“There is nothing scary about France for the intrepid electric car adventurer”rejoices an automotive specialist in the Telegraph after a journey that took him to the French Alps.
Anxious to verify the widespread idea that an electric car, although practical for everyday use, would be a nightmare for long journeys due to the number of stops necessary to recharge the battery, the Briton made a round trip of some 1,770 kilometers in an electric vehicle. “Everyone we spoke to about our adventure agreed that we were brave – at best.”
After a good preparation, noting that, on paper, “France is quite advanced in terms of electric vehicles and charging”and helped by the application indicating Chargemap charging stations, the journalist crossed the English Channel.
Change your way of driving
First observation: “Electric car drivers are second-class citizens.” If France is ahead of its neighbors with its 141,000 sockets on 27,000 locations, the terminals are sinister, far from the store, and often poorly sheltered. Second observation:Not all terminals are equal.” The charging speed varies according to the networks, and when you are in a small corner of rural France, you have to accept that the car battery is only recharged up to 10% when you have had time to take “a long leisurely lunch”. The consequence is that an electric car “changes the way you drive”, because making four to six stops where you used to make two (over a distance that corresponds to half the journey) teaches you to consider breaks differently and to take advantage of them.
In view of the rise in fuel prices, electric is also more economical. And even if the journey is extended by one to two hours, driving, quieter, is much more pleasant, believes the journalist.
If all these arguments do not make him “a proselyte of the electric car”, he recognizes that she has something to seduce. When motorway rest areas have developed many services for customers forced to wait for recharging, he thinks, “Electric cars will make long journeys more relaxed and enjoyable”.