electricfelix updates - Issue #10

Wow it's been a while! Good to be back!

An EV travel blog in the "travel less" age. I'm going to try! This will be the start of a big summer throwback, with travel nearly suspended luckily I have a bag full of trips that I can still tell you about!

The past months have seen quite some changes in the life of charging cards.

I will try to give a quick overview of the new world.

Are they the new Maingau? No, EnBW is something else entirely. In 2020 they have chosen to become the biggest charging #Hypernetz of Germany and they were not joking around. Their #alpitronic #hyperchargers are everywhere to be found. The cool thing is that their app looks great and works well. And it expanded to all kinds of very interesting roaming contracts so that it can be used at many places in countries like The Netherlands and France as well. Check it out!

Willkommen im EnBW HyperNetz. Profitieren Sie von der ausgezeichneten Ladeinfrastruktur des Connect-Testsiegers.

In the video posted above I will show you the most important fast charging station in France. For years, Amsterdam -> Paris has been challenging, for pretty much any non Tesla out there. Not anymore! Total is taking control of the fast charging situation for 2021 and it won't be boring! What is very interesting is that they use a minute pricing model. That might be expensive for your not so fast charging Kia/Hyundai etc. in winter. This is where EnBW comes in, using their app you will just pay in kWh, as long as this offer lasts, clearly.

There is much more fast charging news

As a true collector of charging cards, I'm not that person that can't wait to use tap to pay anywhere. But when speaking to people that don't drive EV's (yet) I do hear this a lot. They want to be able to pay by bank card. (Or NFC phone, bank app, etc). Since the customer is always right, I think everybody should start implementing this at fast chargers especially. Shell Recharge is doing so in The Netherlands and I tested it!

Fast charging Germany

I spoke about EnBW already but let's not forget Fastned. They opened one of Germany's biggest fast charging hubs together with Tesla and the local bakery at #KreuzHilden. An ideal start to any EV roadtrip coming in from The Netherlands heading East/South. During the opening a couple of months back I tried out the "hazard light trick" with the Jaguar I-Pace: and it seems to work. A heated up battery is still necessary which might be challenging in winter.

Fast charging in The Netherlands

We're seeing huge expansion by Shell Recharge (140 active locations now). New kids on the block as well: OrangeGas opened a hub near Schiphol. The most appealing aspect is price. Bring your e-flux charging card and fast charging will set you back just €0,30/kWh. Though the three 150kW chargers they put up are not liquid cooled so running at 200A max. (There are seven 60kW chargers).

Only 150kW if you bring a Taycan! Should I?

Well I tested the location with the e-Jumpy van for you!

IONITY charging

Clearly Ionity deserves a mention here, because in the incredible year that 2020 has turned out to be they still managed to expand to 325 stations EU wide. 99 of those are up and running in Germany.

Since traveling has come to a near standstill, I'm not surprised my Ionity page hasn't had the traffic it did over the summer. I still recommend you to check it out (regularly) though, because there are some very interesting options out there these days. Especially if you're not driving around Germany.

Cheaper fast charging at Ionity! Find the best charging cards and apps to

use when charging up at Ionity after the newly introduced kWh based pricing

model

When they opened their 300th station, I wrote a story.

Ionity is Europe's main public fast charging network for electric vehicles

and they have been growing rapidly even in the challenging environment of

the year 2020. A short overview of growth and what to expect from Ionity

going forward. With extra information concerning pricing.

The vehicle that started it all

My electricfelix blog would probably never have existed without the Jaguar I-Pace. A favourite vehicle rental company started offering it back in December 2018 and it changed my life. I talked about this with Jaguar and about the issues I sometimes encountered with the rental vehicles (they almost never had any updates installed and so on).

Big thank you to Jaguar for giving me the opportunity of doing a family roadtrip with this one!

Two years in, what's it like to take the Jaguar I-Pace for a new EV

roadtrip from Amsterdam to Kleve (DE), Aachen (DE), Liège (BE) and the

Morvan (FR). What about 7kW charging (one phase), 80kW CCS fast charging at

Fastned and Ionity. Read about the full experience here. The electric

roadtrip to France with the Jaguar I-Pace HSE, summer 2020.

electricfelix on YouTube

There's no life without video, clearly. I'm always working on the channel and welcome all feedback!

You might've missed me trying out the Citroën e-Jumpy van.

Or maybe you're curious about charging up the e-tron in winter when the battery is still cold?

My first Chinese EV experience has a video up too! Meet the Aiways U5.

The EV of 2020

I could write a book about my Taycan experience, but I recommend checking out the video to give you an impression of the Berlin -> Amsterdam time trial I did over the summer.

It was #BerlinChallenge number three (after the Jaguar in 2018 and the Model 3 back in 2019) and it will prove hard to crush this new record! For the Dutchies there are several blogs up about the ride.

electricfelix on Polarsteps

If you're curious where I'm headed next you can always glance over the Trips page. It includes links to all of my journeys, you can check them out in detail if you were wondering about winter consumption of the Aiways U5 for example.

Follow electricfelix's The Aiways U5 Christmas Challenge to Normandy trip

The club

My goal of becoming the EV travel guide to Europe still stands, during these days with hardly any traveling. I'm confident everybody with their new EV's will be very eager to head out on adventures when the sun sets again to do so. I will be here to guide you, wherever you want to go!

I wish to thank all members of the electricfelix club immensely, without you it wouldn't be possible to continue on this journey.

If you're interested to join the club and support electricfelix and receiving personal travel advice for your EV, check out my on Patreon or Petje.af pages (a Dutch platform).

Become a patron of electricfelix today: Get access to exclusive content and experiences on the world’s largest membership platform for artists and creators.

Petje af voor electricfelix. Welkom bij electricfelix!

Als adviseur over alles wat met elektrisch rijden te maken heeft, ben ik graag onderweg. Op zoek naar nieuwe snelladers, go...

One promise

Just one, for 2021: there will be a monthly electricfelix newsletter updating you on fast charging, pricing, EV's, and everything else I encounter on my adventures.

Travel or no travel! See you at a fast charger soon!

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