Driving UK to Italy

[Tovh78]

I took my Taycan 4S Sport Turismo (2022) from London to Tuscany and back last month via the Eurotunnel. Pleased to report that fast chargers (Ionity mostly, Fastned) were readily available along the journey and we didn't have to wait for a single charger. Routed past Reims and Dijon (staying a night in Bourg-en-Bresse), and then past Geneva, Mont Blanc tunnel, Milan and Bologna. Journey time including charging and waiting ahead of Eurotunnel approx 20-21hrs each way. Used the Electroverse app to plan charging points along the route, which was very helpful. Having driven the route previously in an ICE car, I would suggest the journey took 90-120 mins longer, which was fine by us. Very pleasurable drive overall.

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[Porsche-Guru]

Did you need any additional charging cards (other than Porsche Charging Card), Zero emissions certificates or any other paperwork - for France/ Italy?

Thanks…

Looking to do Swiss passes and Stelvio later in August … Done most many years back in ICE, but now would be in the Taycan.

 

[allroadusa]

Few tips for France:

1) Triangle and yellow vest ARE mandatory. If you have to pull over for any reason, you'll need them.

2) For payment on highways, Visa or Mastercard are accepted in automated payment machines at the tollbooth but can be tricky to use for RHD vehicle if no one is seating on the passenger side. The Bip&go type of badge is certainly the way to go. https://www.bipandgo.com/

3) Headlights need to be adjusted accordingly with the drive side but the Taycan seems to automatically set them based on GPS location.

4) Crit'Air sticker is NOT mandatory everywhere. It's been enforced only in small zones of a few cities (ZFE: low emission zone) : Grenoble, Lyon, Paris. Taycan as any other VE is classified Crit'air 0 and is allowed to circulate in these ZFE. Sticker can be purchased here: https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/ and will be useful only if you drive thru these ZFE.

5) Speed cameras are basically everywhere. You can advantageously subscribe to Coyote App (Carplay compatible) and avoid most of them. DON'T Speed 50 km/h+ above limit: your car could be immobilized for one full week.

6) Police forces are discreet and you won't see them very frequently. In case of Police check, you'll be asked to show your driving license, insurance proof, car registration proof and possibly your passeport.
In touristic areas, alcohol testing is more frequent. So don't drink&drive.

7) There are 4 or 5 main Supercharger networks (300KW+) currently being deployed and their density is actually quite good now
FastNed,
Engie
TotalEnergy
Ionity
To take full advantage of them, you might need a Chargemap card (20Euros) and app that will allow you to speedy charge nearly everywhere. https://chargemap.com/

8) Enjoy!

 

[Tovh78]

Thanks “allroadusa” for the comprehensive reply. We used Porsche (mainly) and Electroverse charging cards only and were fine in both countries. We didn’t drive into a large city centre/restricted zone so cannot help with that.

 

[Porsche-Guru]

Few tips for France:

2) For payment on highways, Visa or Mastercard are accepted in automated payment machines at the tollbooth but can be tricky to use for RHD vehicle if no one is seating on the passenger side. The Bip&go type of badge is certainly the way to go. https://www.bipandgo.com/

Thanks for the tips…

Did you buy the bipandgo while in the UK or did you get this once in France? From where in France?
Also, did you buy the “Bip&Go - Electric electronic toll payment subscription” option?

 

[allroadusa]

You can buy it online and have it delivered to your door ahead of time or you can buy at the office of some toll booths. see here: https://www.bipandgo.com/en/branches/
The pay as you go subscription is the way to go: https://www.bipandgo.com/en/individual-subscription-toll-payment/pay-as-you-go/
I don't know about the the Bip&Go charging card provided at a 50% discount rate with the Electric plan.
https://www.bipandgo.com/en/services/recharge-electrique/

 

[McgR]

Did you need any additional charging cards (other than Porsche Charging Card), Zero emissions certificates or any other paperwork - for France/ Italy?

Thanks…

Looking to do Swiss passes and Stelvio later in August … Done most many years back in ICE, but now would be in the Taycan.

I did the Stelvio from Italy to Austria. If so remember well at that time most fast chargers were on the Austrian side. We left fully charged from lake Como and I didn’t need to charge until Austria. The other way around might be more difficult to charge.

 

[Sly_North]

I took my Taycan 4S Sport Turismo (2022) from London to Tuscany and back last month via the Eurotunnel. [...] Very pleasurable drive overall.

As long as you remember to drive on the right side of the road, not the left/wrong side, all's fine. ??
Sry, I had to do the joke before a UK friend does.

 

[McgR]

You can buy it online and have it delivered to your door ahead of time or you can buy at the office of some toll booths. see here: https://www.bipandgo.com/en/branches/
The pay as you go subscription is the way to go: https://www.bipandgo.com/en/individual-subscription-toll-payment/pay-as-you-go/

And it also works in Italy Spain and Portugal !

It is such a great feeling going past the line without waiting.

 

[Graluy]

Did you need any additional charging cards (other than Porsche Charging Card), Zero emissions certificates or any other paperwork - for France/ Italy?

Thanks…

Looking to do Swiss passes and Stelvio later in August … Done most many years back in ICE, but now would be in the Taycan.

Good morning

for France you can also purchase the Ulys charging card with your Bip & go badge. This allow you to charge esasily at many Charging Networks anywhere in France for the moment.
But your IONITY/Porsche will be cheaper
Have a Nice travel
BR

 

[Scandinavian]

Did you need any additional charging cards (other than Porsche Charging Card), Zero emissions certificates or any other paperwork - for France/ Italy?

Thanks…

Looking to do Swiss passes and Stelvio later in August … Done most many years back in ICE, but now would be in the Taycan.

You will not need any other charging card then your Porsche charging service for 95% of roads in France! There are plenty of stations available with your card, app or Plug and Charge!

You can easily see what services you can utilise in My Porsche app (and in your car of course in the navigator). Look at the map and set it to show chargers CCS and filter > 150 kW.
Below is a screenshot of a route from Calais towards Reims and south eastwards. And if these are not enough a good backup are the Tesla Superchargers open for all.

If you download the app ChargeFinder, you can see all CCS stations available as well.

Italy is also quite well catered for so check with the My Porsche app.

 

[Porsche-Guru]

@Graluy @Scandinavian

… Thank you for the excellent suggestions/ feedback.

 

[bn8959]

Wow, 600kW chargers, would love to see how fat the cables are on those!

 

[Scandinavian]

Wow, 600kW chargers, would love to see how fat the cables are on those!

I am not sure each cable delivers 600 kW though.

I have stopped at some chargers that the cars navigator indicated at 400 kW. But that was for one unit with 2 cables. But each one delivered 200 kW. That was my interpretation at least.

 

[anonymouse]

But that was for one unit with 2 cables. But each one delivered 200 kW.

annoyingly, it is quite common for networks to sum up the total from a station with multiple cables (and indeed to count every plug even if they are not all available simultaneously eg Chademo { 2x CCS shows as “3”).
This is something that requires some regulatory intervention - it is as misleading as internet speeds, which at least in the UK had a huge push from regulators to stop over promising.

As far as I have seen, Ionity is the only network who state a promise that “up to 350kW” will never mean 2x”up to 175” - each cable gets the full power available.

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