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France Route Planning Strategies?

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#1 · (Edited)
What strategies and tools do people use when planning travel along French and Swiss roads, particularly autoroutes? This is in the context of having a 'dumb' EV (e-208) with no inbuilt EV recharge planning.

I'm not after individual station feedback, but given the mantra of always doing some planning ahead of along journey, I'm interested in what approach people take.

I ask because I'm having trouble understanding the logic of what I'm being presented with in ABRP. Especially why it sometimes takes me off the autoroute to recharge at some obscure supermarket or fast food outlet, while other times does the obvious and recommends a service station.

For example, if I arrive at LeShuttle, Ashford and go straight on to the train, then I'll have 35% charge when I unload at Calais. So ABRP tells me to immediately divert off to a KFC in Coquelles. A KFC? Are there really no autoroute chargers immediately southbound on the Autoroute des Anglais? (Edit: well, not for 60Kms or so, at the Aire de Rely). Are there really no reasonably-sized charging stations at the Cité de l'Europe? (Edit: Yes, there are).

ABRP doesn't seem to have a setting to say that you basically don't care about the cost (which on this once-a-year journey, I don't).

Trying other combinations of SoC produces similar oddities in terms of diverting off the autoroute. Why would I drive past a large and convenient charge station complex and come off the autoroute to save a few euros?

From postings on the forum, I get the impression that if
(a) you aren't too fussed about getting the cheapest rate
(b) plan to travel on the autoroutes, and
(c) are outside of the 'black' travel days,
then the situation is actually quite comfortable. You generally now have enough charge capacity along the autoroute that you don't have to worry too much about being stuck.

Another thing: approaching Calais, the service stations and aires have been shut to discourage trafficking. So unlike southbound, I assume you may want to recharge with a view to being able to cover this in one go?
 
#2 ·
France really is very easy in an EV. On the Autoroutes you’ll find some chargers at pretty much every service area, and at every 2-3 (they are typically 30 miles apart) there will be a large charging hub. Various networks like Ionity, TotalEnergies, Fastned and Freshmile. It’s very rare that I ever leave the autoroute to charge up. On busy traffic days, lunchtime may see some congestion at the chargers, as stopping for lunch is very important in France and many will plug in, but normally there are few queues. I will normally subscribe to Ionity for a long trip in France to get the lowest cost charging. Expect to pay €0.55 per kWh without any subscription. Ionity passport power brings that down to €0.33 in France.
I’ll have the Ionity app, Tesla app and Octopus Electroverse. The latter is very good for slower AC chargers at hotels and car parks.
The higher speeds of 130kph will massively reduce your range between stops.

There are chargers at the tunnel terminals and flexilounges, as well as nearby.

Strategy wise, I find to stop when it suits me for coffee, lunch etc, and plug in then, is more relaxing than trying to eke out every % and minimise my charging time.

I recommend a crit air french emissions sticker if you don’t have one. They are required in more towns, even if it’s quite rare for it to be checked. Go through the official government website, not an agent. Le site officiel de la vignette Crit'Air (certificat qualité de l'air) - Ministère de la Transition écologique
 
#3 ·
I recommend a crit air french emissions sticker if you don’t have one. They are required in more towns, even if it’s quite rare for it to be checked. Go through the official government website, not an agent. Le site officiel de la vignette Crit'Air (certificat qualité de l'air) - Ministère de la Transition écologique
@Laforêt, We got one for our upcoming trip at the end of September. Between applying online (€4.91 including posting to the UK) it took only 5 calendar days to arrive in the post. However, they will send you on your email an official document that you can use to prove that you got one. You need to take a photo of your V5 (second page with car details) to send with your application. Very straightforward and hassle free. The sticker is valid for as long as you own the car.
 
#4 ·
My approach is to use the router planner in Chargefinder.com to find chargers along the route, then pick stops that give me a reasonable itinerary. I usually have google maps open at the same time with the same route in because then you can hover over different bits of the route and it tells you how far along the route that is. You just have to know how far you/your car can travel in between stops at autoroute speed, this will be less far than in the UK as the roads are quicker. ABRP can be useful to give you a rough sense of a route but I personally still prefer picking places to charge myself so that I can pick locations with enough chargers, have the right amenities for that stop etc.

The main use of the in car nav for me is the estimate of how much battery I will have left when I get to the next stop. This is useful both while driving and when charging so you know how much to charge to. I guess you won't have this but you should still be able to calculate that you'll need XX% per leg, I find it useful to have an approximation to work to ie in my car it's roughly 20 miles per 10% of charge.

France is pretty good but do watch out if you plan to stop at an Aire that you have a 'plan B' in case the Aire is shut, you miss the turning etc etc. Some times it can be quite a distance to the next exit/charger so you need to leave yourself some wiggle room.

Approaching Calais we stop at the Fastned at Aire de Saint-Hilaire Cotes just north of Bethune, or in Bethune itself. The former is a very useful pull through stop, the latter has a nice boulangerie to buy food for the tunnel. Or you can charge at the tunnel but we like to arrive with 40 or 50% SoC so if we have time to charge it's useful, but if we don't we can still make ground UK side.
 
#7 ·
What strategies and tools do people use when planning travel along French and Swiss roads, particularly autoroutes? This is in the context of having a 'dumb' EV (e-208) with no inbuilt EV recharge planning.

I'm not after individual station feedback, but given the mantra of always doing some planning ahead of along journey, I'm interested in what approach people take.

I ask because I'm having trouble understanding the logic of what I'm being presented with in ABRP. Especially why it sometimes takes me off the autoroute to recharge at some obscure supermarket or fast food outlet, while other times does the obvious and recommends a service station.

For example, if I arrive at LeChuttle Ashford and go straight on to the train, then I'll have 35% charge when I unload at Calais. So ABRP tells me to immediately divert off to a KFC near the Cité d l'Europe. A KFC? Are there really no autoroute chargers southbound on the Autoroute des Anglais?

ABRP doesn't seem to have a setting to say that you basically don't care about the cost (which on this once-a-year journey, I don't).

Trying other combinations of SoC produces similar oddities in terms of diverting off the autoroute. Why would I drive past a large and convenient charge station complex and come off the autoroute to save a few euros?

From postings on the forum, I get the impression that if you (a) aren't too fussed about getting the cheapest rate (b) plan to travel on the autoroutes, and (c) are outside of the 'black' travel days, then the situation is actually quite comfortable. You generally now have enough charge capacity along the autoroute that you don't have to worry too much about being stuck.

Another thing: approaching Calais, the service stations and aires have been shut to discourage trafficking. So unlike southbound, I assume you may want to recharge with a view to being able to cover this in one go?
Some very good advice below. As mentioned there are Tesla charge points and I think Freshmile at Folkestone but I use the V4 Tesla's at the Holiday Inn Express, just 5 minutes from the check in at Le Shuttle. If your car has an awkward charge port position for Tesla chargers this is a great option. I usually stay there the night before but that obviously adds cost, just an option.

I always use Google Maps to plan the route then use Electroverse to plan the charging stops as the price is usually a bit better. I have used a Tesla membership to keep costs down but they are not always conveniently placed. As you are not bothered by cost per se then Electroverse covers a hell of a lot of CPO's and could be the only RFID and or app you need.
 
#8 ·
I have a car with an all singing all dancing navigation system a la Tesla detailing the SOC at the suggested charge point and the car will pre condition the battery. We ignore it 99% of the time! We simply plan stops at Aires as suits us as most if not all now have charging plus nowadays more of the simple Aires.
Use Bison futé as a means of knowing the difficulty of the traffic conditions which also has details of charge points and Chargemap never needed Tesla which I wish to avoid and find the Mercedes public charge card excellent but others are available which fellow members could advise on.
Frankly charging here really is not an issue😉
 
#9 ·
Electroverse card plus the app for planning was fine for me.

Aires can be variable, some can be like the old Ecotricity days here with one or two 50kw chargers, some do much better. Unless you're really cutting it fine, there's usually the bailout option of a nearby town as so many supermarkets have chargers now.

With the A26 specifically, the first few aires are small and basic, I don't think there's charging until you're 60km or so along. If that would leave you too low then suggesting one of several near the Coquelles terminal is pretty sensible.
 
#10 ·
Having just read a scathing article about a journalist who had a terrible time on holiday and all the services they tried I could not help but wonder why this didn't charge at a Tesla Supercharger. Based on the route they appear to have taken, they will have driven past a couple of services with plent of them

We will have another EV in the house realitvely soon and it won't be a Tesla but I wil;l still be using the Superchargers, think a couple ofothers mentioned above but I would be including them in the planning too.

For planning I will either use the car or ABRP as it has enough configurability to reflect real worlld for me.
 
#13 ·
Having just read a scathing article about a journalist who had a terrible time on holiday and all the services they tried I could not help but wonder why this didn't charge at a Tesla Supercharger. Based on the route they appear to have taken, they will have driven past a couple of services with plent of them
Take with a giant pinch of salt (read complete bullshit) 😂
 
#11 ·
I ask because I'm having trouble understanding the logic of what I'm being presented with in ABRP.
I'd start by not using ABRP. I find it to be a thoroughly confusing app of low utility. At best it can be used to point out roughly where I can get to on each charge so I can think about where to have lunch etc, but then find the chargers myself. And as others have noted here, charging on French motorways appears to be easier than poking about in ABRP's obtuse UI.
 
#12 ·
Chargemap is a reasonable alternative…..I am lucky I can plan using the Mercedes me app on the phone or Tablet…..but I know where we will be wanting to stop and just top the car up every time….though knowing where chargers are at end destination and if I want to arrive with a higher overnight charger the app is handy.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Thanks all for the useful feedback. I will do some advance planning, especially around the gaps between service stations and aires, so that I have always have a primary then backup, if the former has any issues. But it does seem that outside of the bonkers days of the big holiday start/end dates, I’ll be OK.

We’ll be driving down to the Swiss Alps over two days, and so we have plenty of time. So we don’t mind stopping more times than strictly necessary. And our overnight hotel has four slow charge points as well.

It just seemed weird to me that the recommended charge location for someone coming off LeShuttle at Coquellles was a KFC, rather than a dedicated site or a service station on the autoroute. But then if I think about our local facilities, then the best and largest are at a Sainsbury’s (12) and an M&S superstore (10) five minutes off junctions, rather than the BP garage (4) on the main route through. So perhaps a KFC isn’t that odd, after all.
 
#22 ·
Thanks all for the useful feedback. I will do some advance planning, especially around the gaps between service stations and aires, so that I have always have a primary then backup, if the former has any issues. But it does seem that outside of the bonkers days of the big holiday start/end dates, I’ll be OK.

We’ll be driving down to the Swiss Alps over two days, and so we have plenty of time. So we don’t mind stopping more times than strictly necessary. And our overnight hotel has four slow charge points as well.

It just seemed weird to me that the recommended charge location for someone coming off LeShuttle at Coquellles was a KFC, rather than a dedicated site or a service station on the autoroute. But then if I think about our local facilities, then the best and largest are at a Sainsbury’s (12) and an M&S superstore (10) five minutes off junctions, rather than the BP garage (4) on the main route through. So perhaps a KFC isn’t that odd, after all.
I'm not sure if that is a concern to you, as this thread seems to focus on EV charging only.

But i found this online tool useful:
https://french-tolls.undiscoveredlatitudes.com/

It is a simple tool for calculating the cheapest route through France (toll wise).

I combined that one with a Fully toll-tag, for fast transit through the tollgates. Another thing that is very handy in a right-hand vehicle.
 
#21 ·
I can get our XC40 from the UK to Italy via Switzerland just using Tesla superchargers. Good to have a back up plan just in case but so far not needed it. Be open to going off the Autoroute. For example leave the A4/26 and take the N44/A31 across to St Louis/Basel. It takes the same time as the longer route around the A4 but is 60km shorter. There are at least 2 Tesla superchargers en route and speeds are lower so you will save a few electrons. Like France most Swiss services and even those without "normal" fuels will have 4 or so rapids. Never used them so cant comment on how easy they are to use.
 
#25 · (Edited)
We’ve had the Emovis LiberT tags for some years now and these have been very reliable. I used mine only last week with a rental car out of Montpellier. Debits to my First Direct UK sterling bank account with no issues. The various different providers do have differing pricing arrangements, but as far as I can see for travellers within France, you can save the odd €10-€15 a year, depending on your choice, but there’s not that much difference between them all.

But if you are planning to travel in Spain or Italy, then you may find it worth researching, as for example Emovis customers need a separate tag for Spain, while some others use a singe tag to cover all countries.
 
#26 ·
For tolls I use bip&go.
It’s good value, only pay a teeny charge for the months it’s used in. Super convenient, signed up because I had a solo journey.
But I went years without a toll tag going to the alps. Passenger can tap a bank card at the toll gates, and paying on line for free flow autoroutes like the A13 Normandy to Paris is pretty easy.

Needs a direct debit from a bank account, and that’s not compatible with some banks.
 
#28 · (Edited)
List of links to various toll tag suppliers: overall, they vary in the specific details of what and how they charge: the differences aren’t huge, but you’ll need to research them to see which suits you best.

Emovis (Liber-t as was)
Bip&Go
Ulys-Vinci
Fulli (Mango Mobilité)
Eurotunnel (as an Emovis partner offer*)
ATMB

*Various discounts on the standard membership and fees. Requires a Eurotunnel booking reference.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Thanks again to everyone who has responded.

The Crit’Air sticker has now arrived*. This also works as an equivalent to the Stick’Air certificate required in the greater Geneva area.

I’ve also registered the car online for its Swiss autoroute e-vignette, and opened charging accounts with the Swiss equivalent of ShellRecharge (evpass) and another big Swiss charging group, SwissCharge (previously VALT*). This is to supplement my Octopus Electroverse and Chargemap cards and regular credit cards. Our destination has SwissChargefast charge stations, and is up a mountain, so it seemed worth having this just in case.

*(There's an official fitting video that shows where to place it on the windscreen. The instructions are ambiguous as they refer to the 'right side' but don't say whether this is as viewed from inside or outside the car. It's the bottom-right, as viewed from the driver's position inside the car).

*some equipment in remote locations may still be labelled ‘VALT’ but it’s the SwissCharge RFID card that’s needed to use them.
 
#32 · (Edited)
One bit of feedback: ahead of a trip abroad - check that all your charge accounts and related apps are working.

I've just run through my various charge apps and corresponding accounts and a number of them needed me to re-enter my username, password, or both - presumably because I hadn't used them for some time (if at all, post-registration). This isn't something you want to be doing the first time you recharge in France.

This is one reason why I set up a specific Gmail account for the car, comprising {reg_no}.{model}@gmail.com - at least I can work out the Account ID without a prompt.
 
#33 · (Edited)
So, after a bit of time spent planning our France»Switzerland trip here are the results, in terms of strategy and method for route planning. I'll illustrate it with the first segment, which might be useful to other travellers, namely the Autoroute des Anglais from Calais to Troyes.

First, here's the baseline information for all the potential charging 'way points' from Calais to our overnight in Magnant, just SE of Troyes.

minsKmsUsedkms/1%LocationArrival
~~
1LeShuttle Calais
366423%2.82Aire de Service de Rely57%
396723%2.93Aire de Baralle (↓S) Rumancourt (↑N)57%
355721%2.74Aire d'Urvillers / Mont de Nizy59%
6110135%2.95E.Leclerc Reims Champfleury (N↕S) exit#2345%
14228%2.86Aire de Reims Champagne Sud72%
324817%2.87Aire de Sommesous (N↕S)63%
548430%2.8Hotel le Val Moret - Magnant50%

This is based on a combination of planners such as ABRP and ViaMichelin and apps like Electroverse. The charge% 'Used' is obviously specific to our EV, a 50kWh Peugeot e208. These are all aires on the autoroute, plus the big E.Leclerc complex just off Jct.24 at Reims Champfleury. All have at least 4 fast CCS charge bays, mostly more, with the Leclerc site having 46 (!). Cruising speed is an admittedly conservative 100kph (we aren't in a hurry).

I decided on a ‘next+1’ strategy that balanced distance against risk i.e. where we are always able to go on to the next way point if the planned stop has an issue. In addition, this approach gives us more margin for the penalty of faster speeds if we can't limit ourselves to the 100kph average.

After trying various combinations, I concluded that leaving Calais with 80% gave the best choices 'downstream'. We'll recharge at LeShuttle Ashford if we have time, or Cité de l'Europe if not.

After that, you can use one of two tactics: either the 'contingency' one we opted for, or minimise the number of stops, but give up the contingency. For the latter, you will have fewer stops, but if the planned stop has an issue, you'll have to exit the autoroute to find a charging site, as you won't have enough remaining charge% reserve to comfortably get to the next way point on the autoroute.

So with the 'contingency' option in mind the plan after leaving Calais with 80% is to charge again at Rely (»64kms), Urvillers (»124kms) and Reims Champagne (»123kms), arriving at the hotel after 132kms with a comfortable 33% remaining. In each case, we can arrive and decide to continue to the next way point on the autoroute, without having to come off and search.

The key takeaway is the value of having the waypoints listed and numbers for distance and vehicle-specific charge% needed to reach them ('Used%' in the chart). Yes, it's a bit tedious to have to route plan each way point as a destination, to get your vehicle-specific charge% 'Used' but then you have all you need on paper to make key decisions if there are any issues, and decide on an optimal plan that suits your preferences.

I used ViaMichelin to decide on the next stage, which is to leave the autoroute at Langres to go via Besançon and Pontarlier to Lausanne. Then on the A9 to the Swiss Quatre Vallées. I thought this would be more involved but in fact, it was easier. In part this is because the mainly cross-country roads mean about 20% more efficiency from the EV. In part because I already had a template spreadsheet for the baseline data. But it did involve more iterations of ABRP/ViaMichelin to get my list.

The only other comments:

ABRP seems to come up with some very odd waypoints sometimes. I can't for the life of me see why it's fixated on the relatively limited KFC charge station at Coquelles, when there are two much larger sites at the Cité de l'Europe - at engie and Carrefour. It is also prone to diverting you some way off the autoroute for no apparent reason.

The route planners seem to only charge you up to the level needed to get to the next waypoint. Which is fine, but often means you won't have enough charge% to get to the next-plus-1 if there's a problem. Our intention is to charge to 75%-80% each time, even if this adds 10-15 minutes - if it opens up the option of a '+1' contingency then it seems worth it.

It seems worth having a Tesla account. Various sites (Eurotunnel Ashford, E.Leclerc Champfleury, the Zone Commercial at Besançon etc) have CCS charging open to non-Tesla drivers. But you do need the app to use them.

Some routes may have a cross-country vs autoroute choice. For our vehicle, the former gave 20% more Kms per charge%, so that's a factor to consider if the choice is otherwise evenly-balanced.

Working out the kms/1% for your EV is also useful. First, it is a check against arithmetic errors in your data collection - exceptionally high/low probably means you've made a mistake somewhere. It also is useful to check against the figure the route planners are using, which sometimes seems optimistic/pessimistic. Finally, if it proves accurate, you can calculate for yourself how far you can actually travel given your charge% in real-time - versus the guess-o-meter on the instrument display.
 
#35 · (Edited)
I daresay it's overkill, but bear in mind this is our first long-range trip and the e208, at a usable 46.3 kWh isn't an autoroute warrior. 80%»20% is about 215 Kms in benign conditions and probably only at speeds under 100-110 Kph. Also, the Peugeot satnav is entirely useless as far as EV integration goes: it has no idea of the SoC or how much charge% is going to be needed when you enter a destination, let alone monitor real-time energy consumption against a route plan.

The post probably overstates the complexity. For an occasional long-distance trip, it's just nice to have the table to hand and makes us less reliant on having to use route planning apps while on the move.
 
#36 ·
Before reading this, I would have agreed with @simcity .

But now, all I can say is: well done, you have done a nice plan for your trip! And when do you leave?
 
#37 ·
OK I've driven this route multiple times and I would say that you're making way too many stops, and also stopping with too high a state of charge which means slower charging times. I would usually make one stop between the tunnel and Troyes (St Quentin)! If you're worried about contingencies (which you're right to be if stopping at Aires since it can be a long way to the next one!) my suggestion would be to use off-autoroute locations because then it is much easier to find an alternative. For example, if you planned to come off the autoroute to use Champfleury, if there is some catastrophic problem with the site then you have all of Reims to choose from to find an alternative. However if you used Reims Champagne Sud then it's a long way to the next charger. So my suggestion would be to go deeper but come off the autoroute.

I think you should be absolutely fine with somewhere around Bethune/Arras whether that's one of the Aires or there are a few options just off the autoroute at Bethune, St Quentin Supercharger (backup Powerdot across the road), Reims Champfleury and onto Troyes (I would stop in Troyes rather than Magant for an overnight as more choice but also a bit more of a detour).
 
#38 ·
I have taken for granted the Mercedes navigation and now understand why Tesla’s also get such a high recommendation….I think integrated navigation should be required by construction regs actually.
You will have the comfort on knowing you have a plan plus as you discover how the charging landscape looks here you will no doubt become more blasé about the need to plan as in my case I know I will find something close…
Enjoy your trip and Bonne route!