The main tip I wanted to share was that Octopus Juice has a partnership with Freshmile, which gives you access to many of the fast (22kw AC) and some supermarket low end rapid chargers (50kw). There is no need to buy a Freshmile RFID (which, unfortunately, I bought before realising octopus covers it - hence the PSA. Only €5...)
- I didn't see an EV charger which I didn't have access to with the octopus electric juice card
- Some also took contactless payment cards, but this was a small minority. For most you will need an RFID
- Octopus Juice doesn't require prepayment, unlike freshmiles. (At least, for me as an electric customer)
- The freshmiles app seems to have the best comments on recent use of the charger, but has no automatic translation. Google also seems to get an automatic feed for available ports, as does the octojuice app. There are some which feeds status to one app, but not others.
- The fast chargers are generally cheap (10-16p/kwh (!)), although electric in France is considerably cheaper than the UK (State owned, large nuclear footprint for baseload) - typically €0.17/kwh
- Interestingly, many of the charging sessions came through as free. While it was hard to work out exactly how much they charged, a number which clearly should have been chargeable came through either immediately or the next day as free. (Including 48kwh from a E.Leclerc 50kw rapid)
- UK Sticker - I bought a green UK sticker to go over the "Green flash" on the standard numberplate via ebay for a couple of quid. If they don't come off, worst case I've minorly damaged an easily replaceable part. I've seen too many UK stickers which leave marks after removal
- Eurotunnel has a pair of free 50kw rapids on the UK side + chargeable superchargers - but as they tend to get you onto a train very quickly, there isn't much charge time available. If you use an automated check-in kiosk, it offers a selection of times. In person they just put you on the next one without asking. So so glad it was eurotunnel not the dover ferry...
- Eurotunnel will consider an M3 as a "large" car, due to clearance. Just go with it I guess..
- When going from the UK to France, the car will take care of most things itself, but you'll want to switch menu -> display -> units to metric
- At the weekend, the fast charge network seems very busy, especially near destinations you might want to leave the car for an hour or two. Less of a problem on weekdays, but still, the infra felt stretched
- Older machines might have type 3 connectors instead of type 2. Deciding that the standard everybody else agreed on isn't good enough because it doesn't have a cover, insisting on your own standard, deploying it, and then quietly adopting the standard while leaving laws in place which the standard doesn't meet is... possibly the most french thing I've ever heard. Anyway, new fast charge posts have 2 x type 2, middle age ones 1 x type 2, 1 x type 3, and old ones 2 x type 3. Generally type 3 is phasing out, so no sense in buying a converter for more than £100...
- Most charge poles also do standard 3kw plugs as well as 22kw. Not a lot of use, except perhaps in an emergency
- The charge points are a little weird in that they have little doors over the charge points which open when you present a valid RFID, presumably an alternative way of meeting the "Plugs must have covers" requirement
- French parking... Oh French parking... Generally if there are other parking bays available, they will avoid ICEing. If it saves the driver walking an additional 20 meters, that charger is going to get ICEd. Seems more of a problem than the UK
- EAP worked pretty well on the french motorway networks
- 130kph chews through far more power than 120kph. ABRP seems to assume 120kph
- The toughleads extension / modular converter limits you to 10a charging rate. If you get a proper EU plug for your UMC then you'll get 13a, but it'll cost you 50 quid, and is only good if the plug is close to your car