A 1800KM PURE ELECTRIC ROAD TRIP THROUGH EUROPE WITH OUR MODEL S
With all the great charging options on the island this was not a big issue for us after all.
Looking forward to our next road trip !
So all in all we drove more than 1800 kms round trip using only Tesla superchargers with the occasional public quick charger in the Netherlands. Everything worked as planned and we feel very comfortable to go on future road trips ! Thank you Elon Musk for setting up this incredible international network of charging infrastructure !
The Tesla trip planner works really well
Earlier this month we went on our first big road trip using only superchargers. One way was roughly 800 kms / 560 miles. The Tesla navigation software gave us a route with a total of three stops:
We were a little worried that the remaining 14% battery would be cutting it a little too close but went ahead knowing that we could always stop at another supercharger before reaching the Hirschberg charger. So off we went onto the swiss and then the german Autobahn.
230 kms per hour on the Autobahn
And yes, we did kick the car up to 230kms an hour / 142 miles per hour for roughly 2-3 minutes. We could have gone even faster but my wife kept grabbing my leg until i felt my circulation stopping so I had to ease off the accelerator ; )
Even with this exessive short interlude, we arrived at the Hirscherg Supercharger with 19% of battery remaining, and here’s the picture to prove it:
So off we went to the local McDonalds to stretch our legs. This particular supercharger was almost empty with just one other Tesla Model S charging. We decided to charge a little more than necessary, just to be on the safe side. We are swiss after all : ) This first experience with the Tesla trip planner showed, that it seems to calculate rather conservatively, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I’d rather end up with more charge in the tank than anticipated than the other way around.
Great infrastructure at mostly empty Tesla Superchargers
All of the Supercharges we visited were situated at an “Autohof” location which usually includes one or two fast food restaurants (McDonalds, Kentucky Friend Chicken) a regular gas station as well as a small grocery store connected to the gas station.
The next leg to the Mogendorf charger also had us arrive with 8% more charge remaining then the trip planner had anticipated. This charger was also pretty empty with just another Tesla charging. On the way back, this charger was busier though:
I was surprised how few Teslas we saw on the way through Germany. We only encountered like 2 or 3 Teslas all through Germany.
A Model X and charging etiquette
This quickly changed when we got close to the Netherlands. The Netherlands have excellent tax return conditions (of which Switzerland mostly has none) for EVs and it truly shows when you drive on dutch roads. The charger at Zevenaar was half full. And all of the drivers seemed to know about the A and B pillar rule – as long as an A pillar is free, you should use that one instead of charging at someones B pillar.
And while we were charging between tree other dutch cars, a german Model X showed up – followed by a lot of “ooohhhsss” and “aaaaaahhhs” from everyone : )
Wind turbines everywhere
One other thing you will notice is that large amount of wind turbines that are installed along the freeway in Germany as well as the Netherlands. We also saw many of them on the Island. You don’t really get a feeling of how huge these things are until you are standing right underneath one : )
So you’re sitting in your Tesla driving down the Autobahn that is flanked by rows and rows of wind turbines – it made me feel like I’m living the future :
As many Teslas as the eye can see : )
The next day we continued our trip up north and stopped at the supercharger in Amsterdam. This turned out to be a rather large Service Center with huge offices. I think it is the European Headquarters of Tesla. I’ve never seen so many Teslas in one place, as the pictures show : ) The huge Tesla lettering also looked rather impressive : )
On the way back I took this panoramic shot of the whole complex.
There were also a couple of Tesla taxis as well as Tesla Uber parked on the premises:
From Amsterdam we drove all the way up north and took the ferry to the island of Texel.
Great charging infrastructure in the Netherlands
On the island itself they had many public charging stations to choose from. They were all easily accessible using my “TheNewMotion” charge card, which I had organized way ahead of our trip. It all worked flawlessly and the instructions on the charge points where easy to follow.
Unfortunately the resort did not allow us to charge our car using the regular outlet of our bungalow. One night a very polite and a little embarrassed security guard knocked on our door and apologised that their own charge points were not ready yet and unfortunately charging directly from the bungalows main power was not allowed.
