Diary of a Charging Addict #2

Welcome back to my new series!

Today we're following Hugo Bos on his way to Spain. Just days ago he embarked on a ride with his IONIQ5 to Dénia, where he will take the ferry to Ibiza. A Better Routeplanner recommend him to take a small detour, I thought it would be fun to visit the brand-new LIDL shown above... Only he was one day early, the red carpet was rolled out 24 hours later.

Nowadays, Lille is not the Charging Desert it once was, and nearby Hugo encountered a LIDL with a single "120 kW charger". In the app I used to start his session though, it's listed as 150kW Per Plug. 60kW seemed to be the hard limit. (Alone). It was cheap though!

Continuing his ride as soon as he could (while shouting at me, he didn't get a #chargingmonster to receive 60kW of course)... he spotted this Fastned #construction site!

Soon, electric drivers will be able to choose: Fastned along the tollroad, or IONITY just beside it: they are building a huge site at "Seclin", Denis SCHOELENS gives an impression what to expect there.

Could it be 12x350kW right from the start? Let's see early 2023!

With Engie at Ressons-Ouest being nearly done but not quite, Hugo had no choice but to continue. How close is Engie to launch "big" in France? VERY close:

When Hugo arrived at IONITY Saint-Witz there was just one (Tesla!) taxi charging up.

I've been asking IONITY since they opened this station half a year ago when they will put in the promised 12x350kW and I really hope this will happen before next summer. What I also hope is that Novotel one day realizes this is now a public location, they keep closing the entrance gate and it's a horrendous experience. Most of these vehicles came in right at the same moment, because they had been queuing for a while outside. Nothing worse than queuing BEFORE plugging in when chargers are available.

From here on out, life is just Parisian traffic jams. Hours later Hugo contacted me about his last stops of the day, for example at the brand-new Aire du Bourbonnais, we passed it back in October when it was still closed. Now he could enjoy the chargers right in front of the food place. Interesting detail: the red LED means nothing, according to Hugo all chargers were up & running! (Oh yeah and for the people in the back, see that ZOE? Connected to AC for over two hours...)

Finding a place to sleep in "rural France" after driving till late, Hugo booked a place, deserted when he arrived. Took him around the Saint-Flour neighborhood a bit until he eventually found something, even a 50kW charger nearby (extremely noisy, poor neighbors).

Day Two!

Very easy drive to Spain, Hugo knows the A75 well from all our previous endeavors. He even meets a Swedish IONIQ5 at IONITY "Village Catalan" just before entering Spain. Look at the difference between the morning in France and the afternoon in España:

Passing by Barcelona, you're entering a new world. Or should I say the old world? Something weird is going on with the Tarragona area and further south. Real fast charging infrastructure is a scarcity, and it's where an EV like the #IONIQ5 will show its true colors: it needs infrastructure! As all EVs do. But it also needs to match the audience.