Charging recap: driving the Audi e-tron 55 (2019) from Rotterdam (NL) to Normandy (FR)
Finally! After talking with Audi since the summer, here is my first adventure ride with the #chargingmonster. The promise of a stable charging curve with 150kW performance is very interesting to a DC (fast) charging addict like myself. Taking it to France without an AC charging cable will be the mission.
Audi e-tron 55 to France
A rescue mission helping friends that feel like family. On my way to Rotterdam I’ll recharge at Fastned to pick up my passengers with the battery percentage as high as possible. Even when the battery is above 70% the e-tron can still take a serious fast charge. Starting at 70% just above 100kW speed it only took four minutes to get to 80% at 116kW. Incredible compared to pretty much any other EV I’ve ever tested.
With a predicted range of 300km at 98% charge I left for Rotterdam, Delfshaven. The fast charge created some time for a photo shoot.
If you just want to skip to the route traveled and charging details, check out Polarsteps.
Rotterdam, Delfshaven.
On to Belgium!
This is my first roadtrip where I will be charging at Fastned in Belgium as well. Which will create the beautiful possibility of reaching France powered solely by “Dutch green energy”. In case you’re wondering why I would head out to Ostende on the road to Normandy I will explain with some info supplied by Chargemap.
100kW+ fast charging opportunities on the road from Rotterdam to Cherbourg, Normandy. According to Chargemap.
As you can clearly see, the “gap” between Lille and Le Havre (Total charger not functional yet) and then Caen with 100kW chargers is enormous. That’s why I decided on a manual reroute. I know where the Ionity chargers are and I helped spread the news about Fastned Ostende (airport) myself when it opened. Adding “Calais” as a virtual stop see below for the real trip prediction:
Now this is more like it! Ionity and Fastned will make it easy to get to Caen. And then?
Belgium is getting easier with an EV everyday
Yet they are not seeing the Shell Recharge treatment as is happening in The Netherlands for example. Total is making some waves and I hope for serious Fastned action in 2021. When my passengers went for a coffee I ran into this old skool Allego triple charger. To have two Audi’s looking at one 50kW machine is like handing out two pepernoten to your kids after Sinterklaas. (It’s just not good enough).
Luckily we were on our way to Fastned. Still I’d love to plugin when passengers grab a coffee.
Fastned Ostende Airport
It’s necessary to leave the highway, the good part is this way you get to see a bit of Belgium you might miss out on otherwise. The 300kW chargers (alpitronic hyperchargers) leave nothing to be desired. Yet I’m starting to notice the e-tron is not the easiest vehicle to succesfully start a charging session. At several locations now I’ve had to hold the plug up to the vehicle after connecting to “force the start of the charge”.
I’ve been at enough chargers with enough vehicles to know this is not a common issue. Since this is an e-tron from 2019 I hope they fixed this on the newer ones!
It takes just twelve minutes to get from 17 to 50% SoC (State of Charge). But where it gets really interesting is beyond the 50% mark. Four minutes to get to 60%, after which the 70% SoC is reached in just three. By now the e-tron is taking 147kW. (Started just above 130kW). All in all a very impressive experience, really glad Fastned put out these machines in this location. We leave after 26 minutes that added 59kWh to the battery. (Avg: 136kW charging speed).
As a gold member of Fastned this would set you back around €20,- Since membership costs €12,- per month anyone driving an e-tron stopping once(!) a month at Fastned would be smart to think about this. (Using the Fastned app without membership this session would cost nearly €35,-).
Ionity Veurne (BE)
Thanks to a fan I realised just in time I was around the corner of Ionity Veurne. It appears to be a truck stop and isn’t really close to the highway at all. I am surprised Ionity chose this location because there aren’t any amenities nearby (if I have to believe Chargemap the truckers have their bar close). Still these chargers are mighty fast of course, but the trucker vibe has a weird competition with the Audi, or is that just me?
La France
It’s 194km from Fastned Ostende to Ionity Baie de Somme. I want to emulate a fast drive because my passengers are regular French highway drivers: 130km/h is normal (huge difference compared to 100km/h in NL). It seems I/the Audi gets lucky with some road works near Calais because at 130km/h later we are shredding range like there’s no tomorrow. With 9% SoC left we finally arrive at Ionity. I’m very happy about this because I’m curious of the speed of this charging session at low State of Charge: we need to do around 250km to reach Caen now.
Charging starts at 138kW and reaches 150kW speeds at 68% SoC! That process takes 21 minutes which is simply staggering. During any normal trip I would’ve left now but with the e-tron I recommend staying till 80% exactly where the first “heavy” throttling occurs. With that I mean a drop to around 101kW (still more than most EV’s can take at any given moment).
At 90% SoC the battery is still taking in 82kW which I cannot stress enough is hard to accomplish. Some very interesting battery cooling technology going on in the e-tron.
Tesla and Ionity close to eachother here. I like it. Imagine if Tesla builds a Tesla Guest application that lets everybody use the chargers at €0,50/kWh. Amazing times ahead.
The road to Caen
Ionity Baie de Somme to Caen is around 245 km. I decide on taking a very rare full charge at Ionity. The Audi manages from 9% to 100% in 39 minutes and some seconds. Short of Porsche this is the best that EV’s have to offer right now. Why am I taking these precautions? Because we don’t know what will happen when reaching Caen. I have been to France with an endless lineup of EV’s that hopefully continues to grow. The one thing I have learned: never count on one DC charger.
Chargemap warns us: Caen has two 100kW DC chargers, one has been offline for at least a week now. Reaching the other one there is a MINI already charging. The change to EV’s is happening in France I’m warning you! More infrastructure is needed today!
Promise vs. reality
— I went to check out the Fiat 500e in Cherbourg, Normandy. The promise is 85kW fast charging. Yet if you get yourself the Fiat, where will you actually find 85kW charging. Even on a 300km+ ride to Paris there is nothing. —
Back to the Audi ride: the 100kW MobiSDEC charger (a new DBT device, I’ve ran into countless problems with their earlier generation hardware in the past years in several countries) ends up delivering 56kW. I love the info screen even though it’s slow to respond.
Borne de recharge. Caen, Route de Rouen.
Checking up on local infrastructure
Between Caen and Cherbourg there is only one 50kW charger. Pretty closeby at Bayeux. There is a PHEV left for dead connected to the Type 2 charger. Getting the e-Totem charger to open and show the CCS cable is a hassle and I almost give up, but I don’t want to return to Caen.
The e-Totem struggle! But if you win and it opens: 48kW great result. And cheap! 22kWh for a euro! A euro! Chargemap rocks.
Thanks to this charger we easily reach our final destination in Barfleur. It’s been a gorgeous day on the road. There is still so much work to do, but change is happening. Fastned is coming. Allego is also opening new stations in France.
EV sales are rising in France which means that infrastructure has to improve. Come on!
#alwaysbecharging
And now, for some Schuko powered relaxation. Return trip and much more info about the Audi e-tron experience in the next blog!
Plugged into the 1.2kW power source, 50 hours for a full charge at 30%!