The Electric Car Thread – Page 236 – Chat Forum – Singletrack World Magazine Forum

Edukator · 2020-07-26T16:52:32Z

All the threads I wanted to bump are over a year old so here's an attempt at a durable thread. A couple of years ago we did a road trip in a Zoé 40 which showed up weaknesses in the charging infrastructure; when all else failed we found a campsite and charged overnight. This year we decided to visit family and friends so did Pau, Berlin, Lodz (Poland), Bavaria and Austria: 5050km. France still isn't great, there's a limited number of DC chargers and too many operators with different cards. We used 22kW chargers with Mobive (which is currently shambolic as they're being taken over and twice required phone calls to start chargers), Leclerc, Lidl, Intermarché and local council chargers. The only 50kW DC charger on our route failed - there was a Dutch guy there with 2% battery wondring what to do next. All free or cheap as you'd expect with French electricity prices. Germany and Austria have gone from nightmarish to brilliant. Mobility+ has signed contracts with many of the 300+ operators to provide a nationwide network. Lots of 50-300kW DC chargers - we saw one of those new Porches using a 300kW charger near Munich. Every one we used worked as it should from the app. Pricing is better than it was too: 39cents for AC kWs and 47cents for DC kWs which is not bad considering the price of electricity in Germany and the 77cents of some competitors. Lidl and Aldi have 50kW chargers in some places too but we couldn't find a simple way of knowing which of them had chargers. There are more than on the Chargemap app anyhow. There's still a problem with with fully charged hybrids squatting chargers for free parking in some places so we went for fast chargers on autobahns when possible. Poland. Once we'd bought a Polish SIM card to put in the phone it was fine. You can only download the Orlan app with a Polish SIM (try it, I'd be interested to know if it's just French SIMs that are blocked on Google Play). Orlan chargers are great and because they're in a service station if they don't work there's someone there to sort them out. As for the new Zoé, the extra range and fast charging make 600km+ days confortable, confortable meaning 9 hours from leaving one hotel/camping to checking into the next. On a 50kW Orlan charger the Zoé charged at exactly the same rate as the Tesla Model 3 that was on it before, 37kw. We never saw more than 37kW on any charger, it was generaly hot and the car had done about 200km before the charge. 50mins for 70% of the battery was typical.

BoardinBob

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Posted by: TomB

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Candidates include Hyundai Kona

Have you had a look at one yet? I was tempted but I went to the dealers for a look at in the flesh. It felt incredibly dated on the inside. It looked like an american car from the 90s. A very weird grey all over. Put me right off it.

Posted : 05/08/2026 4:01 pm

matt_outandabout

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Posted by: BoardinBob

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Posted by: TomB

↑

Candidates include Hyundai Kona

Have you had a look at one yet? I was tempted but I went to the dealers for a look at in the flesh. It felt incredibly dated on the inside. It looked like an american car from the 90s. A very weird grey all over. Put me right off it.

True

But the user asking the question is used to a 20 year old Honda, so....

Posted : 05/08/2026 4:43 pm

oldtennisshoes

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Candidates include Hyundai Kona

BB isn't wrong, but we have one alongside my PS4 and in many ways I prefer using the Kona unless we are going on a long trip.

The fast charge isn't an issue as it's only ever charged at home and it's currently showing a 200+ mile range.

Ours is a 21 plate. I'm not so keen on the looks of the later version.

This is good for comparing car sizes
https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/audi-q8-e-tron-2023-suv-vs-polestar-4-2023-suv/front/

Posted : 05/08/2026 4:50 pm

RichPenny

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Megane or MG4 are right size and in budget

Posted : 05/08/2026 7:30 pm

TomB

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Thanks all, excellent knowledge and thoughts, will continue research process.

Turns out our local eco car club has a Kona, of suitable vintage, so I’ll hire that for £5 an hour and see what it’s like. Will also look at the other suggestions cheers!

Posted : 05/08/2026 7:47 pm

wbo

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Id pick a Kona over the Megane or Mg. Not exciting, but decent

Posted : 05/08/2026 8:02 pm