Being of a similar age, I cannot praise you both enough for the effort you have put in and the entertainment you have provided. We were in Spain at the same time in our EV6 this year and will be there again next September although we take the ferry most of the way. As we have a Tesla on order, the information you have provided is most helpful. Enjoy Australia
Well done to you both and thank you for posting the video. As a pensioner myself as of this year I’m about to make the move to an EV having had a few test drives and I enjoy the EV driving experience. A Model Y is probably my preferred choice but I’m also tempted by the Polestar 4, but it’s probably bigger than I need and the software is reputedly glitchy so as yet undecided. I found your videos very helpful, thank you. Enjoy ‘Business’ to Australia - that’s the way we’ve done it in the past and definitely a great experience!
Hi. Just watched your trip for the second time. Great viewing. We used to take our family to mainland Europe every summer but haven't been since the debacle of 2016 … We too have family in Australia - although they're moving to Hong Kong over the festive period. We've been to Oz a few times but always flew economy - once Singapore, once Emirates, one Lufthansa. Singapore is by far the best, but it'll be interesting to see the Quatar experience - and just how much better business class is compared to cattle class! Have a safe trip.
Thank you both for sharing all your travel tips, lots useful information given in a very accessible way. I’ve not long had my mid range BMW i3s. At the moment it’s for city driving really, not so much the long distance, European trips. Though later with a good bit of planning I’ll feel more confident to head further afield! I didn’t know about the French crit’air till watching your video & yes was indeed taken by a third party to pay 50€. When you mentioned the warning I then found the direct French govt site for less than £5…..thank you again! I’ve also joined up for Tesla charging so you never know I may see you both at one of their shared sites! Enjoy your trip to see your daughter & family….yes I’d enjoy seeing a record of the journey 😊
Fabulous series of videos. I’ve watched each of them and been thoroughly engrossed. You have a natural flair for straight forward talking whilst being extremely informative. Thanku ❤ Ps there is no sign of amateurish production. I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t do more. Again thanku ❤️
Thanks for the update Tom, some really useful information. Great that you took the time to document your journey all the best with your trip to Australia 👍
Thanks for a very informative video. I had never heard about the crit'air stickers, so I 'l have to look into that next time I travel to France. We EU-citizens have an advantage that we don't have to bother about different electrical sockets! I look forward to seeing other videos in the not to distant future!
Good series of videos, anyone who can try and prove the two wrong are doing a good job. Mac has said in one of his latest video’s that it is his aim to stop the whole transition to EV’s. So so sad to have that attitude. Best decision I made changing to an EV. Keep up the good work.
The Green Up socket is made by a French Company, Le Grand. It is called a 'reinforced socket' specifically for EV charging up to 3.6kw or 16 amps. It's what I use at home when I need to, though mine is undercover.
You are amazing mate! I wish more people were as courageous as you! And it's actually not that difficult to do... Looking forward to next year's videos! 😁
its so nice to see a genuine couple offering really good advise, you showed us all that EV can do a long journey stress free by simple planning, this is what you get when a genuine person shares their experience, anybody who listened to that idiot the Nc Master is a bigger fool than he is.i look forward to watching your next journey, safe travels and thank you.
Make no mistake...mc master is no fool....it is the gullible who he entices to his channel to support his lifestyle who are the fools. Mc master is laughing all the way to the bank...in his fool funded porsche!
An interesting series of videos, thank you. The thing that I struggle with is having to plan a long road trip such as this one, simply from one charging stop to the next. The last time we drove to the south of France (in an ICE car), we picked our route mostly avoiding the Peage toll roads, instead taking smaller more rural roads and visiting a number of small towns, villages and tourist sights en route. If we saw a nice looking bar/restaurant offering a plat du jour in a picturesque spot, we'd stop. If we saw signs to a Roman ruin or a castle/chateau, we'd may turn off and visit. Nothing was particularly pre-planned apart from the overnight hotel stop. The need to plan a journey around charging stops with such military precision takes away any kind of spontaneity for me, which is half the fun of making such a trip. It's about the journey, not just about getting to the next destintion for me. I am pleased the journey was a success for you but I won't be switching to an EV any time soon.
I went to Pau last year in a MG ZSEV and found the planning to be part of the fun of the trip. We went down by toll roads and wandered back to Calais on mainly non toll roads.
I start by using the planner, but it gives the optimum route without accounting for breaks. So it based the trip from Calais on a short stop at the Aire and another in Rouen. In practice,we planned to stop for lunch and charge to nearly full while we did, and then miss out the Rouen stop.
@tomdavison1152 Yep, I was responding to Rick who talked about having to plan to military precision. Nothing like that, as we know! Let the car do the plan and just adjust as we modify. Not hard at all. 👍
Depends why you're doing the trip. Clare is still working so is limited in time off. We have a 2-week holiday in my brother's villa each year. We take 3 additional days each end to drive down and back. The aim is not to spend time in France, but to get to Moraira by Sat afternoon, then drive home 2 weeks later, leaving Sat morning. Sadly, we don't have time to spend off the route, much as we might have liked to.
Well done Tom and Clare. Great summary in this video. I am interested in your future trip to Australia. I went from Australia to the UK and back in business class in 2018 for the first time at the age of 60 which I also thought was a trip of a lifetime. You have managed the tech very well for your number of birthdays. I found your other videos informative and very sensible. Thanks for your efforts. The haters are really quite odd. Not yet grown up perhaps.
Excellent series of videos that are informative and very helpful. Your style of presenting is also good and you should be extremely proud of yourselves for embracing technology. Would love to see your videos documenting the trip to Australia, so please do publish. Well done again and here’s to your trip next year 👍
You're an inspiration and have no need to apologise for the output, I enjoyed watching it very much. When abroad the Halifax Clarity credit card is ideal for all spending as you can pay in local currency (e.g. Euro), no transaction fee and the commercial exchange rate is applied so there's no need for cash other than a small amount (circa £20/day) of ad-hoc cash which you can pick up here in the UK before you leave. It's safer than carrying large amounts of cash / relying on cash machines abroad and no hassle trying to transfer from one account to another while you're abroad. If you're looking for ideas for future content, perhaps one on what you learnt while doing the editing of your videos, a sort of how to video, it's a daunting subject and probably the one that puts most people off making the attempt themselves. Enjoy down-under, you're going to love business class, Qatar is fabulous, allow plenty of time at the airport to enjoy their business class lounge as well.
Thank you for sharing your Trip Tom.. I found it very informative and a great watch. I'll be looking for the Australian trip if you decide to do it. 👍👍👍👍
Super videos. The LEZ for Rouen doesn't cover the normal routes which bypass the centre of Rouen where the LEZ is, but for the cost better safe than sorry.
@@tomdavison1152 It's the route I take regularly when we visit the UK, we travel in either the EV or the diesel motorhome, neither have a Crit Air sticker, without problems or fines.
Thanks for the videos Tom, I did a similar trip in a diesel Berlingo all the way to Malta this year which was a similar adventure but without the electrons! I have a Tesla as well now so will be happy to do European trips in it having seen how good the infrastructure is over there. Enjoy the business class flights, make good use of the lounges, they take all the stress out of waiting and have good free (or included in the ticket price rather) food.
Well done Tom and Clare for showing that age is no impediment to both conquering a long journey in an EV and producing content for RUclips that others find enjoyable and interesting! Thanks for the tips and tricks, we'll definitely be buying one of those 4 way adapters. Do try some non-Tesla chargers out next time though, there are some really good options in France and they're not that much more expensive than Tesla and give you more flexibility in route planning, we like Electra and Fastned. As you know we did a similar series of videos with a similar motivation to document our trip back from the south of France, we hope you don't mind us highlighting that here so that those who found your videos useful can click our our profile to see similar content.
I’ve enjoyed each of your vlogs on the trip - very informative and not in any way ‘amateurish’ - well done. I’m only a few years younger than you - our next car will definitely be an EV and the model Y is very appealing - have you found Tesla supercharging less ‘faff’ than doing the trip in the MG4? We’re used to touring France in a motorhome but haven’t bothered with the emovis tag to date, but have to say it does seem to work very well, and would avoid my wife having to stretch out of the window to pay! We similarly use Tesco vouchers towards the tunnel crossing. Similar to the earlier comment, we use the Halifax Clarity credit card for almost all payments and use very little cash. I take it that by entering the next destination on the Tesla sat-Nav that the software would suggest charging stops en route - i.e. in theory it would be possible to simply enter Calais when leaving the villa in Spain? (I fully appreciate you’d need to take account of hotel and favourite cafe stops).
Hi, and thank you for your kind remarks. Charging using contactless is probably going to be on a par with Tesla, with just the need to tap your card added to the Tesla experience. So the Tesla V4 chargers will be fine. It's the chargers where you have to use an app that is a pain. I have, on one occasion with the MG4 had to leave an underground garage where there was no signal to log into the app and start charging. Hopefully, from later this month, contactless payment will apply to all chargers that can be used by non-Teslas, including all third party suppliers. There is only one issue with the Tesla planner, and you've already spotted it. It takes no account of breaks, and all planned charging stops are on the basis of the minimum charge to get to the next stop with about 10% remaining. So, planning from Calais, Southbound, it wanted a short stop in Aire de la Baie de Somme, followed by a short stop in Rouen, before arriving at Chartres.. In practice, we stop at the Aire for lunch and by the time we're ready to leave, the car has hit enough charge to get to Chartres without recharging en-route. So, it's a good basis for the plan, but we then manually amended it to suit our stops. The other thing is that if you use the planner, navigating to the next supercharger, the car will automatically precondition the battery for maximum speed. We don't want to have to cut short our breaks to move the car off the charger, so maximum speed doesn't matter to us. So, we navigate to the location, not the charger. (eg, hotel Kyriad, and not Tesla Supercharger Chartres) That way, we aren't using power to precondition that we would then have to pay for, and we still found that the car was ready to go to the next stop before we were ready to coninue.
Yes it would. However, it does so on the basis that you want the fastest possible route, with the shortest charging times. So, between Calais and Chartres, the satnav wanted a short stop at Aire de la Baie de Somme, and another short stop in Rouen. I planned to have lunch at the Aire and this normally takes about 40 mins. So I planned a long charge at the Aire while we ate, and then missed out the Rouen charger.
@@tomdavison1152 Strange I have just looked at carrying out a transfer from GBP to Euro and it is showing an exchange rate of 1.193 euros / £ and no exchange fees. I do have the paid for account, so that is probably the difference
Revolut constantly changes with the commercial rate throughout the day, i have just checked on mine and it is now 1.19 minus the 1% weekend fee, @ 4pm it peaked at 1.1953, tuesday it was 1.2049. You can also pre exchange currency when the rate is higher to spend later.
Be careful with Revolut - they are not technically a bank and thus you are not really protected in the event of a loss. Also, they are also flagged by other banks for money laundering risk: Whenever i transfer money to my sister's Revolut account i get a phone call from my bank to confirm it's a legit transfer. Still, they do offer a very attractive service.
It was more to point out that my recommendations are not biased because of sponsorship. Similarly, I'm not asking for subscriptions, likes, or bell-ringing to make money.
Your in a tesla and hes in a taycan. 2 totally different cars with 2 totally different charging infrastructures. You been successful in a tesla does not mean one would in another non tesla EV. So it really proved nothing nevertheless interesting
We did the same trip last year in an MG4 using Tesla open-to-all and filling in any gaps with Ionity. Similar locations and worked almost as well. However only achieved 3.5 m/kWh, so needing an extra 90kWh of energy, and an extra charging stop each way.
I agree, that's why those of us who do roadtrips across Europe, quite happily tell Lee "Should have got a Tesla!" Effortless. On the other hand, if it's all local and willy waving down at the local golf club, drive a Taycan. 🤷
I drive a VW ID4, it is not as efficient perhaps as a Tesla but it is efficient enough to make long journeys to Southern Spain or the Uk from my home in Central France easily. I used to use Ionity but predominantly use Tesla superchargers now. I could drive further each day in my old ICE car but the last 200 Kms I would be overly tired and perhaps unsafe to drive, with the longer enforced rests with an EV I am less tired and more capable to do long distances the following day.
Bravo Tom & Clare (or Claire) for making a superb effort to produce your interesting and informative videos on your Spanish expedition. It was particularly useful to us as we are planning a trip to the costa del sol in mid December. We have done this trip before in an EV and, just like you, we didn't have any issues whatsover either with the car or charging infrastructure, indeed the whole experience of our first european road trip in an EV was very relaxing and enjoyable. Our last trip to the costa del sol was immediately post-covid, so paperwork and hotel stays were the most restrictive due to continued social distancing and mask measures that were still in place. Our route was Abbeville> Rouen> Le Mans, Poitier> Ruffec> Angouleme> Bordeux> Bayonne> Burgos> Madrid> La Carolina> Jaen> Granada> Loja> Malaga and then along the coast to Marbella. We planned this route because we incorporated visiting friends in Ruffec into our journey. We did encounter some snow blizzards around Burgos, so we were considering planning an alternative route to reduce this possibility. Your video vlog has conveniently come along at an opportune time. Your route looks to be an interesting alternative for us as it appears that the chance of any snow encounters may be reduced as we are always heading south with less high ground en-route ( I think?). I would be interested in your thoughts? I will begin planning our (your) route in the next couple of weeks. Can I ask where you obtained your toll tag and how it is managed, as on our last trip we just used PAYG at each toll booth, the tag certainly looked super convenient. Did you encounter any Spanish tolls? Coincidentally we are also planning an Australian trip next year to visit friends who live in Perth, so we would be really interested in learning your experiences of your Australian adventure and any insights and tips and tricks that may be beneficial. Your wifes video skills are just fine, no need to over-complicate....not padded-out with nonsense like many youtubers who are slaves to youtube algorithms to earn a crust. We send you both our very best wishes for christmas and the new year, and an enjoyable time visiting Australia.
Toll tag link is in the description. On the AP7 in Spain there are now no tolls between the border and our destination. There is high ground up to 1100 metres at the South end of the A75, dropping down to sea level at Beziers. From October, snow tyres are mandatory.
We make that route from near Ruffec to Malaga in an EV each winter more or less following the route you mentioned, travelling south in December and North in early March and have done since 2010, ( only an EV in later years). Spain is far higher than anybody realises until they travel across it, but the Spaniards are practiced in keeping the main roads safe and open. The route you mention would have gritters parked at each junction should wintry weather be forecast and if it does snow heavily you would not be allowed to continue but would be escorted off the motorway into one of the huge carparks they have ready until the gritters and ploughs are able to clear the road unhindered by cars and trucks which in other countries would have blocked the road completely. That said in the 14 years we've been travelling the route we've never encountered a problem other than heavy rain and sometimes fog. We have taken the route via Moraira last autumn we found it less interesting and much longer. To break up the journey a little at Jaen we go across country to Lucena.
@JohnCourtman thanks for posting your comments, observations and experiences. Cutting g across to lucerna from jaen looks interesting but a little concerning that charging opportunities are likely to be considerably limited, if not non existent? We were considering Toms route as an alternative to our last one that i described to miss madrid and to reduce the likelihood of heavy snow, your experience with this route is reassuring. I say WAS considering Tom's route, as the current horrendous floods being experienced around the valencia region are particularly concerning, particularly to my wife who is getting the jitters at the thought of taking the trip at all.😮😢 Can I ask what your experiences were with non-tesla charging networks, if you used any?
@@David-bl1bt I have a VW ID4, previously I used IONITY now in Spain only Tesla, in France Tesla and an independent company called IECharge. Presently only 21p per KW on their 320 & 160 KW chargers. Remember virtually all Tesla superchargers in France and Spain are open to non Teslas. I pay €8.00 a month when we're travelling to get the same prices Tom pays. I have a theoretical range of 500kms, so from a charge of 80% and to leave some leeway I charge within 300kms. I often only charge at every 3rd or 4th supercharger station. Soon it will be every 4th or 5th when they build all the ones in the plan. IONITY are further apart and less chargers at each one. In an emergency there are many others you can use on route, Zunder, Iberdola, Energis etc in Spain, Shell, Total, Lidl etc in France. As for Jaen to Lucena it's only 100kms, 60 miles with superchargers either end and 50kw chargers on route as an emergency. We came back from Malaga two weeks ago, left with 95% charge arrived home 1450 kms later with 40% charge and only charged 4 times on route in total, we stopped another 4 times for the dogs.( + an overnight stop). When we return in December it will be cooler, so at least 5 stops, but there's always a cafe nearby. Hope this helps.
Thanks, brilliant please do more
Being of a similar age, I cannot praise you both enough for the effort you have put in and the entertainment you have provided. We were in Spain at the same time in our EV6 this year and will be there again next September although we take the ferry most of the way. As we have a Tesla on order, the information you have provided is most helpful. Enjoy Australia
Quite enjoyable to watch and some interesting information.
Thumbs up, excellent effort. Regards.
Well done to you both and thank you for posting the video. As a pensioner myself as of this year I’m about to make the move to an EV having had a few test drives and I enjoy the EV driving experience. A Model Y is probably my preferred choice but I’m also tempted by the Polestar 4, but it’s probably bigger than I need and the software is reputedly glitchy so as yet undecided. I found your videos very helpful, thank you. Enjoy ‘Business’ to Australia - that’s the way we’ve done it in the past and definitely a great experience!
Hi. Just watched your trip for the second time. Great viewing. We used to take our family to mainland Europe every summer but haven't been since the debacle of 2016 … We too have family in Australia - although they're moving to Hong Kong over the festive period. We've been to Oz a few times but always flew economy - once Singapore, once Emirates, one Lufthansa. Singapore is by far the best, but it'll be interesting to see the Quatar experience - and just how much better business class is compared to cattle class! Have a safe trip.
Thank you both for sharing all your travel tips, lots useful information given in a very accessible way.
I’ve not long had my mid range BMW i3s. At the moment it’s for city driving really, not so much the long distance, European trips. Though later with a good bit of planning I’ll feel more confident to head further afield!
I didn’t know about the French crit’air till watching your video & yes was indeed taken by a third party to pay 50€. When you mentioned the warning I then found the direct French govt site for less than £5…..thank you again!
I’ve also joined up for Tesla charging so you never know I may see you both at one of their shared sites!
Enjoy your trip to see your daughter & family….yes I’d enjoy seeing a record of the journey 😊
Fabulous series of videos. I’ve watched each of them and been thoroughly engrossed. You have a natural flair for straight forward talking whilst being extremely informative. Thanku ❤
Ps there is no sign of amateurish production. I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t do more. Again thanku ❤️
Well done 👍
Is an absolute pleasure to watch your vlogs and your trip to Spain and back, really enjoyed it. Looking forward to your trip to Australia also.
Thanks for the update Tom, some really useful information. Great that you took the time to document your journey all the best with your trip to Australia 👍
Thanks for a very informative video. I had never heard about the crit'air stickers, so I 'l have to look into that next time I travel to France. We EU-citizens have an advantage that we don't have to bother about different electrical sockets! I look forward to seeing other videos in the not to distant future!
Good series of videos, anyone who can try and prove the two wrong are doing a good job. Mac has said in one of his latest video’s that it is his aim to stop the whole transition to EV’s. So so sad to have that attitude. Best decision I made changing to an EV. Keep up the good work.
The Green Up socket is made by a French Company, Le Grand. It is called a 'reinforced socket' specifically for EV charging up to 3.6kw or 16 amps. It's what I use at home when I need to, though mine is undercover.
You are amazing mate! I wish more people were as courageous as you! And it's actually not that difficult to do... Looking forward to next year's videos! 😁
great mini series, some useful tips. Looking forward to the champagne glugging😀
its so nice to see a genuine couple offering really good advise, you showed us all that EV can do a long journey stress free by simple planning, this is what you get when a genuine person shares their experience, anybody who listened to that idiot the Nc Master is a bigger fool than he is.i look forward to watching your next journey, safe travels and thank you.
Make no mistake...mc master is no fool....it is the gullible who he entices to his channel to support his lifestyle who are the fools.
Mc master is laughing all the way to the bank...in his fool funded porsche!
Nah Lee is a very smart guy who knows how to maximise income from his channel. Don't assume that he believes everything he says.
Thank you for this video and of course the travel reports. Have good trip to Oz. 👍😀
An interesting series of videos, thank you. The thing that I struggle with is having to plan a long road trip such as this one, simply from one charging stop to the next. The last time we drove to the south of France (in an ICE car), we picked our route mostly avoiding the Peage toll roads, instead taking smaller more rural roads and visiting a number of small towns, villages and tourist sights en route. If we saw a nice looking bar/restaurant offering a plat du jour in a picturesque spot, we'd stop. If we saw signs to a Roman ruin or a castle/chateau, we'd may turn off and visit. Nothing was particularly pre-planned apart from the overnight hotel stop. The need to plan a journey around charging stops with such military precision takes away any kind of spontaneity for me, which is half the fun of making such a trip. It's about the journey, not just about getting to the next destintion for me. I am pleased the journey was a success for you but I won't be switching to an EV any time soon.
I went to Pau last year in a MG ZSEV and found the planning to be part of the fun of the trip. We went down by toll roads and wandered back to Calais on mainly non toll roads.
In a Tesla you don't have to plan, the car does.
I start by using the planner, but it gives the optimum route without accounting for breaks. So it based the trip from Calais on a short stop at the Aire and another in Rouen. In practice,we planned to stop for lunch and charge to nearly full while we did, and then miss out the Rouen stop.
@tomdavison1152 Yep, I was responding to Rick who talked about having to plan to military precision. Nothing like that, as we know!
Let the car do the plan and just adjust as we modify.
Not hard at all. 👍
Depends why you're doing the trip. Clare is still working so is limited in time off. We have a 2-week holiday in my brother's villa each year. We take 3 additional days each end to drive down and back. The aim is not to spend time in France, but to get to Moraira by Sat afternoon, then drive home 2 weeks later, leaving Sat morning. Sadly, we don't have time to spend off the route, much as we might have liked to.
Again a great vlog👍. We are looking forward to see the flight to Australia. Enjoy your flight✈️ at the end of this year👍.
Well done Tom and Clare. Great summary in this video. I am interested in your future trip to Australia. I went from Australia to the UK and back in business class in 2018 for the first time at the age of 60 which I also thought was a trip of a lifetime. You have managed the tech very well for your number of birthdays. I found your other videos informative and very sensible. Thanks for your efforts. The haters are really quite odd. Not yet grown up perhaps.
Fair play.
Excellent series of videos that are informative and very helpful. Your style of presenting is also good and you should be extremely proud of yourselves for embracing technology. Would love to see your videos documenting the trip to Australia, so please do publish. Well done again and here’s to your trip next year 👍
Would absolutely love to see your trip to Australia. Nearest to Business class I have travelled is Premium Economy. Which I loved.
You're an inspiration and have no need to apologise for the output, I enjoyed watching it very much. When abroad the Halifax Clarity credit card is ideal for all spending as you can pay in local currency (e.g. Euro), no transaction fee and the commercial exchange rate is applied so there's no need for cash other than a small amount (circa £20/day) of ad-hoc cash which you can pick up here in the UK before you leave. It's safer than carrying large amounts of cash / relying on cash machines abroad and no hassle trying to transfer from one account to another while you're abroad. If you're looking for ideas for future content, perhaps one on what you learnt while doing the editing of your videos, a sort of how to video, it's a daunting subject and probably the one that puts most people off making the attempt themselves. Enjoy down-under, you're going to love business class, Qatar is fabulous, allow plenty of time at the airport to enjoy their business class lounge as well.
Quality of the videos was perfect fine. Keep fighting the FUD!
Thank you for sharing your Trip Tom.. I found it very informative and a great watch. I'll be looking for the Australian trip if you decide to do it. 👍👍👍👍
Super videos. The LEZ for Rouen doesn't cover the normal routes which bypass the centre of Rouen where the LEZ is, but for the cost better safe than sorry.
Interesting. I thought our route did go into the LEZ.
@@tomdavison1152 It's the route I take regularly when we visit the UK, we travel in either the EV or the diesel motorhome, neither have a Crit Air sticker, without problems or fines.
Thanks for the videos Tom, I did a similar trip in a diesel Berlingo all the way to Malta this year which was a similar adventure but without the electrons! I have a Tesla as well now so will be happy to do European trips in it having seen how good the infrastructure is over there.
Enjoy the business class flights, make good use of the lounges, they take all the stress out of waiting and have good free (or included in the ticket price rather) food.
Great video enjoyed the breakdown of costs very useful looking foward to your business class trip to Australia
Well done Tom and Clare for showing that age is no impediment to both conquering a long journey in an EV and producing content for RUclips that others find enjoyable and interesting! Thanks for the tips and tricks, we'll definitely be buying one of those 4 way adapters. Do try some non-Tesla chargers out next time though, there are some really good options in France and they're not that much more expensive than Tesla and give you more flexibility in route planning, we like Electra and Fastned. As you know we did a similar series of videos with a similar motivation to document our trip back from the south of France, we hope you don't mind us highlighting that here so that those who found your videos useful can click our our profile to see similar content.
I’ve enjoyed each of your vlogs on the trip - very informative and not in any way ‘amateurish’ - well done. I’m only a few years younger than you - our next car will definitely be an EV and the model Y is very appealing - have you found Tesla supercharging less ‘faff’ than doing the trip in the MG4? We’re used to touring France in a motorhome but haven’t bothered with the emovis tag to date, but have to say it does seem to work very well, and would avoid my wife having to stretch out of the window to pay! We similarly use Tesco vouchers towards the tunnel crossing. Similar to the earlier comment, we use the Halifax Clarity credit card for almost all payments and use very little cash. I take it that by entering the next destination on the Tesla sat-Nav that the software would suggest charging stops en route - i.e. in theory it would be possible to simply enter Calais when leaving the villa in Spain? (I fully appreciate you’d need to take account of hotel and favourite cafe stops).
Hi, and thank you for your kind remarks. Charging using contactless is probably going to be on a par with Tesla, with just the need to tap your card added to the Tesla experience. So the Tesla V4 chargers will be fine. It's the chargers where you have to use an app that is a pain. I have, on one occasion with the MG4 had to leave an underground garage where there was no signal to log into the app and start charging. Hopefully, from later this month, contactless payment will apply to all chargers that can be used by non-Teslas, including all third party suppliers.
There is only one issue with the Tesla planner, and you've already spotted it. It takes no account of breaks, and all planned charging stops are on the basis of the minimum charge to get to the next stop with about 10% remaining. So, planning from Calais, Southbound, it wanted a short stop in Aire de la Baie de Somme, followed by a short stop in Rouen, before arriving at Chartres.. In practice, we stop at the Aire for lunch and by the time we're ready to leave, the car has hit enough charge to get to Chartres without recharging en-route. So, it's a good basis for the plan, but we then manually amended it to suit our stops. The other thing is that if you use the planner, navigating to the next supercharger, the car will automatically precondition the battery for maximum speed. We don't want to have to cut short our breaks to move the car off the charger, so maximum speed doesn't matter to us. So, we navigate to the location, not the charger. (eg, hotel Kyriad, and not Tesla Supercharger Chartres) That way, we aren't using power to precondition that we would then have to pay for, and we still found that the car was ready to go to the next stop before we were ready to coninue.
Thanks very much - really helpful.
Yes it would. However, it does so on the basis that you want the fastest possible route, with the shortest charging times. So, between Calais and Chartres, the satnav wanted a short stop at Aire de la Baie de Somme, and another short stop in Rouen. I planned to have lunch at the Aire and this normally takes about 40 mins. So I planned a long charge at the Aire while we ate, and then missed out the Rouen charger.
Just looked at Revolut. They are converting at 1.16. Barclaycard is 1.18, so I'll be sticking where I am.
@@tomdavison1152 Strange I have just looked at carrying out a transfer from GBP to Euro and it is showing an exchange rate of 1.193 euros / £ and no exchange fees. I do have the paid for account, so that is probably the difference
Revolut constantly changes with the commercial rate throughout the day, i have just checked on mine and it is now 1.19 minus the 1% weekend fee, @ 4pm it peaked at 1.1953, tuesday it was 1.2049. You can also pre exchange currency when the rate is higher to spend later.
Be careful with Revolut - they are not technically a bank and thus you are not really protected in the event of a loss. Also, they are also flagged by other banks for money laundering risk: Whenever i transfer money to my sister's Revolut account i get a phone call from my bank to confirm it's a legit transfer.
Still, they do offer a very attractive service.
👍
It doesnt worry me if you receive income as a part of your video endeavours .All power to you. PS the champagne isnt free you have paid in advance! :)
It was more to point out that my recommendations are not biased because of sponsorship. Similarly, I'm not asking for subscriptions, likes, or bell-ringing to make money.
Your in a tesla and hes in a taycan. 2 totally different cars with 2 totally different charging infrastructures. You been successful in a tesla does not mean one would in another non tesla EV. So it really proved nothing nevertheless interesting
We did the same trip last year in an MG4 using Tesla open-to-all and filling in any gaps with Ionity. Similar locations and worked almost as well.
However only achieved 3.5 m/kWh, so needing an extra 90kWh of energy, and an extra charging stop each way.
@tomdavison1152 is there a video of that on RUclips?
Sadly, no. We didn't think there would be an interest in "amateur" blogs. It was only The Macmaster and Geoff that triggered this one.
I agree, that's why those of us who do roadtrips across Europe, quite happily tell Lee "Should have got a Tesla!"
Effortless.
On the other hand, if it's all local and willy waving down at the local golf club, drive a Taycan. 🤷
I drive a VW ID4, it is not as efficient perhaps as a Tesla but it is efficient enough to make long journeys to Southern Spain or the Uk from my home in Central France easily. I used to use Ionity but predominantly use Tesla superchargers now. I could drive further each day in my old ICE car but the last 200 Kms I would be overly tired and perhaps unsafe to drive, with the longer enforced rests with an EV I am less tired and more capable to do long distances the following day.
Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks 👍
Bravo Tom & Clare (or Claire) for making a superb effort to produce your interesting and informative videos on your Spanish expedition.
It was particularly useful to us as we are planning a trip to the costa del sol in mid December. We have done this trip before in an EV and, just like you, we didn't have any issues whatsover either with the car or charging infrastructure, indeed the whole experience of our first european road trip in an EV was very relaxing and enjoyable.
Our last trip to the costa del sol was immediately post-covid, so paperwork and hotel stays were the most restrictive due to continued social distancing and mask measures that were still in place.
Our route was Abbeville> Rouen> Le Mans, Poitier> Ruffec> Angouleme> Bordeux> Bayonne> Burgos> Madrid> La Carolina> Jaen> Granada> Loja> Malaga and then along the coast to Marbella. We planned this route because we incorporated visiting friends in Ruffec into our journey.
We did encounter some snow blizzards around Burgos, so we were considering planning an alternative route to reduce this possibility. Your video vlog has conveniently come along at an opportune time. Your route looks to be an interesting alternative for us as it appears that the chance of any snow encounters may be reduced as we are always heading south with less high ground en-route ( I think?). I would be interested in your thoughts?
I will begin planning our (your) route in the next couple of weeks.
Can I ask where you obtained your toll tag and how it is managed, as on our last trip we just used PAYG at each toll booth, the tag certainly looked super convenient. Did you encounter any Spanish tolls?
Coincidentally we are also planning an Australian trip next year to visit friends who live in Perth, so we would be really interested in learning your experiences of your Australian adventure and any insights and tips and tricks that may be beneficial.
Your wifes video skills are just fine, no need to over-complicate....not padded-out with nonsense like many youtubers who are slaves to youtube algorithms to earn a crust.
We send you both our very best wishes for christmas and the new year, and an enjoyable time visiting Australia.
Toll tag link is in the description.
On the AP7 in Spain there are now no tolls between the border and our destination.
There is high ground up to 1100 metres at the South end of the A75, dropping down to sea level at Beziers. From October, snow tyres are mandatory.
@@tomdavison1152 or carry snow chains or equivalent.
We make that route from near Ruffec to Malaga in an EV each winter more or less following the route you mentioned, travelling south in December and North in early March and have done since 2010, ( only an EV in later years). Spain is far higher than anybody realises until they travel across it, but the Spaniards are practiced in keeping the main roads safe and open. The route you mention would have gritters parked at each junction should wintry weather be forecast and if it does snow heavily you would not be allowed to continue but would be escorted off the motorway into one of the huge carparks they have ready until the gritters and ploughs are able to clear the road unhindered by cars and trucks which in other countries would have blocked the road completely. That said in the 14 years we've been travelling the route we've never encountered a problem other than heavy rain and sometimes fog. We have taken the route via Moraira last autumn we found it less interesting and much longer. To break up the journey a little at Jaen we go across country to Lucena.
@JohnCourtman thanks for posting your comments, observations and experiences.
Cutting g across to lucerna from jaen looks interesting but a little concerning that charging opportunities are likely to be considerably limited, if not non existent?
We were considering Toms route as an alternative to our last one that i described to miss madrid and to reduce the likelihood of heavy snow, your experience with this route is reassuring.
I say WAS considering Tom's route, as the current horrendous floods being experienced around the valencia region are particularly concerning, particularly to my wife who is getting the jitters at the thought of taking the trip at all.😮😢
Can I ask what your experiences were with non-tesla charging networks, if you used any?
@@David-bl1bt I have a VW ID4, previously I used IONITY now in Spain only Tesla, in France Tesla and an independent company called IECharge. Presently only 21p per KW on their 320 & 160 KW chargers. Remember virtually all Tesla superchargers in France and Spain are open to non Teslas. I pay €8.00 a month when we're travelling to get the same prices Tom pays.
I have a theoretical range of 500kms, so from a charge of 80% and to leave some leeway I charge within 300kms. I often only charge at every 3rd or 4th supercharger station.
Soon it will be every 4th or 5th when they build all the ones in the plan. IONITY are further apart and less chargers at each one.
In an emergency there are many others you can use on route, Zunder, Iberdola, Energis etc in Spain, Shell, Total, Lidl etc in France.
As for Jaen to Lucena it's only 100kms, 60 miles with superchargers either end and 50kw chargers on route as an emergency.
We came back from Malaga two weeks ago, left with 95% charge arrived home 1450 kms later with 40% charge and only charged 4 times on route in total, we stopped another 4 times for the dogs.( + an overnight stop). When we return in December it will be cooler, so at least 5 stops, but there's always a cafe nearby. Hope this helps.