Electric Euro roadtrip! England to Italy in a Peugeot e-208 

The excitement when this showed up on my homepage

I chuckled when you mentioned guiltily using a toilet in a hotel. If that isn't bad enough one time I stopped at a supercharger, it was at a swanky shopping center so I thought, right no problem here. I walked for 20 mins around the shops, all high end clothes and other worthless places. No where to go. No food places or coffee shops. So I went back to the car with my legs crossed and saw a hotel across the road. I went across the road went in the hotel, acted like I owned the place with bravado and confidence to get by the receptionist without raising any concern. I found the toilets really quickly and was very proud of myself and then saw there was a lock on the toilet door with a sign saying see receptionist for a key and if you are charging your Tesla don't ask. I went out the side entrance and found a skip where I could go behind it and have a piss. On the way home we charged at the same place. I simply waited and drove to a target a mile down the road and used their facilities. I did buy something for my wife as a thank you to Target for meeting my needs.

Great video as usual. As a newish EV owner, these journeys you have shared have inspired me to be confident with long trips across the length of the UK. Looks like Europe will be just as easy so thats next on my list!

Great video - good to see that charging on long trips is becoming more trivial. Would love to see a separate showcase of the Tronity app 👍

Great, laid back presentation as usual Mr E V.👏👏😊😊

The drama-factor in EV-driving will subside, I'm glad you can spice it up with family members of Mr.EV, Nice trip, good video & edit work!

What a great road trip video, full of useful information and no music! Fantastic, really enjoyed thank you.

Excellent video as per thank you. I can’t travel long distances because of health issues so really enjoy watching your peregrinations around Europe.

This was a great watch, you keep it real and with humour. It’s not only me then that takes that last second panic wrong turn!😢😂

Brilliant, really enjoyed this. I'm sure you wont have argued on the way back but i bet something happens to make us chuckle😄👍

Your road trip vids are genuinely some of the best content on RU-vid. Love ‘em!

Great road trip video. It’s interesting to see the difference from your earlier trips to Italy. Faster, more reliable and easier to plan

As a new E208 EV owner this video was so helpful and has shown me how to make my longer journeys easier thanks so much

Enjoyed watching this, great video 👍 can’t wait for part 2!

Thanks Andrew welcome to Marina de Cerveteri !! Great video

Great video. Did that trip years ago using petrol. Great to see familiar places again and that the major problems are still language and customs. Never did understand how shops worked!

Looking forward to seeing this.. jeez I'm worried about travelling from Glasgow to Bridlington in Oct!

Wow that was an epic but enjoyable video. I’ve driven as far as Germany but I’ve always wanted to do Italy and you’ve encouraged me to do it.

Another great road trip video, thanks. We managed a long weekend in Normandy recently, our first EV experience abroad, and it all worked pretty well. Ionity are brilliant, particularly with plug and charge enabled. And on Electroverse they are also a bargain at 39p per KWH. However away from the main routes, some of the urban charging infrastructure (7kw AC) seems not quite as reliable, to put it mildly....

Glad you got through all the editing & got this video out great evening viewing for me & my Daughter Gilly

I love to go to Italy 🇮🇹 with my fiat 500e it's my dream from childhood I remember when we went on holiday with a Austin 1100 from Cambridge to montecassino and with a fiat 124special T as a little boy I was excited thank you Mr. EV for your service and dedication

Love road trip videos! I find ABRP excellent for planning journeys, but useless for navigation. Plan on ABRP, and then put the route into Google Maps for a less stressful journey. I agree about driving an EV through France, a real pleasure. I’m off there again 2 weeks on Tuesday and I can’t wait!

Enjoyed watching this, thanks 🙂

Great Video as always thanks!!!

Watched it. Gives me confidence to do road trips to Europe.

Thanks again Andrew, just love your videos. Just to mention, if you take the Irish Ferries from Cherbourg (yes pronounced "Cherbourg") in France to Dublin, they have 7kw onboard EV chargers for just 15 euros... must give it a try!

Charge speeds are really impressive in this car.. nice!

Great video Andrew, as always! We do an annual drive from UK to Italy in an Ioniq 5 and absolutely love it. I wonder, is there a reason why you don't take the route via Switzerland and always prefer to go down south to France? Just curious. Thanks!

Well done for taking the trip on for the sake of the review. 👋

Yay! Been waiting for this!

I’m not sure I like EV’s, but I love these videos.

I left comments elsewhere complaining about a car brand - but this has been a really interesting well done video - thank you.

Another great video and it's nice to see the continuing improvements to the charging infrastructure across EU. I did have to do a double take at around 46 minutes because, at the speed you were going, the motorway sidings gave the optical illusion that you were reversing down the motorway! 😀

Always very watchable and I like the Guy Ritchie editing.

Best EV channel on RU-vid - I live vicariously through your videos.

Before having watched this I'm already excited and hopeful this trip was smooth and comfortable (energy and ride-wise). I STILL don't drive a few months before my 30th birthday but I'd love to one day drive from Britain down to Italian lakes and the French and Italian coastlines with a 14 ft/ 4267.2 mm long racing paddleboard on the roof of an electric car (advise on carrying SUPs/surfboards on EV roofs welcome from all commenters) and trip videos like this should be VERY helpful. I hope everything is even easier when I finally can afford to drive and buy an electric car! 🏄🛶🔌🚗🚄

46.08 that a very interesting film affect - it looks like you driving backwards when you look at the crash barrier

Hello Andrew, I hope you and your family are well. Have you driven over the new Morandi bridge in Genova? Talking about the state of the roads, I once had to drive to Rome on business and drove through a village called Mentana (the worst road I have ever been on).

I love your videos man please upload more

btw the flicking on the screen is caused by the high shutter speed of the iPhone because its bright, it needs to match the screen to avoid flicking but that would require an adjustable aperture, which the phone doesn't have or using an ND Filter.

Great video, Andrew. I guess the way back was not worth another video, which is quite all right. I have owned the e-208 for over 2 years now. My wife and I absolutely love it. I started looking at your videos when I bumped across the "Charges too fast" one, which intrigued me and I ended up watching the whole very long thing because I really like how you do these. They are the most real life experience video's I've seen on EVs. I always look to Bjorn Nyland's because of the techie stuff I'm into and also the 1000 km challenges speak to me. I skip a lot through his. But your video's have a much more "normal people" and "every day use" approach, I skip nothing on yours. The e-208 you used is a better version than mine that is a first batch production. Yours had more and better heat pumps, a transmission ratio that is better suited to hiway driving and a more informative dash. My e-208 may have done 23 kWh/100km on the same trip, but I found it becomes more efficient when DC fast charging. Mine is a GT on those beautiful but inefficient 17 inch low profile tyres, also not helping with consumption and very harsh suspension, but the thing handles like a gocart, "like a Porsche" as Bjorn said. Stellantis is learning, but I'm pretty disappointed about the e-308 which they should have done on the STLA platform. I don't mind my e-208 being thirsty, we use it for local stuff and we have a Mercedes Diesel Estate for long haul. On local stuff our e-208 does 18 kWh/100 km on average. And it charges from our solar, so there is really nothing to complain about. But it limits long haul capability, we never used it for a destination that does not fit one full charge. I may stretch it a bit and do some DC fast charging to get home. I see your Megane is quite a bit better. I believe 12 kWh/100 km should be achievable in the not too distant future for "local driving" and hiway consumption should be more like a Tesla Model 3, proving we are perfectly capable of 18 kWh / 100 km on sustained hiway speed limit driving. I believe the future is to not too fast charging and big batteries for long haul EVs. 18 kWh * 6 * 1.42 makes the battery 150 kWh charging at 1.5 C (230 kW) for a 10-80 charge time of 30 minutes for adding 600km of range. With future batteries that don't mind 100% SoC, the battery capacity may be lower at around 120 kWh.

Entertaining & informative as usual - enjoyed it. Currently planning an eNiro trip through France to Spain using ABRP & wonder if you have any tips/app for finding hotels that have chargers please?

I also use an onto car and got an OBD port splitter from amazon, haven't really tried it yet but should get around the issue you described.

Half Italian living here near Canterbury as well 🙂You could have dropped me off on your way down. Great video, have done the ride many times in an ICE so looking forward to trying in an EV.

These hour long road trip videos of yours are always a treat ! Hopefully we will not have to wait a year for another one. However as much as I love roadtrips, from a financial perspective, if you are travelling alone sadly it doesn't seem to be a great option with how cheap flying/trains can be these days. The tolls, tunnels, hotels, food and snacks during the charging stops, and of course the charging itself really adds up quickly. As well as the added mileage on the car so less resell value, tire usage, car washes, and also always the risk of an accident that could be dangerous and expensive. Which is a shame because I would love to do more, but you really need to be at the minimum 2 in the car in most cases to at the very least makes some sense.

Another great video

Great video! I am Planning to come to London with my Opel mokka e by the end of the year. Which app do you suggest for charging in the uk?

I enjoy the vids. Would be good to know what gadgets on the car you used / what you didn't / what you tired and didn't work as advertised i.e. cruise control, lane assist etc....

Hi Andrew, just rewatching this, as we are taking delivery of the e208 shortly. We are travelling to France in the summer and I was wondering did you have to add headlamp deflector? Great video and always.

Finished watching - took 3 sessions 😀. Hubby really wants to do a long trip in Europe, but I am not so keen. I would need a holiday when we got back. Your experiences are pretty much what we find in the UK - plenty of chargers and they mostly work.

As an Ioniq 5 owner, I can appreciate why you would be missing it.

Great video to show what can be done with a smaller range EV. I think that you need more to show the time you have driven between charges, as it would be easy for non EV drivers to just see charge after charge! Driving to Disneyland Paris was my biggest trip in my EV and it was also very easy with charging done when I was ready to eat, drink or use the facilities. Also the charging was done before we were!

I’ve been driving London to Rome for decades. I’d like to try it in an electric car. I used to do the trip in about 28 hours - sleeping in the car. Those days are over now 😊 I last did it about a month ago and stopped in Chambery and Parma on the way to Rome but was a bit quicker on the way back stopping only in Oulx. Mind you we were going to Paris (where we also live) on the way back. I left the car in Paris and used the Eurostar when I needed to come to London. One of my favourite routes - but a bit longer - is through Belgium into Germany down to Stuttgart, Ulm, across the Fern Pass to Innsbruck, then the europabruke to Trento, Milan, Piacenza and then it’s a straight road to Roma.

Share your bridge fear. Haven’t taken my 500 out of the UK (though tempted to take it home to Turin) but am looking forward to some road trips when our polestar arrives.

We used to drive to the South of France regularly back in the 80's, the thing that's striking is the number of stops you have to make , overnight charging seems to mitigate this somewhat

Another great video Andrew. Anyone on here done any long trips through France and down to the south of Spain? Wondering if anyone has any tips for Spain - We have a 62 kwh Leaf so would be Chademo chargers

Good video. Surprised at efficiency. Less than 4 miles per kwh seems low. We have a niro and would expect more than 4 this time of year? Had ours 4 and half years and still love it (except the weird radio!)

E-Niro here, from 2019, 127.000km, and can still drive Netherlands to Piemonte Italy in a single day.(1200km drive) The ABRP has been usefull at first, with not much experience, but getting to know how the car behaves, learned to plan it down to below 10% SoC stops to get the maximum charging speeds, running 5-55% SoC runs in between charges.

Your video watches like a storybook. Very relaxing! What do you think its actual, practical range is on a full charge?

Great video Andrew. I'm driving through France and Spain in 2 weeks in my Zoe ze50. What does the future have in store for your channel now that onto has gone into administration? Tbh i think you and Flaviana could do anything and people would watch. Keep up the good work all of you

Beautiful -- a veggie burger with gerkins! If you have it made to order, BK has the best Impossible Wopper Burger. It doesn't taste like cow breath (believe you me, I know what a cow's breath is like after growing up on farms). Agree with you on road trips with charge breaks. Never a hassle! With our Tesla X, as comfortable and roomy as it is, we would rather get out every so often, stretch the legs, have a coffee & croissant while the car charges. It does make the trip so much more enjoyable. Hey, always enjoy your videos even though we live a continent away! Love seeing the European maps with your charging stops, chuckling with your lovely sense of humour!

Just travelled to Belgium from Newcastle (via the ferry from Hull) in our 40kwh Leaf. I invested in a Chargemap card for 20 euro and it worked everywhere, highly recommended. Our trip of 675 miles cost £62 in total.

With the Kempower chargers, if you tap your side of the screen you get a QR code you can scan and follow the charging on your phone. You also get a charging curve recorded.

Thanks for the Tronity code!, signrd up and looks really usefull long term

Hello Andrew, the 208 is definitly a good looking car, but the battery size is really too small. With my eNiro (same version as you had) I no longer planned trip in France, there are enough charging points actually, and it made me discovered "Electra" which is the same charging device as Fastned but cheaper. In France Ionity reduce their price, is it the same in England ?

Excellent video looking forward to watching the Model 3 Italian adventure. I’ve just come back from Union lido in lido di jesolo it was the perfect holiday, apart from mosquitoes…. I do have questions from your experience does leaving an ODB dongle installed drain the 12 volt battery?

Interesting content and well edited - appreciate this must have taken ages! Taking out the onto costs, it seems like quite a frugal way to travel especially if your wife and daughter had travelled together with you, albeit I know the Shell card saved you £££s. Interesting charge time was just over 4 hours, which given total travel time of 24 hours, seems completely reasonable. There's a bit of obsession about range all the time but I like the small but frequent stops to put that at bay. Certainly convincing that it's becoming much more viable. Cheers

Did a trip to Pompeii in 2017 in a motorhome and also found the whole drink v food at service stations frustrating and so inefficient

Checking the finish trip distance. Its crazy to think the 208 mk1 with HDI engine would have only required 1 refuel in the whole trip (estimated autonomy of 900-1000km), while the mk1/mk2 petrol variants would have required 2. Gives perspective of how the range warps the trip around smaller, more frequent stops and that in turn changes driver habits: one big stop over 8-9 hours of driving will most likely mean the driver will eat/dine/go to WC/take a nap/etc, vs smaller coffee/snack + WC stops in a EV. Lastly, I think Europe and SEA are ideal use cases for EVs regarding to urban/charging infrastructure. Everything seems to be at arm's length and for some people it will be crazy to travel several countries away with a car. More scattered countries like US, Brazil, Russia, India, Australia, Argentina may produce a different experience since the inter-urban and travel stop distances are still defined mostly by ICE vehicle ranges. This limits routing and stop choices for EV/PHEV users a lot IMO

Surprisingly doable with enough planning. Also experienced that if you run into a broken Ionity charger, you can call a phone number that is on the charger and they will remotely restart it within 3-4 minutes.

Wow Ivrea !! see that mentioned very rarely. I worked there for a number of weeks for Olivetti way back in the mid to late 80s on their computers post their typewriter phase. there used to be a hotel in the main square that was externally modelled on a typewriter due to Ivrea being the main site of Olivetti offices and software/hardware development factories.

38:00 Total agree with your thinking about social media but thanks to you and others Twitter is a nice place

Great trip! Trying to plan myself a trip from Portugal to Paris and back...😅 No problem with the GoPro overheating?

A running theme seems to have been that you would’ve been better off getting your destinations from ABRP but actually navigating with Apple Maps or Google maps. The share function in ABRB will allow you o share your next destination or your entre itinerary, with all the charging stops to either maps with one click so it’s hardly an inconvenience. Select the next charging distilnation or select the final destination in ABRP then click share You only need to refer back to ABRP for how long to charge for.

Good evening Andrew with your ioniq5 trip to Europe which headlight deflectors did you use. You would think that we could have cars that auto detect this now and adjust headlights accordingly.

I know its not always possible but if you get the chance, visit Langres next time.

I'm italian, i have a Kona Electric that Is fantastic. You are a Hero, a very long trip with the 208. Also thanks to free to x, becase they install a lot of new charger in the service stations in the highway. Without them took long trip, with an electric car, was almost impossible

37.49 mins in and loving it

Brave man! I drive an e208 And i the UK have had a couple of range anxiety moments that have put me off long trips here. Seems like Europe is far better - what a surprise!

Did the trip back from Dole (about half the trip you did). Was hot, over 30 degrees most of the way (air con full on), motorway speed (81mph), and still managed 3.7 miles per kw. Had a wait at Eutotunnel so charged up, but didn't need to to get home, and still only cost me £38 to get home with 60% charge.

Great watch Andrew , was so gutted we didnt get to see a Flaviana 'discussion' 😅

Love the video. I can'y imagine how long it takes just to edit all the footage! Would love to see get to 10% state of charge before charging. Although you probably would be very stressed! he he

Driving in Italy is interesting 😊 you could say, even dangerous 😳 but one thing is you will be happy when back in Switzerland or France.

Interesting video. At 47:03, is that the bridge that collapsed in 2018? Glad to see it has reopened. We drove from Turin down to Liguria and I know what you mean about the roads in that region. You seem to be constantly on a bridge or viaduct or in a tunnel - and hard shoulders are few and far between, you would not want to break down. I found it quite stressful, although in my defence, the horrendous rainstorm did make it even more scary!

Great video again Andrew, so thanks. The sound volume on the Gopro isn't as good as before. Of all the e cars you've used, which was the best? A league table of e cars would be useful, taking into account all factors of e car ownership.

You could have got to Italy with fewer tolls if you had gone to through Belgium luxe mbourg and switzerland for starters you do not have mont blanc tunnel fee of calais to rheims fee instead you have swiss vignette at around €40 euros are there any chargers on that route?

Very interesting video. I have installed the Tronity app via your code. Initial looks it is good. Can you tell me what "Control Vehicle if possible" means in the application settings

Hi Andrew, great vid as always - just a tip on this car, it has x2 12 volt batteries. One is for starting car/traction battery and the other for everything else. Bizarre, I know! 😊

This is why I love my Polestar 2, as put in the destination and let the car plan the stops... ABRP I find is buggy as hell at times

I'm semi-seriously looking at equipping my MG4 so I can sleep in it if I want to on journeys like this. With the front seats as far forward as they'll go there is 1.8 metres from the seat backs to the tailgate. I'm five feet seven. A lilo or single airbed, a sleeping bag, figuring out how to keep the car awake with the HVAC system on all night without the 12v giving up the ghost. Maybe basic supplies for breakfast/bedtime snacks, basic washing facilities - but service stations might eliminate the need for that. VtL would boil a kettle or even run a microwave, though I'm not sure I'd want to go that far. Might not be practical, but there have been times I'd have been glad of the possibility. Like trying to find accommodation in a town in Champagne when there was a wine festival I didn't know about. (I got what seemed like the last hotel room in town.) Same thing in Donegal when everyone seemed to be heading for the same place. I got lucky again, but that won't always happen. Or the time I spent over £100 for a hotel room I arrived in at 11.15 at night and had to get up and leave again at 8.30 am to catch a ferry. Expensive sleep.

Hi Andrew , good video. Just a quick question, did you have to put headlight deflectors on the car or could you alter them inside the car for driving abroad? All the best James

great video, only the steering wheel is on the wrong side as well as the wrong units.😁

Great to get to work every day, but have the landrover for the caravan.... How long in 1.0L petrol engine, to Italy

Great video, makes me want to plan a trip to France. Almost bought an e-208 due to it feeling more sporty than the Zoe. Only found out from this that the max charge rate is almost double which might have made me think twice.

Great video! I'm planning on doing a similar drive in August. Do you mind me asking why you didn't drive through Switzerland?

Nice video. I was wondering: Why do you charge already at 38% first stop) and 18% (next one)? It has such a small battery, why not squeeze most out of it and go down to at least 5-10%?

To change units on apple maps. U go to settings, then general, then language and region, and measurement system is in there. Totally agree it should allow you to say Auto pick based on location. iOS18 maybe eh? ;)

I've had an EV for 4 months now and I'm yet to connect to a public charger. What I really hate though is how many stupid apps and cards I've had to apply for just in case I need to charge some day.

Those new chargers at Folkestone have been under construction for about a year now, don't hold your breath for them... but the Tesla chargers there are available to non-Tesla cars so maybe it doesn't matter too much.

Loving your content, especially the road trips. I’m new to EV world and we’re planning on getting a car next year. My wife is disabled so using the motability scheme. She needs a higher car to get in and out of so we were thinking of the Audi Q4. Only trouble being we’re on the IOW and our nearest dealer is Southampton. We would we have to go over on the costly ferries for any services etc. Do EVs need servicing every year like ICE cars? TIA