‘Summer European Road Trip’ drove through much of Europe in their Volkswagen ID.3 Family Pro Performance 58kwh.

Introducing your road trip in your Volkswagen ID.3

After just a month of ownership I drove from southern England through France to Zurich with luggage and a cycle in the back. I stopped to charge at a couple of IONITY chargers and a Tesla Supercharger. After a few days I continued on to Pisa in Tuscany stopping at 2 IONITY chargers on the way. On the way home I travelled via Zurich, Bavaria and Belgium. No problems whatsoever!

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Planning & preparation 

I used ABRP, took screen shots and erred on the side of caution. Also signed-up for VW’s We Charge Plus and registered with Tesla, IONITY as a stand alone app and Enel X for Italy. Great help and advice from the VW ID Facebook pages too. Other than that I took off on my own and made it happen.

Charging

I mostly used IONITY chargers on the motorway for about 20-30 mins per stop. No difficulties encountered. At my destination in Italy there was free 7kWh charging too!

Did you encounter any great driving roads on your road trip? If so, where were they and why were they great?

Driving from Zurich to Pisa had some amazing mountain scenery. I drove through the Gotthard road tunnel which is about 13km long and the second longest road tunnel in Europe (fifth longest in the world too!). On the way down from the tunnel to Lake Como I managed to regen my battery to a higher level due to the gradient.

The electric car itself

Car performed well although I missed having lumbar support and blind spot detection. With a heat pump the air conditioning in 38C was amazing.

Road trip conclusion

I’d do another European road trip and indeed have one planned for this year. I think I need to be less intimated by the range and maybe stop for less time knowing that there are many options for charging en route.

See other road trip reports here