Electric car

Electric car includes topics about owning, driving and charging electric cars.

The best highway?

Posted 22/10/2023 by Terje Bjørnstad

motorway — On the highway. Photo: lembit/Depositphotos.com

If you are going to drive through Europe, motorways apply. I have rolled the dice over motorways through 6 different countries - and have chosen a winner!

A freeway, is a freeway, is a…

We had a nice trip this time too. Three days on the motorway went like a dream, thanks to the motorways, the service offers along the road and the other road users. The motorways do not only consist of vei, but is also an international "community" that supplies everything that road travelers from all corners of Europe need on their journey. That's why I think that if you've seen one motorway, you've seen them all.

But are all roads equally good?

We have driven the AP7 in Spain from Barcelona to France. Then A9, A7, A6 and A36 via Lyon to Alsace, Bundesautobahn 5 and 7 through Germany via Hanover to Denmark, then E45 and E20 over the Øresund Bridge and E6 through Sweden to Oslo.

Road standard

The roads in Spain and France are part of Vinci Autoroutes. In Spain the motorways are tolled and free, while it cost €80 to drive through France. The road standard in Spain is good, but some sections of the road seem undersized in relation to the speed limit of 120 km/h. In France, the road standard is excellent and can easily withstand 130 km/h.

In Germany, on the other hand, the maintenance of the roads seems to have been neglected for many years. They are simply so bad that I was afraid that the tires would be destroyed. Road works are taking place "all over the place" and they are unlikely to be finished for several decades. Dilapidated 4-lane roads with tight on-ramps and exits bear little resemblance to what one would expect from class A motorways.

The roads in Sweden receive top scores - not only for the road standard, but also for how they are laid out in the landscape. The roads in Denmark are surrounded by vegetation and earth embankments. Although the standard is good, it is boring that you cannot follow the surrounding landscape.

The Øresund Bridge. Photo: hansenn/Depositphotos.com — The Great Belt Bridge. Photo: hansenn/Depositphotos.com

Service offer

You should not need to leave the motorway system to refuel, charge, top up air, eat or visit a toilet. In Germany, you are continuously notified of how far it is both to the next and subsequent service station. In France we paid tolls, but in return could use very good and safe service points along the road, including good toilets. Since Spain no longer charges tolls, we are unsure whether the service offer in Spain will be maintained. We experience that Circle K charges to use the toilets in Denmark and Sweden. The rest areas are centered around Circle K and Q8 stations. In Sweden, the Swedish Transport Administration has established nice rest areas with free toilets.

Charging options

Had we made the same journey 4 months ago, we would have argued that France was not suitable for electric cars. Today the situation is completely different. All the charging stations we have visited - Tesla and others - have been established during the last 4 months - several with the option to pay by bank card. The Tesla chargers are located outside the motorway system. Although they are cheaper, we preferred fast chargers located within the toll booths.

We had expected that the development of charging stations in Germany would have progressed further. We found older chargers that could barely cover the demand on a normal weekday in October. In both France and Germany, service points with charging stations were marked from the road with their own charging symbols. Signage of charging stations was not as well implemented in the Nordic countries. It is important that there are signs for the charging stations along the road, so you don't have to search on a screen while driving. In Sweden, it was possible to observe the charging stations from the motorway in several places.

Driving culture

On the continent, you are expected to keep to the right on motorways and use the lanes on the left for overtaking. In Germany, you are expected to pull over to the right - if possible - if you are overtaken by another vehicle. That way you undoubtedly get more cars through the motorway at the same time - especially on sections with free speed.

In France, many people drive in "jerks and nibbles". They give full throttle when they "throw" the car out to drive past - and reduce speed just as suddenly after they have pulled in to the right. Both parts create unrest in the traffic picture, and inhibit the flow of traffic.

In the Nordic countries, the principle of lining up on the right is not followed as strictly. In Norway, many people choose to drive in the left lane over long distances, despite the fact that the traffic behind wants to pass. Seen from Norwegian eyes, this is normal - "the road is free for all". Seen with continental eyes, on the other hand, it seems arrogant that one motorist chooses to block other road users from passing, and I can clearly see how this inhibits the capacity of the motorway. Danes and Swedes are generally better at changing lanes without disrupting the flow of traffic.

On German motorways we saw several times grown men in expensive fast cars driving at "free speed", closely followed by young people in older cars. It was clear they were racing. Shouldn't adults show responsibility towards the youngest road users?

Country	ES	FR	DE	DK	SE	DO NOT
Road standard
Service offer
Charging options
Driving culture
Total	17	21	13	18	22	18

Sweden wins on good roads and skilled drivers. France ends up in 2nd place. We love the motorways and the new charging stations, but many French drivers have trouble keeping the flow. Norway and Denmark end up in shared 3rd place. The Danes have a better driving culture than the Norwegians, but lose something at hidden and poorly signposted service stations and the charging options along the road are not quite on par with Norway. Spain comes in second last place due to few charging options. Germany is beautiful, especially to the south, but the roads are worn and some Germans drive recklessly fast. All the accidents we saw on the road happened in Germany.

A couple of tips

Rescue alley
I don't think anyone can drive through Germany without experiencing a traffic jam. You are then obliged to ensure that emergency vehicles have clear passage. That passage is created between the two lanes furthest to the left, which means that the cars in the left lane lay well to the left before stopping, and that the cars on the right squeeze together towards the right. This worked fine. If there is a queue on the motorway, an emergency vehicle will often pass by.

The bypass north of Gothenburg
As is well known, part of E6 disappeared in the quick clay landslide in Stenungssund north of Gothenburg. If you are coming from the south, traffic will be signposted onto E45 towards Karlstad, with exit at Lilla Edet to E6 at Ljungskile south of Hogstorp. The detour steals neither time nor kilometres, but if you drive an electric car, you should be on your guard as there are no charging options until you get back down to the E6. You can choose to drive north as normal with a local detour around the slide.

Accommodation no. 1. Highway Hotel, Herbolzheim. Source: Google Maps

Accommodation no. 2. Hotel Kryb i ly Kro, Fredricia. Source: Google Maps

See

To Europe with an electric car in 2023

Posted 25/08/2023 by Terje Bjørnstad

I have great respect for the electric car pioneers who went down to Europe ten years ago. It must have been exciting to arrive at the town's only charging station and find that it was out of order. That makes good stories. Many of the stories are still out there online and can scare people away. A lot has happened in the last year alone. Everyone can travel with an electric car in Europe, although not entirely without challenges. It may be a good idea to prepare in advance.

Convenient with large charging stations

We are a husband and wife with a dog who recently went by electric car to our little house not far from Perpignan in France. Although we drive a Tesla, the post is not only about Tesla. Large parts of Tesla's charging network can now also serve other car brands. If you have the opportunity, you should register your car in the Tesla app. Not because it is necessary, but because it is convenient to know that you can arrive at charging stations with over 20 terminals. You rarely have to wait - and if so, hardly more than 5-10 minutes. Other players, such as IONITY, have a good spread, but there are fewer terminals at each location.

Preparations

Apps are an important part of the preparations. It is not as easy to arrange such things when you are standing in front of a charging terminal in a foreign country. If you have the "right" charging chip, you can get through the whole of Europe with one chip or one app. The Electric Vehicle Association and NAF have such chips. I have a chip from Recharge (Fortum Charge & Go) which also covers IONITY and many - to me - completely unknown charging operators in Germany, France and Spain. Not only are the main roads covered, but I can charge locally in our little town too. But just to be safe, you should have multiple options in case the payment solution for one app is down. IONITY and E.ON are good alternatives for the whole of Europe.

If you depend on a well-developed charging network, it is also important to have mapped the travel routes – not just one route, but also be prepared for alternative routes. Our main route went through Hamburg, Hannover and Frankfurt. If we had chosen to drive via Luxembourg to France, the distance between the charging stations would have been greater. No problem for today's electric cars, but I fear that large distances between charging stations create charging queues during the holiday season. By checking the charging map for various operators, you can quickly find the driving routes with the best coverage.

Ferry or Sweden?

Part of the planning is finding out which ferry to take, or whether to drive through Sweden. With the Kielfergen, you start in Germany and can drive across the country in one day, provided you have the time and money to spend almost a day on the boat. DFDS from Oslo arrives in Fredrikshavn around midnight and then you either have to take in an accommodation or bet that the driver has had enough sleep during the voyage. The Larvik-Fredrikshavn ferry departs at 08.00 and 12.00 and arrives after approx. 4 hours. The advantage of ferries is that you don't have to spend as many hours in the car.

Sweden

We chose to drive through Sweden. Do you live in Oslo and start at 8, you can arrive in Southern Denmark at approximately the same time as you would have arrived with the boat that leaves Larvik at 12. Our reason for driving was that we would feel bound by having a "mammadalt" dog on the boat. Also, it feels liberating not to be bound by departure times either. The trip through Sweden went well. We loaded up in Kungälv, but took the lunch break in Falkenberg. Our next stop was Löddeköpinge in Scania. It was very busy at the Tesla station there and you could only charge up to 80%. To make sure we got to the last stop of the day, we chose to top up at E.On right next door while eating ice cream.

Sweden has good charging networks near service centers with easy access from the E6. The charging terminals were clearly visible.

Denmark

Did you know that AutoPass tags also work on the Øresund Bridge and the Storebælt Bridge? We have a toll subscription without a tag, but on the occasion of the trip over the Danish bridges we had found an old AutoPass tag. I optimistically held it up to the windscreen in front of the barrier in the "Biz field" to the Øresund Bridge - but the barrier would not budge. A nice guard came to our rescue and scanned the code on the chip - and found that it was blocked. Fortunately, we were able to pay on the spot and didn't have to back up to choose another hatch - which the cars behind us probably appreciated.

My wife revealed that crossing the Øresund Bridge had been on her "bucket list" for a long time. The bridge is a fantastic piece of construction, but the main road through Zealand and Funen is, in return, terribly boring. The only thing we saw was the road. What the world looked like behind the bushes, we could only guess by studying the map on the screen.

Germany

After spending the night at Comwell Middelfart, we entered Germany. We hadn't booked a hotel in advance, but I had set my sights on a hotel in Herbolzheim just before Freiburg. When we arrived there in the evening, the hotel was unfortunately full. In the last week of the holiday season in Germany, many were out on the same errand. What were we supposed to do? Drive on, or try to find another hotel?

The main roads in Germany are well developed with rest areas and service points, where you can also charge from local - and unknown to me - charging stations, but the large Tesla charging stations are located in places without service facilities. This meant that we stopped more times than we strictly needed - once to charge and once to eat, drink and stretch our legs. If I had wanted, I could have charged at almost all the stations that were located at the service points with the code tag from Recharge, but I noticed that these chargers were widely used by other car brands, so I thought to myself that "you who have a Tesla, can well charge in a quieter place”. What's more, the electricity is cheapest at Tesla. Back home, we will probably make more use of local electricity companies.

Driving at night

With holiday time and full hotels in the border area between Switzerland, Germany and France, we found that we might as well drive on into nocturnal France. Driving at night has several advantages. There are fewer cars - and a greater proportion of steady drivers, so that you can drive efficiently on cruise control. Driving on French motorways costs money. The trip from Mulhouse to the exit just before the border with Spain cost us €80 (NOK 925) but is worth every penny. Not just offers Vinci Autoroutes the best roads, but also good night-time service offers where you can relax before driving on. At night, I think it is important to take breaks at least once an hour to feel the body whether it is safe to continue driving.

In France, as in Germany, you rarely find Tesla chargers at the 24-hour rest areas. In France, we experienced finding brand new chargers in rather secluded places. In the darkness of the night, they became even more secluded, because in many places the street lights are switched off after midnight. A couple of times we had to take detours, and soon found out that when maneuvering in tight urban areas, you have to drive at a snail's pace so that the navigation system has time to update itself. It's an advantage to have two - one to drive and one to scout for hidden charging stations. It's almost like a game - Find the charging station!

toilets

Toilets are important welfare when you are on the road. We were disappointed by the McDonalds along the main thoroughfare. Bad food and wretched sanitary conditions throughout Europe. When we chose a McDonalds restaurant a couple of km outside the motorway system, the quality increased considerably. We are also left with the impression that organized rest areas with joint service offers (Serways and Vinci) generally have good sanitary conditions.

Beware of heat wave

In Europe, there is now a heat wave. This can result in shorter ranges, although we didn't notice anything about that since we had the ventilation system on right from the start in Denmark - also for the dog when he had to be alone in the car. A negative experience was that the windscreen cracked a few hours after we arrived. Perhaps it was not very smart to park a car with a cooled compartment in the scorching sun when the thermometer approached 40 degrees.

A positive experience is that the charging chip from Recharge (Fortum Charge & Go) works at the local charging stations here.

Power Dot is available in Spain, France and Belgium, but can be used with a charging chip from Recharge

See

E.ON — Rechargeable roads with induction

nine norway — NIO changes batteries in 3 minutes

A new spring for an old Land Rover?

Posted 05/03/2023 by Terje Bjørnstad

Interest in converting older cars to electric drive has accelerated in recent years. According to the customer list of one of the main suppliers of battery solutions and electric motors, the UK is at the top, with dealers scattered around Europe. Sweden has one supplier, while the electric car country of Norway is currently untouched.

Electrogenic

Several companies can convert cars with internal combustion engines to electric operation, but for now all are in the starting phase. One of the companies, Electrogenic Ltd, now offers conversion kits for certain car models, and aims to be able to deliver to workshops and restorers. One of the standard solutions is adapted to Land Rover. The simplest kit is called Agricultural Kit, where the conversion can be carried out according to a drop-in principle. In the future, you should be able to take your Land Rover to a local dealer and have it rebuilt. Agricultural Kit only requires remodeling inside the engine compartment. Larger kits require more extensive intervention – so large that they should be included as part of a restoration project.

Vass Technology

Most Land Rover Defenders on the road today are powered by Land Rover's own 2.5 5-cylinder turbodiesel TD5 or Ford Duratorq 2.4 or 2.2. Typical candidates for conversion are 12-15 year old, relatively well-used cars. Since the conversion will cost several hundreds of thousands of kroner, with upgrades to the steering, chassis, brakes and drivetrain, a certain degree of restoration will also be necessary. Vass Technology exhibited two Land Rovers at this year's event London Classic Car Show. These were restored down to the smallest detail, including changing the frame and undercarriage etc. The company is in the initial phase of developing solutions for converting cars with internal combustion engines to electric drive. The exhibition cars are prototypes for two different conversion solutions. They attracted the public not only because of their electric powertrains, but also because they were so beautifully restored. These are cars that would have attracted positive attention anyway even with their original diesel engines, but both cars now had Tesla engines and Jaguar I-Pace battery packs.

Not in Norway

Using Tesla motors and batteries does not mean that any formal collaboration exists. This can be bought freely on the international parts market. The company NetGain Motors, Inc. specializes in supplying basic components to professional rebuilders, such as Electrogenic. The company has 8 partners/dealers in the UK alone, and the same number spread across the rest of Europe, including 2 in Sweden. Electric car country Norway is untouched. Sweden has relatively liberal rules for conversions carried out by self-builders. The problem with today's electric car conversions is that they are considered significant conversions of previously type-approved vehicles, which is very demanding to get approved in this country. Only when the conversions take the step to produce standard solutions can they be approved by international agencies. Then it is possible that cars can be rebuilt in Norway as well. We are not there yet - and the conversions will hardly be possible without the politicians relaxing the rules so that it becomes easier to approve conversion to electricity.

Perhaps a case for the MDGs?

A car for life?

The Land Rover Defender is a British icon. They are solid, simple and unglazed working iron that fits in anywhere - in front of an old pub, manor house or commercial building made of glass and concrete. Classic Land Rovers will probably never go out of style. If you are going to have one car for the rest of your life, Land Rover is a good candidate. The Land Rover Defender (or earlier series) deserves an extra life - and is well suited for heavy batteries. The industry has already found that out. Almost all the British companies now offer solutions for Land Rover.

Electrogenic showcased the Porsche 911, Jaguar E-Type and Land Rover.

What hides underneath

Although Land Rover is better suited to electrical conversion than many other models, the kits do not differ much conceptually from other models. If you open the bonnet on the prototypes from Vass Technology, you will find a control box on top of a battery box. Another battery box is located behind where the fuel tank used to be. The Tesla engine sits between the frame walls in the middle of the car and is connected to a permanent 4×4 transmission. This is an expensive solution.

Electrogenic offers simpler solutions where the electric motor is fitted into the existing flywheel housing, so that the clutch and gear can still be used. According to the supplier, slippage in the clutch plates can save the drive if you drive "butt" into a tree stump or similar. They also offer a clutch-less drivetrain.

What speaks against electrical conversion

Electric Land Rover has some clear disadvantages. Regardless of what the suppliers might claim, I would never dare drive in water or wet mud. And what range will you really get on bad roads with snow or mud? With critical eyes, you can ask yourself - why hasn't Land Rover itself chosen to launch an electric Defender? The biggest objection will still be the price. If you convert a 15-year-old TD5, the price will easily end up in excess of what you have to pay for a brand new Land Rover Defender 110 with a plug-in hybrid drive (PHEV). Then it's tempting to put your old Land Rover up for sale and order a new Defender instead.

- although you can hardly keep it for the rest of your life.

Rebuilt cars

2012 Land Rover 90 TD5 Soft Top converted to electric power

Center screen - otherwise original seating arrangement

Vass Technology EV Defender 90 Soft Top

The donor car from 2012 has received a full nut-and-bolt restoration with a new Marsland frame, new interior and brakes, etc. The drivetrain consists of one Tesla engine with 286 HP and a torque of 600 Nm connected to constant 4×4. According to the supplier, the off-road capabilities are as good or better than the donor vehicle even without the low gear range. The battery pack is 83 Kwh and originates from the Jaguar I-Pace. Stated range is up to 272 km. The on-board charger can take 6,6 Kw and CCS fast charging 85 Kw. RHD. The car is for sale. Price: £119 (ex VAT) - NOK 995 million (ex VAT and weight tax).

EV Defender 110 TD5 XS Station Wagon

2004 model from Vass Technology has undergone full frame-off restoration with new springs and brakes. The car is equipped with tough "backdated" doors, external cage and soft top. The battery pack is 35 Kwh which gives a relatively low range of around 110 km. This car also has one Tesla engine of 286 HP and a torque of 600 Nm. The on-board charger can take 6,6 Kw and fast charging with CCS can take 38 Kw. RHD. The car is for sale. Price: £94 (exempt from VAT) - NOK 995 (ex VAT and weight tax).

New Land Rover Defender

The new Defender 110 XS Edition P400e 2.0 SI4 PHEV AWD plug-in hybrid produces 404 HP, and has a range of up to 43 km in electric mode. The price is NOK 1 before winter tires and extra equipment. This is therefore a real alternative to the converted cars above. In England you can actually get a Defender V323 for about the same price.

This beautiful Austin Healey has been converted to battery powered drivetrain - London Electric Cars