Electroverse is your best friend. I used them exclusively last June, trip to Caen.

But France is well provisioned for EVs, I would argue better than the UK. You will be fine with a bit of planning.

 

Thank you. That’s one of the many cards I have. 😄

 

All the chargers I've used in Holland and Germany allowed you to choose the language you wanted. No issues. Can’t see why that wouldn’t be the same in France.

 

I've noticed the same in Norway. All chargers have language option.

 

Lots of IONITY DC Fast Charging stations in France. If you intend to use them often, pay for IONITY Passport.

The other fast charging network I would recommend is to use is FastNed. They offer a similar discount to IONITY and have a decent network, although less complete.

There are a lot of local 22kWh AC chargers across France. They are also very cheap with an Electroverse card.

 

Chargemap is useful too. If you have tolls on your route I recommend Bip&Go.

Noticed B&G also have a cheap charging app. Anyone used it?

 

Less so now. Electroverse pretty much now covers everything. I also have not seen any times where prices are better using Chargemap.

I'm there right now in a pretty rural location, and all the local small chargers appear on the Electroverse app. Many of the rates appear better than using other options. Many of the other options have a time issue where beyond 2 hours they charge you an extra fee which looking at Electroverse is not the case. I will try it potentially tomorrow and check I don't get hit with any other fees.

Bip and Go vs Emois (Sanef) - I would go with Sanef as Emovis (Sanef) has UK customer service if anything goes wrong. I also see no benefit to using B&G's charge service, especially now that IONITY Passport exists. The only other high speed charge network on the autoroutes worth thinking about is FastNed. Total Energies has some great stations (which I have used), but they don't appear to have a discount programme, so its still 59 euro cents per kWh.

 

I've taken our id3 to France (and Belgium) a few times now. As others have said, lots of rapid chargers at motorway services and elsewhere, easy to plan your journey. I found that ChargeFinder is the most reliable app for real-time charger info. The Electroverse app is also good but has some quirks - some chargers are simply missing and seems random which ones

As others have said, the Electroverse card - and in my case the VW We-charge card - between them cover pretty much all the rapids and many (most?) of the 22 kW AC chargers. Also get the Tesla app to find Tesla chargers open to all - I've used the supercharger network several times in France (and the SuCs at Folkestone LeShuttle)

 

The French are not keen on translating for foreign residents ie tax and day to day administration processes but why should they you come to live here you should learn the language.
However they see tourism differently so generally there are two languages at lots of tourist locations French and English, the latter because it it the second language of many and of course the English and Americans if We are honest are not that brilliant at speaking other languages (something said about the French too who generally only learn Spanish as it is closest to French! has to be said though a lot more young speak English these days)
But things like the chargers are like bank atm and all the rapid players I have used let you select the language. Google translate always help too if you really are stuck assuming you have a data plan you can use abroad.

 

I know hardly any French who know Spanish.

Italian and English are much more prevalent in our extended family.

 

Actually when I lived in Italy the local comune and medical authority produced multi-lingual leaflets (arabic, chinese, some other languages and scripts) but not in English. Not a problem as I and the other English speakers I knew were OK with Italian, but it did seem a surprising omission particularly as some nationalities use English as a lingua Franca. Incidentally the other official language locally was French and there was a Francoprovencal dialetto which varied between villages, plus a Walser German dialect in one of the side valleys.

 

Worth looking out for chargers at Lidl. They tend to be about 1/2 the price of the others! But you'll only find 1 or 2 Rapids. I like the Chargemap app as the users are v helpful in posting reports of whether the rapids worked or not, etc.

Also worth looking out for Tesla sites, you'll need the Tesla app to operate these, as they generally have 12+ Rapids so you're very unlikely to have to wait! I used one in north Le Mans on my trip to France last April, and that was fine with my O2 4G PAYG signal. But another Tesla site further south where I only had 3G, failed to work - I suspect slow comms to the server was the issue there.

 

Must be very honest in the big towns 5g is good and nearly everywhere but as soon as you get out onto the edges 4g can become flaky and 3G seems to be rubbish. Hence why I like internet in the car it can pick up a signal more often than not though I have had a couple or areas where even that drops out……

 

It's easy. If you have Electroverse and another rfid card eg Elli, you are completely sorted. The apps tell you what will work. I wouldn't rely only on Electroverse, especially if using AC chargers - I've found one or two that it didn't work on, but my wecharge card did (both should have done.)
Many of the ultra rapid chargers will display Engliah instructions on the screen if you select the flag, but if not, just go for the time-honoured scan rfid and plug in, or try the opposite order.

 

And if you have a VW ID car you can set up plug and charge for use with Ionity. No need to swipe anything, just plug it in and go get your coffee.

 

I supposedly have that on the EQE only the last trip I still had to use the RFID card however I have had an ÔTA (yes Mercedes can do some!) saying the plug and play certificate has been update. So I assume it really is rock up plug in and the machine starts, do you have to do anything on the screen at all?

 

Just to clarify for me as a senile old fool do you need to interact with the charger screen at all or just simply connect to the car and everything starts up?

 

Just plug it in and check it starts the process. Takes maybe 10 or 15 seconds,

 

My own experience of France (5/6 trips now in the etron) is that it is easier than getting around in the U.K. when using the autoroute network. A huge number of chargers at every other service station plus many D.C. chargers in towns (Lidl one’s cheapest to use). There are a lot of AC destination chargers too, so it’s easy to keep the battery topped up.
I use my Octopus Electroverse card and have the Tesla and Ionity apps on my phone. My Audi charging service is far too expensive to use in France! On my last trip I anticipated using Ionity quite a lot so I signed up for a one month subscription of Ionity Passport.
Almost all the chargers have a language selection button beside or on the screen, or you activate them via a phone app. They are more reliable than ones in the U.K. and deliver the speeds they claim.

There aren’t so many toll roads in Brittany. Toll booths are easy to use, just tap a bank card. Best have a bank card that doesnt have foreign transaction charges as in some regions toll booths are fairly frequent but with a low cost at each one. As I had to make a solo trip last time I signed up with bip&go and got one of their toll tags. emovis do one too.

I’ve used the tunnel, and it is very good, but my personal preference is always Brittany Ferries to the western ports from Portsmouth.

Do check out my trips to France on my YouTube.

 

What kind of car do you have? A lot of Tesla Superchargers (possibly all) now allow other brands to charge there. They're supremely reliable. You just have to register on the Tesla app.

 

Just make sure the charging port on your car is on the left side, which is the right side, wheras the right side is the wrong side. (copyright Bjorn Nyland)

 

Also make sure you aren’t driving and etronGT/Taycan with the standard 50kW 400V charging module, or an E-GMP car (limited to just under 100kW, or 40kW if the firmware incompatibility affects you).

Otherwise you will spend what you might save with Tesla rates on an extra refill at Costa while you wait. And then you‘ll have to stop sooner for another comfort break!

 

Otherwise you will spend what you might save with Tesla rates on an extra refill at Costa while you wait. And then you‘ll have to stop sooner for another comfort break!

I agree about comfort break requirements but surely you've got V2L and get the kettle and teapot out? It was the first thing I tested on my new V2L adapter..

 

Sadly, on E-GMP at least, V2L (even interior V2L) can’t be used while charging. (Charging and V2L use the same inverter and controller circuits, I believe.)

If the MG4 V2L works while charging that could be a game changer!

 

Unfortunately not, but the time and energy needed for hot water to warm the pot and enough for a couple of mugs of tea isn't great.. I shall foreswear the toaster and the buttered crumpets though.
I need to check Stageshoot's posts as I believe he discovered down to what level of battery charge that V2L would operate.

Parkwood, re the bison futé situation would it still be true to say that midweek is still a reasonably safe time to travel even in summer? I appreciate around Paris on a Friday afternoon isn't! As a skier not really used tomuch traffic but going to Italy in summer this year.

 

Tonight is the time our motorway network comes under pressure so will try and remember to look at the effect on the charging network though it is a relatively small radius around Paris so one would expect a lot of drivers to be able to leave fully charged and reach their destination ie Paris Caen be interesting to see around 7 or 8pm how things look.

 

Had not realised but the bison futé site has real-time data for the chargers just like the real time data for the traffic might be useful to some

Traffic - electric charge - Bison Futé

www.bison-fute.gouv.fr

 

When I drove through France last summer, I felt the same way at first. I made sure to download an app that showed charging stations along my route, which helped a lot. Some stations had English options, and the app provided info on which cards were accepted.

I also packed a little translation app on my phone, just in case. It saved me a few times! And hey, if you’re looking for some great deals for your travels, keep an eye out for Cheapest Business Class Flights to Europe | TravelBusinessClass.com —you’ll appreciate the extra comfort on long drives.