = it works... providing you have the right car. I wouldn't enjoy to attempt the same trip with a Renault 5 for instance.
Did I miss the thrill of a good ICE when driving in the Alps ? Yes for sure, but this is a company car so it was never going to be a 911 or an M3 anyway. At least the instant torque to pull out of tight corners was nice.
Set off with a full battery at 8:00, the sun was shining and I didn"t have many meetings so obviously I decided to do what any sane persone would do : take the scenic road through the Mont Cenis and the col de l'Iseran , adding 3 to 4 hours to the trip. That part of the journey involved a bit of spirited driving, so consumption was quite high but the regen going down helped keeping the average to a very reasonnable 18 kWh/100 km (3,4 mi/kWh) before reaching the motorway near Bourg-en-Bresse.
Took some pictures along the way :
Did a first 25 min charge near Chalon sur Saône after480km while having at late lunch, and a second one 2 hours later. To be honest I could have extended the first charge a little bit and have enough to get home with a reasonable margin, so let's say overall a 35 min charging time for a 850 km trip.
Cost-wise, electricity was around 110€ factoring the initial charge in Italy with a higher price vs. France, so probably 20€ less than a equivalent ICE.
So long story short, BEV long distance trip = it works... providing you have the right car. I wouldn't enjoy to attempt the same trip with a Renault 5 for instance.
Did I miss the thrill of a good ICE when driving in the Alps ? Yes for sure, but this is a company car so it was never going to be a 911 or an M3 anyway. At least the instant torque to pull out of tight corners was nice.
Lovely pics.
I'm regularly doing Stirling to west Yorkshire, so not anyway near the trip you've just done, but so far just faultless and hassle free.
(Apart from yesterday where my regular charging spot had new chargers being fitted and was closed). Range and charging in UK is just not an issue.
I'm regularly doing Stirling to west Yorkshire, so not anyway near the trip you've just done, but so far just faultless and hassle free.
(Apart from yesterday where my regular charging spot had new chargers being fitted and was closed). Range and charging in UK is just not an issue.
6pi said:
Just came back last Friday from a business trip in the North of Italy to my home near Paris, so I thought I would share the experience. My car is a DS N°8 with a 97 kWh battery and 450 miles of range (best version is 466 but I have the 21" wheels).
Set off with a full battery at 8:00, the sun was shining and I didn"t have many meetings so obviously I decided to do what any sane persone would do : take the scenic road through the Mont Cenis and the col de l'Iseran , adding 3 to 4 hours to the trip. That part of the journey involved a bit of spirited driving, so consumption was quite high but the regen going down helped keeping the average to a very reasonnable 18 kWh/100 km (3,4 mi/kWh) before reaching the motorway near Bourg-en-Bresse.
Took some pictures along the way :
Did a first 25 min charge near Chalon sur Saône after480km while having at late lunch, and a second one 2 hours later. To be honest I could have extended the first charge a little bit and have enough to get home with a reasonable margin, so let's say overall a 35 min charging time for a 850 km trip.
Cost-wise, electricity was around 110 factoring the initial charge in Italy with a higher price vs. France, so probably 20 less than a equivalent ICE.
So long story short, BEV long distance trip = it works... providing you have the right car. I wouldn't enjoy to attempt the same trip with a Renault 5 for instance.
Did I miss the thrill of a good ICE when driving in the Alps ? Yes for sure, but this is a company car so it was never going to be a 911 or an M3 anyway. At least the instant torque to pull out of tight corners was nice.
Lovely picture and a fun road trip. Try the highlands, there are some wonderful trips to be had also. Ouch why was the electricity so much?Set off with a full battery at 8:00, the sun was shining and I didn"t have many meetings so obviously I decided to do what any sane persone would do : take the scenic road through the Mont Cenis and the col de l'Iseran , adding 3 to 4 hours to the trip. That part of the journey involved a bit of spirited driving, so consumption was quite high but the regen going down helped keeping the average to a very reasonnable 18 kWh/100 km (3,4 mi/kWh) before reaching the motorway near Bourg-en-Bresse.
Took some pictures along the way :
Did a first 25 min charge near Chalon sur Saône after480km while having at late lunch, and a second one 2 hours later. To be honest I could have extended the first charge a little bit and have enough to get home with a reasonable margin, so let's say overall a 35 min charging time for a 850 km trip.
Cost-wise, electricity was around 110 factoring the initial charge in Italy with a higher price vs. France, so probably 20 less than a equivalent ICE.
So long story short, BEV long distance trip = it works... providing you have the right car. I wouldn't enjoy to attempt the same trip with a Renault 5 for instance.
Did I miss the thrill of a good ICE when driving in the Alps ? Yes for sure, but this is a company car so it was never going to be a 911 or an M3 anyway. At least the instant torque to pull out of tight corners was nice.
We drove from Ramsgate to just past Lake Como via Switzerland over The Gotthard Pass, came back via Mont Blanc then Geneva to Calais. I only charged at Tesla Superchargers, I wasn't on an economy run and it cost me 195£ total for charging. I didn't think it was that bad. Lovely photos op.
ashenfie said:
Lovely picture and a fun road trip. Try the highlands, there are some wonderful trips to be had also. Ouch why was the electricity so much?
Highlands are great, I did a roadtrip there with my bike some years ago and had a very good time. I may come back with the car one day, the charging network doesn't seem very dense at the moment but that's where having a big range is useful.Regarding costs, AC charging was 73 cts in Italy (so twice the usal price in France...) and highway charging in France 60 cts, so as usual public charging is way more exepensive than domestic charging. However I could have gotten the prices down with a subscription and/or chosing the right energy providers, but as the trip was on expenses I didn't bother.
reefer110 said:
Funny, don't recall where the OP suggested you couldn't do decent miles in a diesel. Odd how these threads have the abilty to attract the hard of thinking 
Indeed, Diesel will always have the edge regarding overall range but as long as I can complete a full day of driving without hassle I don't really care. And regarding depreciation, if we compare comparable things, not sure a brand new big diesel is completely depreciation-free nowadays.Good effort OP.
I did my first 'long' journey in my EV the other weekend. From Hampshire over to the Spa circuit in Belgium.
I just did my usual 'find a charger where you are going to be stopping anyway' routine, and charged at the Channel Tunnel, some random motorway services when we stopped for lunch, a supermarket in Verviers (loading up on beer) and then on the way back at another supermarket (more beer purchases) in Waterloo en route to checking out the battlefield, and again at the French side of the Channel.
Zero waiting about, and I don't think the car ever got below 40% full.
There even was a charger in the village we were staying, but I didn't need to use it.
I did my first 'long' journey in my EV the other weekend. From Hampshire over to the Spa circuit in Belgium.
I just did my usual 'find a charger where you are going to be stopping anyway' routine, and charged at the Channel Tunnel, some random motorway services when we stopped for lunch, a supermarket in Verviers (loading up on beer) and then on the way back at another supermarket (more beer purchases) in Waterloo en route to checking out the battlefield, and again at the French side of the Channel.
Zero waiting about, and I don't think the car ever got below 40% full.
There even was a charger in the village we were staying, but I didn't need to use it.
I’m glad it went well, it can be done and I’ve done the following amongst other journeys when I had my two Taycans:
West Sussex to Zurich (in one drive)
West Sussex to Copenhagen via Hamburg (two days) and then back and boy were the Autobahns fun! (Did this journey twice and I think I documented one run on PH many moons ago)
West Sussex to Zurich in one day and then back home in one day.
West Sussex to Zurich in one day and then onto Barcelona the next day
Barcelona to West Sussex back home overnight in one drive (over 1000 miles)
Over the course of three years I covered around 60,000 miles in my two Taycans around the UK and Europe and anyone who suggests you can’t do a long journey in an EV isn’t trying hard enough.
I’ve always found the charging network excellent and with the free Porsche charging card I paid no more than £0.30kWh on any charger regardless of speed or supplier
The Barcelona home run last November was also done with faulty pcm software so I simply stopped every 150-175 miles for a quick top up to make sure I didn’t run out of juice - that meant was a total pain ITA but it worked.
West Sussex to Zurich (in one drive)
West Sussex to Copenhagen via Hamburg (two days) and then back and boy were the Autobahns fun! (Did this journey twice and I think I documented one run on PH many moons ago)
West Sussex to Zurich in one day and then back home in one day.
West Sussex to Zurich in one day and then onto Barcelona the next day
Barcelona to West Sussex back home overnight in one drive (over 1000 miles)
Over the course of three years I covered around 60,000 miles in my two Taycans around the UK and Europe and anyone who suggests you can’t do a long journey in an EV isn’t trying hard enough.
I’ve always found the charging network excellent and with the free Porsche charging card I paid no more than £0.30kWh on any charger regardless of speed or supplier
The Barcelona home run last November was also done with faulty pcm software so I simply stopped every 150-175 miles for a quick top up to make sure I didn’t run out of juice - that meant was a total pain ITA but it worked.
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