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Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2021 3:32 pm
by Deleted User 314
I really enjoyed reading about Andreas's experience driving to Italy and it occurred to me that since I live in Spain it may be helpful to share what the charging experience is like here and some recommendations to make it relatively stress free.

I've taken 2 screenshots from my phone which shows you the applications I have installed, note I have a UK iTunes account, but all of these were available without any shenanigans. I'd recommend installing these before you travel as the process is always overly complicated and asks for a lot of information, unnecessarily. I find that outside of Ionity the networks are more region based which is a pain.

We use EasyCharger, Ionity and Wenea and gets us comfortably Barcelona to Madrid and Barcelona to Bilbao (our primary long distance travel). All of these chargers are visible in the Chargemap app. The car has virtually none of the chargers in its database, so don't panic.

apps12.jpg

and

apps22.jpg

From the first image, Chargemap is the "go to" application for locating chargers, it's accurate but does display chargers that it considers being installed but are actually live. I try to update these as I drive around.

EasyCharger is a very reliable network, 30c per kw/h and requires the app to activate. 55 kw/h max. - app activated although is supposed to support plug and go (doesn't)
Wenea offers 55 and 100 kw/h chargers, charging more for the 100kw/h around 40c - app activated
AMBElectrolineras - Catalunya and free, even 50 kw/h charging - app activated
EVCharge - also seem to be essentially Catalunya and some are free, others not - app activated
Electromaps - supports multiple charger networks with a single card, RFID activated
Cargacoches - asks you for fart too much information, expensive and we've not used them

From the 2nd image

RecargaPublica and Juicepass are run by the electric companies and are very expensive, Ionity is cheaper than both - both App activated.

I hope that's of some use/interest.

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:04 pm
by Andreas
Helpful, and glad to have been inspirational!

All the best

Andreas

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 6:48 pm
by NewId3
Both Andreas’ posts covering trip to Italy and the above useful info on Spain will have the rest of us dreaming of taking off on a long tour.

I’ve had the ID3 since June, and due to a number of reasons (kids) haven’t been further than 60miles from home. Can only dream…

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 11:08 pm
by bitmanEV
Will drive from Birmingham to Ayamonte and back in October with the M3 mostly using the SuperChargers so no worries

Did a similar route in 2019 but then from Dublin via the UK, France, Belgium, north of the Netherlands to Ayamonte (over 6000km) but with the 24kWh Leaf. Mostly used Electromaps en Chargemap to find the chargers and as a Nissan used many Nissan dealers DC ChaDeMo chargers for free ;) In France I used the free Chargers of Auchan Supermarket but those are only AC & ChaDeMo

Had a look and seen so many new chargers in Spain that it's not really a challenge any more what's a good move!

The guys from EasyCharger are very helpful and did help me out when almost stranded at a broken charger to guide me to a working charger

IMG_2985.jpg

IMG_2985.jpg


Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:30 am
by Deleted User 314
Agreed, it's the most reliable and helpful we've found. It's remarkable the change in Spain since last December, my early posts were along the lines of only realistically having a range of 100km, now there's no limit.

PS, saw your signature, THANK YOU.

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:36 am
by van
Thanks for posting this Anduain. We hope to holiday in southern Spain next year but have no interest in going anywhere near an airport for the foreseeable future so intended to drive, probably from Bilbao/santander ferry port.
With luck we'llhave our id in thenew year but would be very anxious about range and charging options, especially at and around our intended destination.
I'dbeenthinking we would hire a hybridfor the trip but informationfrom you and others is inspiring me to think braver (whether I can persuade Mrs V is another matter!)
So big shout to you all and let's hear more about people's continental touring experiences please, particularly if the destination is rural.

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:14 am
by Deleted User 314
If you need any advice closer to the time, drop me a PM, happy to chat through it. By then we will have driven to Bilbao at least 3 times.

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:15 pm
by Andreas
To be honest, I was quite apprehensive before going on the Italy trip, but it works really well.

All the best

Andreas

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 5:52 pm
by van
Thanks both. I suspect range anxiety will dissipate fairly quickly as others have reported, once we actually get a car to drive! However 99% of our journeys are less than 50 miles round trip so will probably have to experiment with longer ones to get comfortable with what the car will comfortably do without an intrip charge and also try out public charging to get used to how the various ones work.

Good tips about the apps you use Anduain. Will compare the mapping with Zapmap etc. Hoping to travel to Alpujarras hence concern wrt destination charging!

PS some EV vocab to add to my pretty basic bar level Spanish might be a useful addition to the packing list 😃

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:58 am
by SteveJ180
Thanks for the great info, that’s really helpful. We’re driving from the UK to Burgos in mid-October in our ID3, with various overnight stops in France, so I’m going through the research for both countries!

In Spain, do you find you can pay with contactless credit card, or do you need special RFID cards? The apps don’t seem to make this clear, unlike ZapMap here in the UK.

Thanks!

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2021 9:26 am
by Deleted User 314
The free ones validate with a credit card, for ID purposes. The rest are via the apps, hence the suggestion to download in advance and set up, nothing more frustrating than faffing around. We did another long trip, Barcelona to Madrid, stress free. Back in December when we got the car, we'd be nervous to drive 150km.

Re: Considering a trip in Spain? Charging advice

Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 6:08 am
by baguette
As I am currently preparing for my own second trip across Spain, I thought I would just add a post to this thread to note that EasyCharger is now known as Zunder. I haven't used any of their stations yet, but plan to try out two of them between Alicante and Barcelona next week. One of them claims to be 90 kW (Torrent) and the other 180 kW (L'Aldea). We shall see!