Travel hints
Here you'll find some lessons I learned while travelling around western Europe in 2022 and 2023. I did these trips solo, in a small EV in France, Spain and Italy, so they won't be universally applicable.
- Be on the lookout for "charging deserts", which occur in many countries, often in areas which are quite beautiful or useful for transit. Central France is a good example. When looking at some maps, it seems covered but single locations with large icons can seem very map-filling.
- You'll regret charging one time. too many much less than chargin one time to little.
- Never rely on the avialiability of inner-city charging points, especially in cities where parking is highly contested. Rome is an example for this: A free charging spot on the map will likely be occupied by another car which is not charging.
- Points listed as "freely accessible" often ignore traffic limitation zones like italian ZTLs. You *will* need to cross reference between maps.
- Charging spots are usually not very social. Don't expect many conversations outside of talking about the pros and cons of EVs.
- Elevation changes can mess with your range significantly and make you feel like you are about to get stuck: When going up a long incline, e.g. when traversing Switzerland, your battery will seem to evaporate. If you can make it over the top though, the descent will likely keep you at constant SOC over a long distance. Using planners like ABRP which take elevation into consideration is critical when planning these trips.
- Speed is the main killer for range: 120km/h instead of 130km/h already gets you further, dropping to 110 or 100 on highways is almost "free" in terms of time, since it can allow you to skip one charge. Even better, sticking to slow national roads is very scenic and extends range a lot.
- Travelling will not make you happy all of the sudden. It's stressful and things will go wrong. If you are dissatisfied at home, after a few days on the road you might be just as dissatisfied in a different place. However, seeing new places and keeping up a pace between those can be a good distraction and offers
- Areas without any fast chargers are traversable too: Sardinia for example seems to lack quick chargers in most places, however the predominant "slow roads" and high density of interesting places make them superflous. If you can make it to slow chargers and spend some time nearby, they are sufficient. When leaving these areas, ideally leave on a full battery.