Saturday, August 9, 2014

From Siena back to Holland

After several weeks in Tuscany, we finally head back to Holland.
As for the way in, we decide to pass via Savoie, but..... now the French Tesla Supercharger corridor is (almost!) open !!!




We leave Siena early morning.

First stop is supposed to be the Eneldrive charging pole of Forte dei Marmi

And the first surprise waits for us: the charging station is out of order ! 

I call Enel, the operator is extremely nice, but unfortunately cannot help us, as the station has tripped and the intervention of a technician is needed.

Luckily we have enough charge to make it to Genoa, where Ikea, once again, is our safest resource of electrons.


You just need to find it...... after about 20 minutes of running around (by car an on foot) the Ikea parking, we find the spot: 2 charging poles from Eneldrive.


There are 4 parking spots reserved to electric vehicles, but guess what, they are regularly occupied by thermic cars.I had to chase one guy away ....
The parking spots are covered of weeds, which does not help identifying the reserved spots, colored in green.There poles are under the panel "Noleggio furgoni" (van rental), no signs for the electric charging stations !!!! They are on the third and forth parking row, on the right, entering the parking. Don't bother asking for info in Ikea, nobody even knows that you can charge electric cars over there.... :-O





After a decent lunch and some shopping, we head to Torino, again at Ikea, where both the charging poles from Eneldrive are up and running:




A couple of hours of charge, then I take the chance to meet some old friends, so we have a lovely dinner at their place.
We get to Savoie under the pouring rain, after a fairly relaxing trip.

Next day we leave for the first quick charge at the Tesla Supercharger in Chambery

All over France, for the time being, the installations are temporary. In case of two cars connected at the same time the power is shared, but still much faster than a 22kW outlet.

In Chambery the  Supercharger is in a commercial center, very convenient spot ! 



The time of a coffee and the next stop is in Dijon, at the Tesla Supercharger of Nuit St. George.
The charging station is on a hotel parking, which is open 24/7. 
The hotel has a 3 stars restaurant, which can offer lovely meals in the heart of the Burgundy region. Unfortunately on Sunday and Monday the hotel restaurant is closed ! So no lunch for us :-(

At 200mt, next to the Ibis hotel, there is a boulangerie that makes also sandwiches, but not on Sunday :-(.


After some camping type of lunch, we head to Reims, at the restaurant Del Arte, (Rue de la Ferme Pierquin, 51450 Bétheny).

The restaurant owner is also a Tesla owner, so a fast charging plug is made public and available to us !
Next to the restaurant there is also a Mc Donald.

Last stop is in Nivelles, Bruxelles, at the Suprecharger of the Hotel Van der Valk. Too bad that there are already two Teslas charging ! So we kill the time on a 7kW plug next to the hotel entrance...,. Luckily only for few minutes, as the Superchargers come free just for us !

Finally back to Holland, happy and satisfied, to prove that now the Tesla Supercharger are a reality also in Europe !!

And it can get only better :-)


Thursday, July 17, 2014

We made it to Tuscany !



The second part of our journey, from The Netherlands to Tuscany by Tesla Model S, passing via Savoie, is successfully concluded !
The story of the first leg of the trip is here: From NL to Savoie.

The route is not that long, from Valmorel (Savoie) to Siena (Tuscany) it's about 725 km...

...but there are no Tesla Superchargers on the way. 
We have to rely on the newly installed charge points of Eneldrive.
On the net, very few, conflicting reports can be found on the points around Turin, Genoa and Pisa. So many questions are nagging me: will they be there? will they work?
The plan is to charge in Turin and Forte dei Marmi, with back up in Pisa.

So our pioneer's Italian electric tour starts from Valmorel at 8 am, direction the Frejus tunnel. 

215 km later, at 10:45 we get to the Ikea store in Collegno, in the Turin's outskirts, where two charge points are waiting for us, right in front of the entrance.
"Welcome, place the card over the screen"

















A bit anxious, I pose the brand new RFID card from Eneldrive on the pole, plug into the Type 2 outlet..... 
Yes, it flawlessly works !!
We take the chance for some shopping and lunch, for a stop of about 2 hours and half.
We set off with direction Forte dei Marmi, on the Versilia coast of Tuscany, for 310 km. 

We get there at about 16:45. The charge point is right in the town center, on a one way road. There is one Eneldrive pole only, as well as one only parking spot, placed before it, so that a car with a front plug would have no problem (i.e. Zoe and Leaf).... too bad that the Model S has the plug on the rear side, and our cable does not reach the charge point !

The only choice is to park on the spot in front of the pole, that is actually reserved to the Police, with the risk of getting fined or even clamped.... 
I was so much in anguish that I didn't even take a picture :-(

 
This is a picture kindly provided by the pioneer of the Italian electric mobility, Roberto Petetta, and his Zoe, taken on the same spot.
And here it is the message that we pityingly left on the Tesla windscreen, hoping in the Police's mercy:
"On the parking spot reserved to charging, the cable did not reach the plug"
We spent 2 hours on the beach, we had a great time  playing in the sun and in the water, and when we got back.... full of Police all around and no tickets, nor clamps :-)

Last 180 km to go and we reach Siena at 21:00.

This was my dream since we got the Model S last year and it's now reality.... we made it to Tuscany !!!

Overall, 725 km in 13 hours, 5 of which charging (and relaxing on the beach :-)


-------
Some info on the Eneldrive charging points and the necessary card.
The poles have two outlets, one for Type 2 (Mennekes-like) delivering 22kWh and one for Type 3a, delivering 3kW:


About the card:


This  is the Eneldrive RFID card
You can get the card from an Enel shop, unfortunately it is not possible to get it remotely. Moreover, the card shall be connected to an Italian bank account, no foreign account nor credit card is allowed.
I find this a major shortcoming for a charging network that is actually properly working and fast developing, to finally allow full electric mobility even in Italy.
www.eneldrive.it

Monday, June 30, 2014

From The Netherlands to Tuscany by Tesla Model S

The first leg of our electric journey, from Leiden, The Netherlands, to Tuscany, Italy, via Savoie, is successfully completed. 

To get to Savoie, in the French Alps, we opt to drive through Germany, to make use of the Tesla Superchargers on the way.

We left from Leiden at 8 am. Battery fully charged. Easy drive to Zevenaar, for the first, quick charge. Since we haven't consumed much so far, just the time for a croissant and a cappuccino and off we go.

Second stop, at the Tesla Supercharger of Winsdorf, in Germany, just in time for lunch.
Tesla fully charged again, en route for Bad Rappenau, for another Supercharger. 
The weather is a bit miserable, but there is a snack bar where we have an ice cream. 
Back to the car, a group of curious guys entertain us with many questions on the Tesla :-)
So fare so good ! The Superchargers are a dream, so fast, so easy... 
At the level of Strasbourg, we take the direction of France. No Superchargers available, we stop in Colmar, where at the Cora mall there is a 22kW charger and... good news for the environment but bad news for us, a Zoe is charging at the Type 2 plug !
It's already 18:30, what shall we do... We also make an announcement at the supermarket speakers, but the Zoe owner doesn't turn up... Finally he comes, so we can plug the Tesla and go for some grocery at the market and a nice dinner at the restaurant nearby.

We're almost done. We get to Switzerland, to charge at the Supercharger in Lully. 
It's 22:55, we just need half an hour of charge, no more than that. Good opportunity for a power nap.

Last 2 hours of drive to get, finally, to Valmorel, in Savoie, after a D-tour, as in Switzerland they closed the motorway (yeah, thanks...).
It's 2:30 am, we are pretty tired, but so happy, so proud, we MADE IT !!  
We brought our Tesla to the Alps !

So overall, it took 18 hours to do 1300 km, of which about 5 hrs to recharge (the car and ourselves :-).

Next leg of the electric journey, in a couple of weeks: from Savoie to Tuscany.