electricfelix updates - Issue #5

January 29, 2020

January 2020! Sono lives! Ionity shakes up the European EV world! I had some #vanlife adventures. Here's your EV newsflash, brace yourselves!

Sono received over 53 million euros in funding in 50 days!

This year starts full of hope. Even in the EV scene, many did not believe in Sono's chances back the start of the campaign in December 2019. Yet here we are, end of January 2020 and they *(#&@*&^ made it! I participated in a German YouTube video to raise awareness and I am super happy that this inspiring project can continue the journey.

Peugeot Where Art Thou?

After spotting the e-208 GT last year, Peugeot contacted me for a testdrive. Obviously I cannot wait to tell you more about the vehicle, but in December this is what happened. While every EV blog is covering (possible) delays on the VW ID.3 that's supposed to arrive this year, the Peugeot story is less known. Software delays were the reason for no testdrive in December. Guess what. January is almost over. I asked for news but no serious info yet. When I know more, you will be the first to find out about it!

ZE50

Now that Renault started offering CCS charging on the ZE50, it's about time for a serious testdrive (I've driven the R90 around Amsterdam because they are available through Fetch, a local sharing program). I will keep you posted!

#Vanlife edition 1 & 2.

December and January, moving season. I contacted Mercedes & Volkswagen for testdrives with the eVito and e-Crafter! They both turned out to be quite cool vehicles with some intriguing differences.

The eVito has special powers with full regen control. Also a very fine tuned (ECO) mode system is included. The e-Crafter has the luxury of a fine LKA (Lane Keep Assist) that made the highway a true breeze (at a limited 95km/h).

Obviously my adventurous spirit sort of needs the e-Crafter because of the CCS fast charging capabilities: you can do a cross country trip, whatever you want! Feelings after the Sunday 300km+ drive.

Test drive with the Mercedes-Benz eVito electric van, a story about a local move in Amsterdam and a ride to the beach.

A long weekend of roadtrips with the Volkswagen e-Crafter, fast charging at

Ionity, Allego, Fastned and Loadl charging hubs! electricfelix giving you

an impression of the VW e-Crafter experience.

Upcoming EV roadtrips!

February has a big promise of a new drive to Madrid! I will tell you more about it when I get confirmation on the vehicle.

March has a snowy adventure with my dad waiting. Thinking about what vehicle to drive to Switzerland. What do you think I should do?

Podcast!

Listen to this episode from BYTES 'N' BATTERIES - Dein E-Mobility Podcast on Spotify. Felix kennt die europäischen Reiserouten und Autobahnen wie seine Westentasche. Kein Wunder, denn der IT Consultant aus den Niederlanden mietet regelmäßig langstreckentaugliche Elektroautos wie den Jaguar iPace oder das Tesla Model 3 und fährt zum Beispiel von Amsterdam nach Berlin.

Last year bytesnbatteries interviewed me, so if you're curious about how I ended up doing all these electric roadtrips, listen back to the interview with the link above.

Personal advice

I'm constantly working on my website. This year will see further expansion in the travel advice section. if you want to check out my recent work, here is the Guide to France by EV. Free of charge.

Dutch speaking people can take a look below to become member of electricfelix. By becoming a member you gain access to all the guides: Germany, Spain and the UK. More guides ahead! Plus as a member you can reach out using my travel advice form so I can help you adjust your plans to your vehicle and ideas.

International clients can obviously still use PayPal and receive the same benefits.

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, goedkopere laadpassen, sneller ladende voertuigen, en andere mooie trucs. Ik deel mijn ervaringen graag met jullie. Je kunt bij mij terecht voor advies betreffende al je Europese roadtrips, neem contact met mij op om een PDF te ontvangen met tips over reizen met een EV door Frankrijk, Duitsland, Engeland en Spanje!

Members get instant access to my travelguides. Last year I was still sending out PDF's manually. This year I will be making webbased travelguides that can get updated by me within seconds. For example when Ionity price changes get activated at several platforms.

The always up-to-date version of my EV travelguide to France. I'd love your feedback.

Dutch EV numbers!

Offical numbers in The Netherlands were pretty impressive in 2019, check them here.

What a year for EV's in The Netherlands. Surpassed predictions!

Car lovers, unite & please read.

For a century, we’ve loved our cars, but they haven’t loved us back, Nathan Heller writes.

Fast charging along the highway and in the city - fast charging in 20 minutes - fast growing network - in the Netherlands & Germany - 100% powered by renewable solar and wind power

Fastned app update

Fastned (in my opinion still the most reliable charging operator out there with unbeaten helpdesk and uptime) updated their apps at the start of 2020 improving the most important aspects: speed. The app starts much faster than before. And for everyone (Hi I-Pace drivers) without clear charging speed indicator on their vehicle: the app now tells you what's going on charging speedwise!

Funny quote to mention, recently visiting a German cardealership somebody pointed out that Fastned was expensive. I didn't think too much of it. Except for anybody uttering these words probably doesn't understand how Fastned works. They are building a network to get you home (or to the next charger). Price is less important, it's about reliability, redundancy, uptime, helpdesk, a roof over your head.

Just weeks after hearing about Fastned being expensive Ionity broke the internet by announcing the new kWh-based model.

This will be a year of very interesting stories in the land of EV's. (International) pricing of fast charging will probably be worth a case study in itself.

Porsche..... Taycan!

It was the end of 2018. I was trying to juice up the Jaguar I-Pace at the Porsche Berlin Center. They were still open to 'public charging' because there was little demand anyway. During 2019 they stopped. Now they are just serving energy for the Taycan. I've been very curious to see if Porsche would actually make it to their own deadline and yes they really did. The Red Taycan above has a Dutch license plate. It's really starting! What I love about vehicles like these is that they introduce a new audience to the world of EV. There is also risk involved. Isn't it still too early?

Just yesterday I heard about somebody trying to charge up at Allego Munich. These Allego HPC's have been in place since summer 2019. Yet they are still not functioning well. Unstable, low (20kW) speeds, very annoying for travelers. This story reached me through an I-Pace driver who told me that a Taycan was ready to slap the HPC in the face because charging would stop every other second. Brings back memories to my worst experiences of last year.

Ionity and fast charging around Europe

This bring us to the part you've all been waiting for. I'm still working on my Ionity long read. I will probably publish it when Ionity pushes the new pricing into the world. (31st of January). It will also be super interesting to watch all the apps keep up with the new pricing. I expect charging apps to update their Ionity prices during February. An interesting source will be https://chargeprice.app/ Unfortunately it is already known that 'eins e-mobil' will not stick to their super easy price model that had the same (low) kWh model active all over Europe, very unique. Watch their app to find out what happens!

Thanks to laadpastop10.nl we do know that Maingau will stick to their pricing model for now.

When using Maingau, be aware the 'parking tariff' kicks in. So regulate your DC charging to be one hour (60min) max. And 4 hours for AC charging. No overnight topups!

I'm still finding out stuff as I'm almost done with this newsletter. German Audi clients for example, can choose between two monthly paid models. The so called 'city rate' includes the following:

Looking at the data above, I think the 'city rate' makes a lot of sense to lots of people. Strange if you ask me, because it will be financially super interesting to top up at a DC charger on your way that's not part of Ionity, because 9,95 for a full charge while grabbing a snack/stretching your legs easily beats the kWh-based price Ionity will charge! Maybe I'm missing something, but I think Fastned, Allego, EnBW and Innogy are having happy days in the office.

Stay tuned for more on this, there will probably be a February newsletter, dedicated to 'what's going on at the European highways'. With updates to my next roadtrips!

One more thing!

I will share one insight that I will go into more thorougly in the long read. With the Ionity price change happening this week, this sort of spot lights them out of their 'beta stage'. Into the realm of earning serious cash. Yet in many countries, what are we talking about. Imagine you just bought the Taycan in Madrid. Or the e-tron in Rome. (I will share more thoughts about the UK soon).

Even people who would love to use the Ionity network (did I mention Portugal?) wouldn't be able to right now. These chargers in Spain and Italy will be 'expensive' from their day one in existence. To me this is strange and a bit unfair because you take a situation as Germany where Ionity is now the fast charging network, elsewhere (where the people don't speak German) this is less true.

One more thing about uptime. I am lucky to have clients telling me what's happening on their international roadtrips. News got to me about Ionity station Wetteren, Belgium was completely down at least a whole day last week. With the new pricing update by Ionity it's unlikely that people will accept problematic charging situations when they get asked to pay full price. Interesting times ahead!

Feedback

I would love to hear what you think, about the website, the blog, this newsletter, the new webbased travelguides, how can I help you drive further, faster, and cheaper! Get in touch using the socials below, a reply on this newsletter is also possible of course. See you on the road!

Connect on LinkedIn.

electricfelix on WhatsApp

SSssssh. There is a very private group on WhatsApp where I share any insights the second before any social network will tell you. This weekend will be a good test with the Ionity pricing shaking up the charging app world.

Signing up for a SUPER membership with electricfelix will grant you access. See petje.af/electricfelix or hit me up with a message/email to [email protected] if you don't read Dutch.