How Easy Is A European EV Christmas Road Trip?

It may be the most wonderful time of the year culturally but, for electric vehicles, it’s probably the worst. At lower temperatures, batteries operate less efficiently because of science (don’t ask my C-grade GCSE brain to explain exactly how) meaning ranges take quite the hit.

Compounding that with the extra want for warmer climate control settings and toasty bums on heated seats, taking a European road trip in an electric car for some Christmas festivities sounds like something the Grinch would conjure up. So, that’s exactly what I’m doing.

More specifically, I’m on a jolly to Antwerp to take in its Christmas market. Taking me there is the Genesis GV70 in Electrified form, complete with a 482bhp dual-motor setup. Not that I’ll get much opportunity to test those, mind you. More important for this trip is its battery.

At 77.4kWh of gross capacity, WLTP combined figures suggest it’ll crack 283 miles. Of course, though, that takes into account all sorts of driving. Which isn’t what I’ll be doing. Rather, I’ll be making a beeline straight through the top of France and into Belgium sticking pretty much exclusively to autoroutes.

Start in Folkestone with 100 per cent charge, the GV70 tells me there are about 210 miles in the battery. With 168 miles to the hotel for the night, things should be a breeze on paper.

Our first stop comes in Calais, a little earlier than anticipated. One of our convoy having missed a chance to charge the battery the night before, took them on what turned into a slight goose chase to find a working charger. One is found on ZapMap but turns out not to exist in the location it says - oh dear. At least it gives me a chance to discover there’s a French specialist magazine named ‘Daciattude’.

Eventually, we’re going again and our trip into Antwerp continues fairly uneventfully. A swathe of traffic on the outskirts of the city sees Google send us to some rural villages, one providing a brief opportunity to test out the Boost button on the steering wheel at a questionably located junction. With all 482bhp under my foot, it’s a reminder of just how mad engineering is coming - grabbing your guts in something weighing some way over tonnes yet feeling entirely composed doing so.

As for range when our convoy arrives in the city? It’s actually, quite good. 210 miles from our original stop proves pretty accurate, arriving with 35 miles left. Our bougie hotel has valet parking too, with charging said to be taken care of, albeit our attendant tells us there are only five AC chargers to be juggled between every guest in the hotel staying with an EV. The morning may present a roadblock, then.

Not to worry about that now, as we head to take the festivities of Antwerp. Only, nature has another plan, smashing us down with rain and dampening spirits. That is until we discover The Meat Factory (I promise that’s a restaurant, you child). I’m no food critic, but if you’re looking for a banging steak in the centre of Antwerp, it’s your place. Particularly if you make it late enough for the bottles of spirits to need finishing.

A solid night of sleep and some light breakfast later, it’s time to see how our state of charges fares for the trip ahead - and the result is a mixed bag. One GV80 is on full juice, the rest of us are in all sorts of charges. I’m showing 70 per cent, which the car reckons can take us 150 miles. Guess we’ll be seeking out chargers, then.

It’s not long up the road as we approach Ghent and about 50 per cent on my GV70, where we’re led to believe a bank of 400kW chargers is on hand. With the GV70 capable of taking 350kW, it sounds like a great spot.

As we arrive, it’s delighted to find all but one of the five chargers are working and with only one in use. A rare spot in the UK. Glamorous it is not, hiding in an industrial area in the dodgiest-looking car park (complete with a scenic skip and what is now dubbed ‘the piss tree’ to cover our toilet breaks). However, with minimal fuss, we’re away with every car comfortably above 90 per cent charge as we head to Bruges for a lunch stop.

Here, we seek out another bank of AC chargers just to top us up with a little extra juice. Minimal fuss, we’re all in and can leave the cars safe in the knowledge of a functional charging system. Again, we aren’t safe from the pissing wet, though at least the city is a scenic touch to this drab day.

Returning to full charge, we’re away again safe in the comfort we’ll make it back to the UK without range anxiety. This hasn’t been the fretful charging-oriented trip I feared, turning out the European network (or at least that in Belgium) operates quite well.

A point that’s rammed home to be back on the shores. We started in Folkestone, but I’ve got to make it back to High Wycombe from the channel tunnel - a 111-mile drive. At this point, I’ve got 130 miles according to the car and, without the ability to charge at home, I’d rather like to have some more.

It’s a stop at Cobham services that proves to be the most frustrating point of this whole journey. Of the usually reliable Ionity chargers there, four separate points couldn’t seem to recognise the GV70. Fortunately, Gridserve also has a site at the M25 services, though only with 50kW. At 8pm following a long day, the last thing I want to be doing is sitting here for the length of time that takes.

My take home from this whole experience? It appears European road trips aren’t on the deathbed with the ever-scaling switch to electric. We could do with learning a few tricks from our friends across the English Channel, mind.