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Travelling around Paris - East/West and charging?
- Thread starter spon88
- Start date
On our last Bruges trip we were straight on. This time around, we got the last spot and then a large influx of EVs came in right behind us - chaos in the front row with maybe 6 or 7 cars parked up kerbside. My other half and one of the other drivers assumed traffic warden duties and managed to smooth it out a bit. Luck of the draw I guess. The Calais side is better organised with plenty of adjacent parking if you do end up waiting (note - only when you've checked in on the return run). We did notice that the non-Tesla charging infrastructure French side looked quite well-established, although we didn't use it - possibly we would next time. Overall plenty of options and nothing to fear with a bit of forward planning. The chargers at Vierzon were great - under canopies with solar overhead. My Y in the foreground.
Mr H
Active Member
I've used it a few times, it's in a hotel car park and not too difficult to find. Have a laugh at the satnav as it announces to turn onto 'avenue de long pisses' lol
0:49 here to see what it looks like
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Yes, in my experience its busy. Few stalls, first one from the Chunnel (popular therefore), nothing to do in the vicinity (the path to the hotel was intimidating), and its an old type so 150kW and if both A/B stalls occupied they "share". Hence my earlier Ionity suggestion (although I've never used Ionity ...)
Having had to queue, and then slow charge, at Maidstone SC we now charge enough at French Chunnel to avoid having to stop at Maidstone SC (on way home), even if we miss a train ...
... so my preference would be to avoid it on way out! But if you have juice, are passing anyway, and dashboard says it is empty then you could top up. (But its a little bit off the motorway)
That's the case for both ends of the Chunnel, SC is between Check-in and Passports.
There are an additional couple of stalls at Flexi departure lounge (French side only), which has the benefit of being air-side of Passports (so easier to charge until last moment before sprinting for train!)
Also, if wanting to have enough charge to avoid e.g. Maidstone as soon as arrive in UK, then can sit in comfort whilst the car is charging.
But now that is open-to-all I don't know if it will be such a good choice.
Mr H
Active Member
I'll ask when i find a mirror
. The charger in the video is the Coquelles one, the satnav takes you there quite easily, i posted the video as merely a bit of help because the first time i drove right by the hotel entranceGroan - I hadn't realised they've now opened the Channel Tunnel chargers to non-Tesla as well. Heading out on Saturday morning for our hols. We've been driving for our summer/ski holidays in our Model S since 2018 and one of the key benefits has been that the Tesla chargers were never fully loaded, so we've never had to queue to charge at the channel either side. I can understand why Tesla have opened up the chargers to non-Tesla, but frankly for me it was/is one of the big selling points of the Tesla when I bought it - having a simple charging infrastructure that worked that I could plan around easily. If I can now access that with any EV, and don't get the benefit of not having to queue for stalls, I'm not sure I'd buy a Tesla when I come to replace this one.
Was it completely full though? Have never experienced it.
Normally, as they also have non-Tesla chargers just across the Terminal now, I thought that the premium price Tesla charges for non-owners would deter them into using the other chargepoints. (That's the Tesla owner incentive now, btw, approx 10p/kWh less)
Not been to the Eurotunnel since they became open to all - will let you know after Saturday.
I have experienced other shared SC's being full with queues in France, yes - mostly I've re-routed to avoid queueing whilst looking ahead, so couldn't tell you if they were all Tesla's queueing or a mix - but the one time I couldn't avoid stopping to charge whilst it was nearly all Tesla's, there were a couple of other EVs taking up slots.
Perhaps I've just been spoilt, but when I started road trips to Europe there were always slots, and my car charged fast. Now with Chargegate and SC being open to all it just makes it a bit more of an effort than it initially felt - but it's possibly just that there's loads more Tesla's now the 3 and Y are about, rather than it being non-Tesla EVs.
Worse is that you have people charging there with wrong side of the port, meaning that 2 stalls are occupied instead of one...
coquelles or whatever it is called in Callais is also fills up very quickly after train arrives. So while traveling to Spain, plan stopping at Boulogne-su-Mer
Thanks for the heads up - I think I'll drive slowly to Folkestone then to ensure I've got enough battery for the extra distance to Boulogne-su-Mer
Calais EuroTunnel will be fine. Shame they’re shared v2 units but not worth upgrading for how busy they get most of the year.
The Engie units opposite have the advantage of not pairing the supplies. Downside is they don’t take contactless (yet) and are no longer on Electroverse (was 0.33p/kWh). They are on Shell Recharge (0.52p/kWh).
Coquelle is also slow V2. If you don’t want to risk My preference would be Coquelle Ionity or FastNed on the autoroute.
The Engie units opposite have the advantage of not pairing the supplies. Downside is they don’t take contactless (yet) and are no longer on Electroverse (was 0.33p/kWh). They are on Shell Recharge (0.52p/kWh).
Coquelle is also slow V2. If you don’t want to risk My preference would be Coquelle Ionity or FastNed on the autoroute.
when have they removed them??
I can still see them on the Electroverse app as of this morning. Would be a real shame if it was no longer the case
FlyingTimbo
Member
Returned from a 3 week trip to france and most service stations are well equiped with Ionity or Total Energies chargers. So when there are no Superchargers there are good alternatives.
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