Milton Keynes to Nazaré, Portugal (1,400-mile EV road trip)

Back in 2023, Jon won the World EV Day Competition. He received Electroverse charging credit for his dream road trip and has now finished his journey!

From his home in Milton Keynes, through France and Spain, Jon drove all the way to Nazaré, Portugal to see the largest waves in the world - all in his EV!

Jon has kindly shared his interesting thoughts on traveling in Europe whilst using EV public charging. You can also simply enjoy the beautiful photos he's shared from his travels!

Let's get plugged in...

First, let’s learn a little bit about you! How long have you been driving an electric vehicle?

My first full BEV was a VW ID.3 Family Pro, bought in Dec 2020 - one of the very first. I’d owned a BMW hybrid for 3 months before this, but that just convinced me that hybrids are a flawed stopgap & full BEV was the way to go. I owned the ID.3 for a year before selling it to buy the Kia EV6 that I now own, in Dec 2021.

What EV model did you travel in, and why did you pick that one in particular?

I travelled in a Kia EV6 RWD GT Line S.

My two main reasons for changing from the ID.3 to the Kia were range and, more importantly, charging speed; the Kia charges so fast and even now very few cars charge as quickly as the E-GMP 800V cars.

When planning your trip to Nazaré, Portugal, why did you decide to drive - rather than fly?

I’ve never been a huge fan of flying - well, airports and queues really - don’t mind the actual flying! Have always enjoyed driving on the continent for over 20 years and I saw no reason that driving an electric car should change this. I prefer the flexibility of being able to stop, eat, sightsee, and operate on my own schedule rather than flying.

What was your favourite part of the trip - would you suggest any specific places other EV travellers should check out?

The west coast of Portugal was stunning - there were large stretches of beach where there were no other people for hours on end. The towns (like Nazaré) usually have great seafood restaurants and locally and freshly caught produce.

On the way back, we went through the Northern side of the Spanish city, Cordoba. It is fantastic for hiking and walking into the hills - the city offered stunning views.

After this we went through the ancient city of Carcassonne in France. A stunning place and very interesting to spend a great deal of time walking around.

You travelled from your home in Milton Keynes, England - how did you find EV charging throughout France, Spain and Portugal?

Completely stress-free!! Only found one faulty charger in the whole trip (and working one next door). Never had to queue or wait (also never had anyone waiting behind me). Charging in France and Spain was never a problem and lots of choices.

Portugal, however, seems to be a bit further behind than other European countries (and fewer electric vehicles as well). Occasionally (i.e. just a few times), there were “only” 50kW chargers available, but that’s still fast enough to top up - whether that's to get to a faster charger, or just chill out for 30 mins longer.

How did using the Electroverse help you on your journey? Did you charge using the Electroverse app and/or using the Electrocard?

We used the app most mornings to search for and find chargers, then programme them into the car sat-nav (the car has HUD navigation, so very useful on unfamiliar roads). Occasionally we would use the Electroverse navigation via CarPlay, double-checking locations when close by - when the car sat-nav got a bit confused.

We mostly used the Electrocard as we find it much easier, but did use in-app charging on a couple of occasions when the card was (temporarily) mislaid. This did coincide with the new in-app charging progress indication, but that doesn’t work for some charger / supply set-ups.

Either way, between Electroverse and the in-built Kia navigation, the journeys were easy and I don’t think we ever got lost!

What do you enjoy the most about driving electric?

Probably the same things most BEV drivers would say:

• Smoothness, quietness and simplicity of the drive

• Ability to charge at home (fortunate to have off-street parking)

• Not burning stuff... (the environmental side of things)

• Lower costs of travel

Do you have any top tips for someone planning to make the change to an EV?

Two minutes of thought and planning saves a lot of hassle and frustration. To be honest, I didn’t do a lot more planning than when I was driving a high performance ICE car and was searching for 99RON fuel on the continent.

Finally, is there another road trip on the cards?

Since this road trip, I have already been out to Germany and Czechia, mainly to attend the World Biathlon Championships in Nové Mesto, Czechia.

I have also just come back from 2 weeks in Northern Italy - camping and hiking. Planning on following this with the French and Spanish Pyrenees in late April / early May - all in the Kia EV6!

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