electric car in France

I’d be less comfortable needing to find a charging station that works, isn’t occupied, or figuring out an app to pay than paying a little more for fuel. With as little as you’ll need the price you increase won’t break the bank. Maybe a hybrid might work if you’re that concerned or public transportation if it goes to your destination.

yeah I don't mind paying extra, I'm just concerned about being in a scenario where pumps are dry.

Hi, You don't say when your trip is. With the major caveat that I do not have a car in France (I live in Paris), I can tell you that for the last few days there have been multiple news stories about gas stations running out of fuel. That seems like a bigger concern than the price increases, which have hit diesel more than gasoline. My perception is that charging stations are relatively widespread at service areas off autoroutes and in major towns. Probably harder in rural areas.

yes, @clawsmith, this is exactly my concern. Trip is May 27-July 8. But the roadtrip which is the main concern is June 14-15.

Just to clarify, there’s no fuel shortage as of today. The only occasional shortages are at Total gas stations because they decided to cap their prices. As a result, everyone is rushing to fill up every 200 kms, which causes them to run out of gas until the next delivery arrives.

IMO traveling in France for a vacation in an electric vehicle can turn your trip into a total hassle between hunting for available public charging stations, having the right subscription, and making sure you have the correct payment method.

I would advise against renting an electric car.

A bit of background: we were rear-ended in our car in Normandie about a year ago. The place that did the bodywork to repair the damage lent us a Peugeot e-208 to use for a few days while our car was out of service.

It was great. A very nice electric car. We recharged it at our house when it needed it. Just a simple plug-in arrangement.

So, on a trip to southern France and Italy a couple of weeks ago I decided to rent an electric car to see how it would go.

It didn't go well.

To begin with, the car was only about 60% charged when we got it. We were sternly told to bring it back with at least 60% charge or face, I don't know, some kind of revenge payment.

After a couple of days we were around 25% and I decided to fill 'er up. We went to a local hypermarché to top off the charge while we did some shopping. After about 30 minutes on the phone with the company running the charge station all parties involved decided the charger would not work and could not be rebooted. So we left uncharged.

Scouting out charging stations near our rented apartment the next day, I found one with multiple charge stations at a nearby marina. I tried paying for a charge with my French debit card (BNP Paribas). No joy, even though I had approved the charge on the card through the BNP "mabanque" app. So then I tried a Bank of America credit card. After over a half hour on the phone with their fraud department and them assuring me the charge would go through, the charging station still said it couldn't clear payment through our bank.

So then I pulled out a debit card from a credit union where I have a business account in the U.S. I was on the phone with their customer service folks when they assured me the charge for the recharging session had been approved for WiiZ, the company running the charger.

Malheureusment, no charge happened. There still was a disconnect between my bank and the charging company.

In short, my experience was that French electric car charging stations are poorly set up to handle "one-off" charging sessions. They're clearly more aligned with an ongoing subscription payment model.

I spent nearly three hours on the phone with various banks and charging companies trying to recharge the car, yet no charging happened.

I got up the next day and drove the electric car, gasping on its last few electrons, to the rental counter and turned it in for a hybrid.

I didn't go on vacation in southern France to spend hours of time in frustration on the phone trying to buy electricity.

I would advise you to stick with either a hybrid or a gas or diesel rental.

and that's the result for a local.

I can relate from my horrible experience here in the UK.. I needed a car when mine was in the shop for a couple of weeks.

I was given a plug in Jeep. Who knew Jeep's did plug in? That's a plug in hybrid by the way. 3 of the 4 chargers that were convenient for charging in the background were out of use - they gave me the car with TEN percent!!! And here I am trying to get apps to work with a British card in Britain. No dice. Didn't help that the signal wasn't great and the apps wanted to know the birthdate of my third cousin twice removed and what I'd had for breakfast last Tuesday.

Eventually got one to work but it was downgraded to 7.5 when it was supposed to be 29.

Went to lunch, slow lunch. Back and 50% charged. Did not get me 8 miles home. And a full expensive tank of unleaded only got me 120 miles!! So back it went and I got a real car.

I'm convinced about plug in only, but from home or work - not at random chargers.

Split the difference and get a hybrid if you can, but not the plug in type. I don’t own a hybrid vehicle, so I was surprised by the MPG of the rental we had last year. It could also be driven in full electric vehicle mode which I used as much as possible.

Regarding non-plug-in hybrids, rental companies usually don't highlight them, they're treated just like regular gasoline vehicles since a non-plug-in hybrid functions just like a regular gas car. You don't have to deal with any concerns about batteries or charging stations.

I've had experiences renting gasoline cars and discover that they were actually non-plug-in hybrids.

First I would ask if you drive an electric car here. If not, I think the issues of finding charging stations in France would be stressful. We drive an electric car here, but I would not consider renting one in Europe due to finding charging stations, figuring out the interface of each different charging station company, and the range. Even when on a day trip here, we consider before starting where the charging stations might be.

thanks all! Consensus seems to be get a gas car. I guess now I'm trying to decide, should we just take the train instead of roadtripping!