Road trip report - Norfolk (UK) to Switzerland in Taycan Turbo S

[Norfolkporsche]

My European road trip for 2024 took me to France, Germany, Switzerland and back to France.

I started off at the Brands Hatch Hotel and Spa near Folkestone for easy access to Eurotunnel. The hotel has an 50kWh charger so I topped up to 100% charge on arrival. I set off early the next morning for a drive to Frankfurt, and boarded the train to France at just after 6am. As usual, I booked the high carriage to benefit from the greater width (and protect my wheels)! The early start meant no delays through passport control or boarding.

The drive to Frankfurt was relaxed and charging was easy (with no queues). The Europeans really seem to have stepped up in terms of installing charging infrastructure on the major motorways - impressive. I try and charge exclusively with IONITY where possible because of the discounted charging rate (but my car is three years old in December, so this benefit will end then).

I booked into the B’Mine Hotel at Frankfurt Airport inspired by tigerbalm’s trip report here. You drive your car onto a lift which takes you up to the 8th floor, and you park outside of your bedroom. It’s wonderful - and there’s a EV charger to boot.

The next morning saw a long(ish) drive from Frankfurt down to Rothenthurm in Switzerland, just south of Zürich. It seemed there were EV chargers at most motorway service stations, and this meant that most IONITY stations were deserted.

I’d rented an Air BNB in Rothenthurm which was lovely. At about 1,500m, it had lovely views and was very peaceful (apart from the clanky cow bells). The house had a 7kWh charger which was ideal, as I could charge the car each night I got home. It was also fun (sad person I am) seeing how low in the minus figures I could get the charge going down hill each morning.

It was a good base in terms of exploring the local area and attacking a number of the famous mountain passes. Downside being that the Stelvio, Furka and Simplon passes were all closed because of snow. In mid June.

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[Norfolkporsche]

The mountain passes are great in the Taycan - it’s neutral in terms of using charge, because what you use on the way up, you make up in regeneration on the way down. Plus blasting out of hairpins is enormous fun.

 

[Norfolkporsche]

The next day saw a visit to Lucerne. I hate parking in public car parks because of the risk of door dings, and managed to find a surface car park about a mile from Lucerne which was pretty empty. It meant a lovely walk along the side of the lake into the City.

The place I had parked was right next to the Swiss Transport Museum, so I spent a couple of enjoyable hours there.

 

[Norfolkporsche]

After a day in the city, more mountain passes beckoned for the next day. Today was the Julierpass at 2,284 metres.

 

[Norfolkporsche]

After 7 days in Rothenthurm, I drove south into the French Alps to stay in a little village called Bessans near Val D’Isere. It was a 521 km drive and there were IONITY chargers en-route, so that made life very easy. Plus, my accommodation had an EV charger to top up the car when I arrived.

I’ve included some pictures of the charging stops, so you can see they were not busy. Admittedly, I was travelling mid-week during school term time.

 

[Scandinavian]

Great report, thanks.

I also love Lucern. Such a relaxing place

 

[Norfolkporsche]

There’s a famous pass called the Col de I’Iseran which links Bessan to Val D’Isere. It’s at 2,764 metres and I think is the highest paved pass in Europe. It was closed before I arrived, but due to open during my stay. Unfortunately, a large snow dump meant it didn’t open, and it’s still closed as I type this report.

Bessans is at 1,750m and is beautiful. It’s a small village and being mid-June was out of season so very quiet.

The owner of the accommodation let me use his garage and 7 kWh charger. This was great as there wasn’t much in the way of chargers locally.

It was great walking country.

 

[Norfolkporsche]

The next day saw a trip to col du Mont Cenis, a man made lake at 2,000 metres. A great drive which took you right into Italy shortly after reaching to top of the pass.

 

[Norfolkporsche]

Pretty soon, it was time to head back to the UK. I had a long drive from Bessans to Reims being 743 km, but there were plenty of IONITY chargers on the route.

I tend not to use the Porsche Charge Planner. Before a long trip, I send all the charging stops I want to use to the car and add them as favourites, so they show up as stars on the PCM map. Probably very convoluted, but it works for me.

Just outside Bessans, the road had just be re-surfaced with loose chippings over a 6 km stretch. As the Col I’Isere was closed, Bessans was effectively a dead end, so I ended up driving over this re-surfaced area multiple times over 6 days.

The second charge I had on the way home was on a hot day, and the battery was warm. This triggered the fans in front of the front wheels, and these started to spit out vast quantities of the loose chippings. UKK. Not much I could do about it there, but I knew I would have to do some chipping removal once I was home.

I set off after the charge was completed, and almost immediately after re-joining the autoroute the car flashed up a low tyre pressure on the driver’s side front wheel. It went from 40 down to 18 very quickly, so I stopped at the next Aire and squirted the foam stuff into the tyre and pumped the tyre back up.

That lasted about 7 km and I had to stop and put more air in. Rinse and repeat several times. Luckily, the puncture happened about 35km south of Dijon, and there is a Porsche Centre there, and I managed to get to the dealership with 9 remaining on the tyre pressure reader with all the foam goo spitting out of the hole in the tyre.

Oh well, I thought. A couple of hours for them to fit a new tyre and I’d be on the way home. No such luck. I had Dunlop Eagles from new on the car, and they don’t stock these. Pirelli was the only tyre they could offer. You can guess what’s coming next - they don’t mix and match tyre makes, so it meant 4 new tyres. That wasn’t so bad, as I’d just hit 20,000 miles on the original tyres, so I was planning on replacements when I got home.

The only downside, it took them 3 days to get the tyres, so I had an extra addition to the holiday at Dijon. What a lovely city - no great hardship at all.

So, 3 weeks away, 3,050 miles and another great holiday in the Taycan. What impressed me the most was the European charging infrastructure (on the motorways at least). It puts the UK to shame.

 

[Argo]

I see what you did there, you drove over and visited all the newly opened 2024 best Swiss mountain drive spots before I did.
Grrrr.
You leave me no choice but to drive over to Norfolk and film some mountain passes....oh wait !

Seriously though, nice pics and great trip.

I'm thinking the Col D I'Iseran may be my only remaining option... (I know it's France but any Swissie Taycans up for a drive?).

 

[wmras]

Love your traveling style!

 

[Norfolkporsche]

incidentally, I checked the front of the car when I got home, and there were chippings everywhere - in the suspension, the front fans and above the front undertray.

I took the car to OPC Norwich and they took the front and back trays off (as well as the side sills as these have holes for jacking points where the stones entered) and cleared all the stones out. I asked them to check and clear out the front fans - as it turned out, these have been re-designed and they replaced both of them under warranty.

 

[Norfolkporsche]

I see what you did there, you drove over and visited all the newly opened 2024 best Swiss mountain drive spots before I did.
Grrrr.
You leave me no choice but to drive over to Norfolk and film some mountain passes....oh wait !

Seriously though, nice pics and great trip.

I'm thinking the Col D I'Iseran may be my only remaining option... (I know it's France but any Swissie Taycans up for a drive?).

Hello from Norfolk, and thank you. Rather oddly, I live on a hill, but as much as I’d like to, I couldn’t call it a mountain pass. That said, when it snows, you can ski down it!

 

[Boss Hogg]

Nice report, looked fantastic.

 

[tigerbalm]

Great report and pictures @Norfolkporsche – hope I can return the favour next month when we have our first summer trip to Norway.

Glad you enjoyed the hotel in Frankfurt – it is a lot of fun!

It was great to see that the IONITY network continues to deliver in mainland Europe – and the buildout in the UK is looking impressive too. We're starting to lag behind here in Ireland due to our stupid planning laws and green party not particularly supportive of EV cars.

It is always a genuine PITA to have to purchase new tyres when on a roadtrip. Though as a big fan of Pirelli – I would have been très heureux to have been offered them in Dijon.

I was never a huge fan of the Mamba Green colour – I'm too obsessed with blue cars of all hues (current obsession: Oslo Blue) – but your car sitting outside your AirBnB cottage just looked wonderful.

You got some very decent climbs and high altitudes in on this trip.

And a timely reminder that with the right charging infrastructure – a Gen 1 Taycan remains a wonderful road-trip car – especially a Turbo S on those mountain passes!

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