UK to Brittany on CCS Chargers.

I am planning a trip to La Rochelle in the West Loire in France starting from Bristol.

The best route seems to be through Poole-St Malo ferry - 306 miles and four CCS charges. (Plymouth-Roscoff is 423 miles and six CCS Charges.)

I’ve used the CCS Charger Map - www.ccs-map.eu. The most useful CCS map I've found.

Poole-St Malo: Poole is 71 miles and there is a CCS charger at Poole so I’ll end up with about 60-70 miles of charge at the Ferry. I don’t think Condor Ferries have onboard chargers (anyone know differently?) and the next CCS charger in France is at Ploermel - (63 miles), then Arzal (33 miles), then Boufféré (73 miles), then La Rochelle (66 miles). A total of four CCS charge points. (UK 71 miles + France 235 miles).

The CCS Chargers in Brittany and West Loire are provided by “Morbihan Energies” and so far I haven’t been able to contact them to find out what I need to use their chargers. Anyone used them and know whether I need to sign on for a charging card?

Hi Janner

Since my Midlands to Aachen trip a few weeks ago, I caught the "foreign EV trip bug" and feel obliged to help!

I've done a bit of searching on the web and found these 2 links in french:
http://morbihan-energies.fr/VE/
http://www.breezcar.com/actualites/article/bornes-de-recharge-rapide-voitures-electriques-morbihan-departement-040714

My french is a bit rusty, but I think there are currently no charges for the Morbihan Rapid Chargers and the cards to use are from the established KiWhi network. It might also be worthwhile checking whether UK networks like CYC cover any french chargers, but this might incur a surcharge. Also, if any roaming is allowed using a UK card, ensure that the "backend" systems recognise your card by calling both providers and confirming card details.

If you have to order a card directly from Morbihan then you might have to provide a french postal address (so glad we live in the EU, right!?), but not sure.

Let us know how you're getting on.

Hope this is helpful.
P

Thanks very much for this.

I finally had a reply from Morhiban Energies.

To connect to electric charging stations , you must have access cart "Kiwhi Pass" availble on the website http://www.kiwhipass.fr/

For KiWhi Pass you will need an address in France as you said.

I found this from EVMeerkat:
http://www.kiwhipro.fr/en/
Registration Guide. (at time of writing assumes you’re a resident in France)
All done in french (or via google translate) will require you to enter obscurer details like “Department of Birth” – Enter 99.
Now, address – enter the KiWhi official office address (10 allée Louis Vincent 53000 LAVAL). Let the kind folks know your actual Home address and they will post your card to you.

Hi “EvMeerkat”,
You have just to send me your address in order to deliver you your KiWhi card at home.
You have to follow this steps:
1) Create your KiWhi account on www.kiwhipass.fr,
2) Send me your address to send you your KiWhi card. Then you’ll be able to charge your electric vehicle without problem on the KiWhi network in France.
At your disposal.
Best regards,
Xavier Geolier Chargé de Relations – Relations Manager
[email protected]

That is such a great favour to offer the delivery address! All kudos to that.

In general, I have to say, the best charging system is the one that FastNed uses in the Netherlands. No RFID required, simply sign up for an account online, install the app and start charging your car that way (all stations have free and fast Wifi).

ThePluginCompany in Belgium uses a web app, SMS or RFID to enable their CCS/Chademo rapids.

ChargeYourCar (UK) and TheNewMotion (NL, B and GER) also have roaming agreements for travelling through the respective countries. ThePluginCompany even allowed me to call them out of hours on a mobile during the weekend to get a charger enabled. Top service!

Keep us posted about your trip and how your getting along.

It is both puzzling and slightly frustrating that the Charging network hardware installed across Europe and UK is not simply geared up for tap and Pay convenience. Ultimately that is what the business model in a more mature EV market will dictate happens. Meanwhile I just enjoy the free electrons.

Great info though if I need to go travel to France or Cloggieland, thanks.

FWIW, I'd take some of the hassle about how to activate and find the CCS units if there were any near me that I could actually use! In the USA, their distribution is very spotty, and in some places there essentially are none, so planning a trip to utilize them is just a waste of time.

As EVs and plug-in hybrids become more common, hopefully, the market will drive their installation and ease of use everywhere. In the USA, to meet CAFE requirements, it is almost certain that many models from all manufacturers will end up as either EV, or plug-in hybrids in the next 10-years or so. Volume wise, we're at the very beginning. WHen they become a bigger percentage of those vehicles on the road, just like finding a gas station, you'll be able to find a charge point. I'm not sure about hydrogen...it is a fairly high energy fuel to extract, transport, and store. Throw in it is invisible, odorless, and burns without a visible flame, not counting the fact that it is the smallest molecule known, it is hard to contain and tends to make things brittle in the long run and escape fairly easily.

You're right, Jim, in Europe we are quite spoiled in terms of CCS already. And I have to say that, despite complaints on Twitter, Ecotricity are doing a good job with their Electric Highway in the UK. The fact that we can talk on this forum about trips from UK to France or Germany, for example, using CCS (almost) all the way is a big leap forward. Main issue are just the different charging networks and registration addresses for them. My guess is that we're going to see more roaming agreements in Europe soon.

The CCS situation in Europe is much clearer when you see the www.ccs-map.eu put together by Mutwin Kraus - without this kind of map it's impossible to get a credible overview of the situation. Looks like in the US you need something like this.

I followed those instruction on the KwiHi pass - all worked well. Have the app as well and that is logged into the account so I am all set. Just need a change of mind by SWMBO.

;-)

That's excellent. Have a good trip.