French road trip in the Kona using the Tesla Supercharger network

[@alanseetwo9982]

Great video and insights for using different networks. Very useful.

[@thomrissmann]

Many thanks from northern Germany for this very informative video! I also drive a Kona and had previously thought from other videos that I would have to stand on the wrong side of the charging point due to the rather short charging cables. Fortunately, you have now shown that although it is short, you can charge on the right side. On long journeys throughout Germany and Denmark, I've managed well without a Supercharger so far, but it's always good to have an alternative.

[@decimal1815]

I used to be worried about the idea of driving in France, but these videos are making me want to try it out - thanks! 10p per mile is good value too.

[@MrGazzauk4]

Great information thanks

[@salfordruffryder]

Really helpful and informative video. Thanks for uploading. And kudos to your well behaved daughter too

[@johnogrady2024]

It would be helpful if you mentioned the time of day at the chargers. Useful video. Thanks

[@MikeHarEV]

I'm editing this summer trip together now. I'll try to add a rough time in pop up text, from video time stamps. subscribe to see it, if you haven't already :)

[@MikeHarEV]

New summer road trip video out now with time/date stamps. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@tooflesstesla]

Both your road trip videos to France were enjoyable to watch. Not too much inconvenience (you're on holiday, so no need to get stressed on arbitrary deadlines, right?). Since you have both an EV and ICE car, perhaps future videos with comparisons will help others consider the pros and cons of transitioning to EVs? Subscribed.

[@ChrisCollins01]

Did you the standard Tesla app or is there a specific app for none Tesla cars?

[@MikeHarEV]

I believe it is the standard tesla app. I think when you don't register a tesla car to your account login, it assumes you are a non tesla user. It was very easy to setup.

[@redjohn20001]

Couldn't you use Ionity chargers on the Octopus card?

[@MikeHarEV]

I'm not sure it was available on Octopus at the time. But now it is and would be 5% cheaper than using the Charge My Hyundai card. Just looked up Baie de Somme which was the first Ionity stop we did on this trip. It would be 48p per kWh on Octopus. It was 59p on Charge My Hyundai last Summer. I'll probably use Octopus for Ionity and Tesla this summer for our planned France and Germany summer road trip. Prices have narrowed but Tesla still have the edge on price and amount of chargers. But Ionity could be worth a few pence extra per kWh if they are located at the services.

[@LysanderLH]

I live in rural SW France. I own a Model 3 and have driven the 1000kms from here to UK many times. The additional time required to supercharge adds several hours to the journey time vs ICE. Most if not all of the UK reg cars we see down here in Summer are not EVs with one exception of a volvo xc30(?) ev and the owner was losing her mind over how much hassle it was to deal with here. Wrong car (ev)for the journey and I have never said that about any ICE car i’ve owned.

[@robertpenning3501]

I am in the process of buying a Kona EV (i live in Southern France) but your video has shown me how confusing the charging network is. I occasionaly need to drive back to the UK and after seeing your vid I now don't feel very confident about doing it. I also thought that Tesla charging points were for Tesla's only? We have a Smart Fortwo EV which we use locally and I charge using a company called Chargemap. Can i use this anywhere?

[@MikeHarEV]

Sorry to hear the video has given you doubts. The video was supposed to do the opposite. Chargemap is a roaming card, one card to use on many networks. Having such a card will make long trips easier if contactless is not available. Tesla have opened up many of their Superchargers to all EVs. I would recommend downloading the tesla app to see which chargers around you are available for everyone to use. They usually have more chargers and are also cheaper than most. The best app to make long road trips easy is 'a better road planner' you need this app

[@robertpenning3501]

@@MikeHarEV thank you for your reply and your reassurance. I now feel a lot better about it. I'll download the Tesla app as suggested.

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Bonjour. I live in the Deux-Sevres and have been running a Kia e-Niro since 2019. We use the Chargemap card and have been to the UK 4 times, Switzerland a couple of times and all over France. 2019 and 2020 were sometimes challenging but the app always found us a charger to use. The last couple of years has been much easier with so many chargers to choose from on the main routes.

[@robertpenning3501]

@@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270 thank you. That's very reassuring.

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

@@robertpenning3501 Are you planning to buy the new Kona EV? Or is it a used one of the first generation Kona? I test drove one of the new ones in Poitiers a few months back on my channel 'Kia e-Niro Diaries Encore'. I have been recording the experiences of owning the e-Niro since 2019, with trips back to the UK, to Germany, Switzerland and Spain as well as long hauls within France. You're welcome to take a look there.

[@djtaylorutube]

The worst part about a road trip in France is the part when you return to the crap UK roads.

[@MikeHarEV]

100%

[@C-L66]

I’m new to EV ownership and blown away with my 3 year old e-Niro. Our other car is Diesel and is what we will be using for our Europe trip this year as we do every year. Can’t make my mind up if we can live with one car next year as I estimate we would only need to fast charge away from home about 10 days a year, and that would include 4 days in Europe. I guess it’s a mind set change.

[@MikeHarEV]

You don't know until you try. Hope the videos give you an idea of what to expect. The public network continues to grow and sales have slowed a bit. I'm not expecting issues this year. We also keep playing with the idea of selling the second car. But it's the rare occasion when we both need a car at the same time that is putting us off, not the road trips. The kona is a much nicer car to road trip in, even with the charge stops. I forget how noisy the petrol car is a 70pmh. I double check I'm in 5th because at first it sounds too loud! My petrol also doesn't have the auto steer for the motorway, which I really like.

[@C-L66]

@@MikeHarEV yes you have given me some confidence that we would be able to cope with the extra stops, the days when we did 1000 Miles in a day have gone, that was 18 hours! Thanks for the video

[@RichardStefanits]

When ppl mix up kW and kWh you clearly see they are not really understand the basics :D

[@davidviner4932]

WOW 11 stops to charge for 2100 miles, I've been to the south of France many times in diesels and never needed to waste much time refuelling, maybe the 600 miles range on a tank makes a big difference. Seems expensive using these networks too

[@rodden1953]

How much time do you waste having to have a service and whats the cost

[@MikeHarEV]

It works out about a stop every 200 miles and we were ready to stop and stretch our legs and use the facilities. Yes you HAVE to stop more because the range is less than a diesel, but we would have stopped anyway and actually wasted very time sitting waiting for the car. Yes prices last year on the public network could be comparable to diesel prices. I don't have a diesel though, my other petrol car is too old to be trusted on this trip and gets a crappy 31mpg. But for the other 50 weeks of the year it is much cheaper due to home charging. The car is currently topping up for free off homes solar.