Road Trip - Charging in France & Spain

[YoungDavid]

I'm driving to France (near Arras) on Saturday (all a bit last minute so there's not a lot of time to guarantee getting a ChargeMap (or other) pass in time).
I'll probably be OK with Superchargers (there's 4 within 35 miles but none within 30) so it'd be good to have a trickle option at the cottage.

Are there any Apps that don't need a card being posted out?

Will a standard travel adaptor and the UK three pin work OK (albeit slowly)? My adaptor says 7.5Amp and there might need to be a 10Amp extension lead too. I'm hoping the car (2016 S) will figure it all out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mrklaw]

Heading to France and Switzerland in a couple of months. Is it worth getting adapters for the tesla UMC or just rely on Superchargers and destination chargers? there are plenty of SCs on the way but was thinking if any overnight stops don’t have proper chargers it might be handy to use AC sockets to charge overnight but we wouldn’t go often - how often have you found you needed them?


Vignette for Switzerland - costs almost as much to deliver as to buy. Is it better to just get it at the border?

 

[Derek25]

I'm driving to France (near Arras) on Saturday (all a bit last minute so there's not a lot of time to guarantee getting a ChargeMap (or other) pass in time).
I'll probably be OK with Superchargers (there's 4 within 35 miles but none within 30) so it'd be good to have a trickle option at the cottage.

Are there any Apps that don't need a card being posted out?

Will a standard travel adaptor and the UK three pin work OK (albeit slowly)? My adaptor says 7.5Amp and there might need to be a 10Amp extension lead too. I'm hoping the car (2016 S) will figure it all out.

Thanks in advance.

Try Pass Pass Charging your vehicle - Pass Pass Électrique

 

[Adopado]

I'm driving to France (near Arras) on Saturday (all a bit last minute so there's not a lot of time to guarantee getting a ChargeMap (or other) pass in time).
I'll probably be OK with Superchargers (there's 4 within 35 miles but none within 30) so it'd be good to have a trickle option at the cottage.

Are there any Apps that don't need a card being posted out?

Will a standard travel adaptor and the UK three pin work OK (albeit slowly)? My adaptor says 7.5Amp and there might need to be a 10Amp extension lead too. I'm hoping the car (2016 S) will figure it all out.

Thanks in advance.

If you use an extension you should use one that's rated for 13amps and is preferably "heavy duty". However ... you will have Gen 1 UMC if it's a 2016 car ... ideally you would use the appropriate UMC adapter for the sockets you will be using in France ... but Gen 1 stuff will be a challenge to source I would have thought.

 

[Mr H]

Heading to France and Switzerland in a couple of months. Is it worth getting adapters for the tesla UMC or just rely on Superchargers and destination chargers? there are plenty of SCs on the way but was thinking if any overnight stops don’t have proper chargers it might be handy to use AC sockets to charge overnight but we wouldn’t go often - how often have you found you needed them?


Vignette for Switzerland - costs almost as much to deliver as to buy. Is it better to just get it at the border?

2.50 Euro for postage at www.tolltickets.com

I’ve used them for years and never had an issue, just ordered an Austrian one for the summer

 

[YoungDavid]

If you use an extension you should use one that's rated for 13amps

Try Pass Pass Charging your vehicle - Pass Pass Électrique

Thanks, both. I had been on Pass Pass but not spotted the 'occasional user' bit and I'll dig out a fatter piece of string

Five and a half years as a Tesla owner and I'm still a noobie

 

[NewbieT]

Try the chargepoint App ‎ChargePoint®. It gives you an RFID token in Apple Wallet so no need for a physical card. Also has App initiation option too. Seems to have all of the www.freshmile.com charger points.

If your Gen 1 has a 16A commando, see about getting one of these Camping adaptors - (UK, Europe & Scandinavian options).

There is another thread worth a brief read Alternative to Tesla Schuko Adapter? The Amazon £10 adapter is rated 13A and available next day.

 

[NewbieT]

Just keep in mind that live and neutral are often wired in reversed in the EU which I think causes the UMC to throw a fault. The commando adapter option has the option to use a screwdriver to swap the pins over in the Schuko adapter (if you feel competent to do so).

 

[WannabeOwner]

Will a standard travel adaptor and the UK three pin work OK

Personally I wouldn't rely on it [for continuous draw of high current]. I'd either get the UMC Schuko adapter (but perhaps not enough time before Saturday departure) or a robust Schuko-to-13AMP adapter e.g. from ToughLeads as they probably have next-day delivery - they do Schuko to Commando (if already you have the 16A Commando adapter for UMC - as that would give you 16AMP charging rather than 13AMP), or Schuko to 13AMP and then use regular 13 AMP plug on UMC - they have a cheaper indoor-only variant too, and a variety of other combinations. Some variation on Schuko for various countries, and the risk that a French property has the mains wires back-to-front (Live and Neutral reversed) so beware of that in domestic situations.

Might be worth getting a robust extension lead too - in which case Schuko-to-13AMP might be better choice for Adaptor + Extension lead + UMC

Is it worth getting adapters for the tesla UMC

I did, for convenience and ease of packing!, but an adaptor would do as well (links above)

I take the view that I will use Superchargers predominantly. Latterly I have found that rather too many Destination Chargers were out of action (e.g. checking on PlugShare)- maybe the landlords that put them in in the first place are finding they don't bring as much custom as initially expected (Tesla had a big push offering free "kit" to such establishments)

I carry local adapter and a high quality, over-spec, extension cable ... so if I find there is a household mains socket available I can charge and not have to worry about where I might then find a local charging source. As time passes "local charging sources" get better and better of course, and my approach maybe coloured by how things were 5 years ago when we first started venturing across France all-electric.

 

[thewishy]

Seconded for tough leads, they sorted me out with a very fast turnaround.

If you have an Octopus electric juice card, that allegedly works with freshmiles as a roaming partner. I'll be able to confirm that in a couple of weeks when I go there. I also have a freshmiles card (Before I noticed roaming), and superchargers / destination chargers will work as a fallback...
The freshmiles app can also start *some* chargers over the app

 

[eight]

I've done Manchester to the Algarve 100% on Superchargers - no problems at all other than a wrong turn in Bordeaux that made us panic. If a site is down the car will reroute you.
We charge in Portugal using a cheapo 2-pin euro socket adapter and a 10m long cable'd brick charger from Screwfix with the car turned down to 8 amps - no problems there either even in July temperatures.
Note France now has Crit Air zones in inner cities - you need a speshul stiker to make le air in cities happy. If it hasn't arrived by the time you leave a hard copy of the order email is apparently proof enough that you care about the planet. Or something. Not tried it ourselves yet.
We have Emovis tags for France/Spain/PT - well worth having toll tags of any form as it makes things much much easier at toll booths especially as they all drive on the wrong side of the road.

 

[dcsh]

If you have an Octopus electric juice card, that allegedly works with freshmiles as a roaming partner. I'll be able to confirm that in a couple of weeks when I go there. I also have a freshmiles card (Before I noticed roaming), and superchargers / destination chargers will work as a fallback...
The freshmiles app can also start *some* chargers over the app

Looks like Octopus Electric Juice have quite a few European networks included Electric Juice Network | Frequently asked questions
Sign up is super easy if you are already an Octopus Energy customer, just a couple of clicks and the card is on its way with any charge cost added to my home electricity bill. Can’t wait to try it.

 

[NewbieT]

Watch out using contactless in France. Cable got locked in a Type 2 charge point and the call centre 08 number didn’t work on a UK phone. Def. use an app or RFID card to initiate and stop charging.

 

[M3noob]

We have Emovis tags for France/Spain/PT - well worth having toll tags of any form as it makes things much much easier at toll booths especially as they all drive on the wrong side of the road.

We went with Emovis as they take UK bank accounts/cards. Later, we moved to Ulys by Vinci which works in both France and Spain but needs an EU bank account. It's cheaper and they have a per-trip motorway rescue package that is inexpensive (as opposed to expensive recovery)

YMMV

 

[M3noob]

You can charge your Tesla at Chateau MontPlaisir thanks to our destination charging service. For Tesla drivers, it is easier than ever to visit, taste our production of wine, enjoy the sunset on the terrace around the swimming pool, and stay in one of our rooms at the bed and breakfast!

You are now in our stopover plans. We are big fans of GSM wines and viognier and picpoul ;-)