Charging on European Ferries

jackie · May 10, 2014

Thought it was time I posted my experience with charging on ferries to/from the UK and any charging possibilities.
So far I have the following:

1. P&O Ferries Europort to Hull
Crossing takes approximately 15 hours so charging on the boat is useful.
Two boats currently on this route, Pride of Hull and Pride of Rotterdam
I mention this as the UMC will only work on the Pride of Hull.
The Pride of Rotterdam has centre tapped earth which the current UMC does not support.
You will need a plug conversion as the sockets on both boats are the small blue 3 pin 16amp single phase.
You need to turn it down to 10amp otherwise it will drop out during the voyage.
I found it best to book with priority loading so they can find you a space next to a socket.
However on Pride of Hull you do loose the priority offloading as their sockets are not in the priority area of the car deck.

2. P&O Ferries Calais to Dover
Crossing takes about one and half hours so charging on the boat is not very useful.
No charging on board.

3. Eurotunnel (not a ferry but a way across the Channel :wink

No charging either at the terminal or on board the trains
Actual crossing takes about 35 minutes so charging on train is not very useful.
I always book for "higher than 1.85m" so I get a place in the wider carriage as the normal carriage is only just wider than the Model S.

Please add your experiences of charging on-board ferries in Europe to this thread.

Hans69 · May 10, 2014

Hi Jackie,

Great initiative! I'm this weekend in Mallorca (Ferry Barcelona - La Palma) - and noticed just a Tesla here - he probably charged on the ferry - I'm currently looking around to see if i can have a chat with this guy. Maybe we have to create an online Excel sheet with the info, containing: Ferry Company | Route From-To | Vessel Name | Available charging options | Instruction to reserve parking space | Link

ZBB · May 10, 2014

Why not use Plugshare instead of creating a spreadsheet?

Just put the marker on the route line at each port --and include info in the details...

fredag · May 10, 2014

A self-converted EV started a fire while charging onboard the ferry Pearl of Scandinavia between Copenhagen and Oslo in 2010. Thus, ever since, charging has not been allowed on large ferries between Norway and Denmark/Germany. Although the cause of the fire was officially never found.

http://www.vg.no/forbruker/reise/reiseliv/forbyr-elbil-lading-paa-fergene/a/10019100/

Some domestic ferries allows charging in both Norway and Denmark. But typically, if you call ahead and ask to reserve an outlet for charging, you will just be told that EVs are not allowed to charge while on board.

dpeilow · May 27, 2014

Irish ferries have J1772 charging on some of their ships to the UK and to France.

Electric Cars | Irish Ferries

Daniel74 reported that he was allowed to charge on the ferry between Portsmouth and Bilbao. I'd also like to know if their other routes are covered.

Bladerunner · Mar 19, 2017

Does anyone have on update on charging policies on ferries? Would be especially interested about possibilities in the Mediterranean
sea (from/to Sardinia/Corsica or to Patras/Greece).

Thanks for any info or pointers!

arnis · Apr 1, 2017

Electricity on ships is generated from diesel. Never going to be a cheap nor clean idea

"Roubi" · Jul 9, 2018

Hi everyone,
The crossing from Ancona, Italy to Patras, Greece take 24 hours
Answering to "arnis" anyway the ferry runs on diesel for the 24 hours and there no supercharger station nor near Ancona (80k away) and nor in Patras( soon in Athens 250k away) so it is ot a matter of cheap or clean it is a necessity.!!
However most ferries and ships have generators who produce 3 phase current and have no negative (neutral)!!! only positive and earth and the single phase comes out of the difference between each phase as a consequence the TESLA software does not allow you to charge at all!!.as it does not "see" negative.
I tried both single phase 16 AMPS single phase 32 (blue socket) AMPS and 3 phase (red socket) 16 AMPS as a result I use the road assistance to take me all the way to Athens were I could charge the car.
If anyone or Tesla know how and if this problem can be solve it will be fantastic as there are 4 Superchargers to be build it Greece but without a solution at the ferries which is MINOAN LINES (Grimaldi Group) or ANEK/SUPERFAST FERRIES, Greecefor TESLA remains of limits. Excpet of course if eventually they have a supercharger station in Patras.
Dennis

arnis · Jul 9, 2018

Rapid charging before boarding should be piece of cake. Boarding takes time. And often people arrive early. So 15 minutes before boarding at the coast.

I do not support any charging onboard ICE ships.

miimura · Jul 9, 2018

"Roubi" said:
Hi everyone,
The crossing from Ancona, Italy to Patras, Greece take 24 hours
Answering to "arnis" anyway the ferry runs on diesel for the 24 hours and there no supercharger station nor near Ancona (80k away) and nor in Patras( soon in Athens 250k away) so it is ot a matter of cheap or clean it is a necessity.!!
However most ferries and ships have generators who produce 3 phase current and have no negative (neutral)!!! only positive and earth and the single phase comes out of the difference between each phase as a consequence the TESLA software does not allow you to charge at all!!.as it does not "see" negative.
I tried both single phase 16 AMPS single phase 32 (blue socket) AMPS and 3 phase (red socket) 16 AMPS as a result I use the road assistance to take me all the way to Athens were I could charge the car.
If anyone or Tesla know how and if this problem can be solve it will be fantastic as there are 4 Superchargers to be build it Greece but without a solution at the ferries which is MINOAN LINES (Grimaldi Group) or ANEK/SUPERFAST FERRIES, Greecefor TESLA remains of limits. Excpet of course if eventually they have a supercharger station in Patras.
Dennis

If you read the 3-Phase Wall Connector manual, you can see that it can support many different grid types. It sounds like the ferry power is three phase delta since you said that the single phase power is the difference between each leg. See diagram below, taken from the Tesla 3-Phase Wall Connector manual.

In this diagram, the source voltage between L3 and L1 is 230VAC and L3 and L2 is 230VAC. That is the voltage that the WC wants between N and L1/L2/L3 on its input terminals, so this connection method works to provide 2-phase power. At 16 amps, this would provide 16A * 230V * 2ph = 7.4kW charging. In theory, you don't have to use a Wall Connector and you could make your own pigtail adapter to put between the ship and your Mobile Connector's Red adapter. Of course, you would have to bring a volt meter to measure the voltage difference between the pins on the ship power socket to verify your connection scheme before using it.

arg · Jul 10, 2018

Caution! If the ferry could 400V phase-phase rather than the 230V phase-phase that the manual is talking about, especially if it is on the common 4-pin red sockets

. You can't charge from such a supply at all, and risk damage if you try.

If it is indeed 230V phase-to-phase, it's not the car that won't charge (when wired as single phase), rather the Mobile Connector that is rejecting the un-earthed supply. Tesla sell a different model Mobile Connector in Norway where such supplies are common.

You could make your own by putting a plug on a Wall Connector, but duplicating that wiring on a pigtail to the standard Mobile Connector is unlikely to work. The Mobile Connector is looking for the neutral and earth being around the same voltage.

Do be careful with any improvised arrangements like this. The reason the Mobile Connector is fussy about earth is that the earth pin is connected to the bodywork of the car. It's tempting to wire "neutral" and "earth" together going to the Mobile Connector, which will make it appear to work, but runs the risk of the bodywork being at a high voltage and causing injury.

Ausy · Jul 10, 2018

jackie said:
3. Eurotunnel (not a ferry but a way across the Channel :wink
No charging either at the terminal or on board the trains

There are superchargers at both Folkstone and Calais at the Terminals. I travelled to Germany from the UK a few weeks ago.

Lasairfion · Aug 2, 2018

arnis said:
I do not support any charging onboard ICE ships.

What about all the chargers powered by nuclear, gas or coal plants?

arnis · Aug 4, 2018

Lasairfion said:
What about all the chargers powered by nuclear, gas or coal plants?

I do support. Modern coal plant is much much more efficient (than relatively tiny diesel engine) and way cleaner (than diesel engine exhaust that is pretty much untreated and even contains sulfur (except Baltic Sea AFAIK)). Gas generator is very clean burning. Nuclear cycle is pretty much emissionless. Building the station is the worst part.

ICE ships would charge EV's at worse efficiency than diesel generator in the trunk.

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Charging on European Ferries

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