Travel hints

• Be on the lookout for "charging deserts", which occur in many countries, often in areas which are quite beautiful or useful for transit. Central France is a good example. When looking at some maps, it seems covered but single locations with large icons can seem very map-filling.
• You'll regret charging one time too many much less than charging one time to little.
• Never rely on the availability of inner-city charging points, especially in cities where parking is highly contested. Rome is an example for this: A free charging spot on the map will likely be occupied by another car which is not charging.
• Points listed as "freely accessible" often ignore traffic limitation zones like italian ZTLs. You *will* need to cross reference between maps.
• Elevation changes can mess with your range significantly and make you feel like you are about to get stuck: When going up a long incline, e.g. when traversing Switzerland, your battery will seem to evaporate. If you can make it over the top though, the descent will likely keep you at constant SOC over a long distance. Using planners like ABRP which take elevation into consideration is critical when planning these trips.
• Speed is the main killer for range: 120km/h instead of 130km/h already gets you further, dropping to 110 or 100 on highways is almost "free" in terms of time, since it can allow you to skip one charge. Even better, sticking to slow national roads is very scenic and extends range a lot.
• Areas without any fast chargers are traversable too: Sardinia for example seems to lack quick chargers in most places, however the predominant "slow roads" and high density of interesting places make them superfluous. If you can make it to slow chargers and spend some time nearby, they are sufficient. When leaving these areas, ideally leave on a full battery.
• Traveling in the cold (less than 5°C) will massively reduce your range. The air is denser, winter tires have more resistance, battery charging, recuperation and capacity are severely restricted. My highway range drops from 200km to 150km.
• When your car suddenly refuses to charge at a station where others are charging without issues, check if your charge port is dirty. Contact spray and Q-tips can be used to clean it. Sometimes holding the plug steady while the charge is being negotiated between car and outlet, can help too.
• Have redundancies for trip-critical items: Phone (for maps and charging apps), keys and registration papers. Electronic keys can be kept in aluminium foil or a metal box (double check that it is properly containing any signals) and some can have their battery removed. Hide this in the car and keep a physical key in your wallet. In case you lose your main key, this will likely allow you to keep going with the secondary key. In areas where you expect a break-in you might want to remove the key. A secondary phone can be kept in the car too, just make sure you can log in to relevant accounts.
• Be sure to check if credit card payment is cheaper at a given charging station, if available. For example, at a Carrefour charger visa payment cost 0,39€/kWh instead of an insane 0,89€/kWh.
• In 2024 using Tesla Superchargers in Europe was an absolutely winning move: High reliability and lots of available spots combine with relatively low charging costs. The downsides: Some Tesla-dense areas like the French riviera can fill up quick, some chargers are randomly not generally available and about one third of them are awkwardly located. My favorites: On only one side of a major rest stop (which requires a 40km detour if you're on the wrong side), 12km away from the highway, or behind a locked hotel gate, requiring you to ask to be let in at the reception.
• Car ferries can be a great boon for EVs, since they move

• Traveling will not make you happy all of the sudden. It's stressful and things will go wrong. If you are dissatisfied at home, after a few days on the road you might be just as dissatisfied in a different place. However, seeing new places and keeping up a pace between those can be a good distraction and offers
• Charging spots are usually not very social. Don't expect many conversations outside of talking about the pros and cons of EVs.
• When you see a nice parking spot just stop and take a look. There is often no time for deliberation, and you'll regret skipping a spot more than finding an uninteresting one. The main benefit of this style of travel is after all that you control the stops.
• The same goes for slightly longer deviations: If there is an alternate path along a smaller country road you're much more likely to find interesting stuff there than on the highway. Especially look out for tiny towns of the beaten path, which might have interesting monuments, restaurants or other tings. Notable mentions: Assergi, Italy; Égletons, France; Sare, France; the DN7, France; the SP74, Sardinia, or the random waterfall somewhere behind Haugastøl, Norway.