Iain drove from Dorset to The Netherlands & back in his KIA EV6 2023.
Introducing your road trip
European road trip: Dorset to Netherlands via Dordogne and home again.
Planning & preparation
Google Maps mainly for the route but also looked at Octopus Electroverse and Chargemap to plan charge stops.
Charging
I have a subscription to KIA Charge which came with the car and gives access to IONITY chargers for 25p/kWh so tried to use these where I could. I was able to get to Calais on a single charge from home, there was an empty IONITY station in Calais so had a good charge there, it was so quick.
I knew that Allego chargers are common in France and while they are expensive, they are reliable and quick. They are also usually in supermarket car parks so while these were a bit off the motorways, the food options were cheaper. The car sat nav also shows motorway services with charging so used TotalEnergies, Engie and Fastned chargers as well.
Stayed at a hotel with free charging for guests (didn’t know this until we arrived) and stayed for a week at Center Parcs in the Netherlands which also has charging available. For the journey home from the Netherlands to Dorset, I started with 100% and only stopped once at IONITY Calais charging from 20% to 95% and actually got home with 16%.
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Did you encounter any great driving roads on your road trip?
European motorways are an absolute dream compared to UK ones. 1,500 miles on European motorways and encountered no road works at all and only 1 traffic jam around Antwerp. Conversely, 300 miles of UK motorway was mainly traffic and roadworks the whole way.
The KIA EV6
The EV6 is amazing, so comfortable, no numb bums for anyone. It’s the GTL-S spec so has the highest spec for driving aids. The HUD along with highway driving assist made the miles pass effortlessly. Set the destination into the sat nav & the cruise control for the speed limit and the car does the rest. As and when needed, tap the indicator and the car checks surroundings and moves itself over, car alters the speed in line with changes in speed limit (motorways only). Even when not on motorways, the adaptive cruise control and lane assist make main roads a doddle.
Road trip conclusion
Absolutely loved it, no issues at all, including charging. The car is an excellent cruiser and just chewed through the miles. The EV6 charges so quickly that rest stops were just that, a quick stop to use facilities and buy snacks and the car was ready before we were. I have no issues whatsoever doing long European road trips in an EV!
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