Travelling around Spain on an Electric Vehicle

Rapid chargers installation is one of the biggest challenges for emobility expansion

The deployment of Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure is very important for emobility expansion in a territory. The presence of charging stations, especially rapid charging in public roads, are key to reduce range anxiety, one of the most important brakes in the transition to the electric vehicle. 

In 2017 there were 23.215 VE in Spain and it is estimated that it will reach 115.00 in 2020. AEDIVE (Spanish Association for the Development and the Promotion of Electric Vehicle) says that, although European manufacturers association ACEA claim that last July there were 4.974 charging points in Spain, that figures only makes sense if they are also counting private plugs. Nevertheless, Spain is far from Netherlands (32.875), Germany (25.214), France (16.311) and United Kingdom (14.256) four countries that have 76% of EV charging points in Europe. AEDIVE states that Spain has only 200 EV rapid chargers able to charge the vehicle in half an hour and increasing its autonomy. 

First person experience

How is, then, travelling through Spain on an EV? Spanish newspaper El País tells in a story the experience of one of its journalists from Madrid to Sevilla, a 520km journey, with a Nissan Leaf. The expected to stop twice to charge, once in Talavera de la Reina and once in Mérida coinciding with Nissan car dealers with chargers. The first stop was, as planned, in Talavera de la Reina where after three hours charging in a semi-rapid EV charger, a 205 km autonomy was achieved. This was not enough to reach Mérida, that’s why they had to improvise a stop in Majada, a restaurant near Trujillo, that they located thanks to Electromaps, a collaborative app that geolocates EV charging points. In this stop that lasts one hour and a half the load was enough to travel 82km more. This was just enough to get to Mérida before car dealer closing time where they charge completely charge they battery in one hour and a half. It took 12 hours and 40 minutes to travel 520 km. But this journey was made without gas emissions and without spending money in charging because all the charging points were free.

Beyond the extra stops, the journalist makes some interesting considerations. The explain that there are two electric charging stations on the route, but they are not active because they need an authorization of local authorities to get the power. Aware of this problem EV manufacturers have created their own distribution networks and offer charging points in car dealers. The problem with this is that you must charge during car dealer’s business hours. Another aspect that stands out is the importance of knowing your vehicles and all the features that may affect energy consumption such as driving conditions or the use of the radio or the heating. You can read the complete story in El País.

On Twitter we’ve find another experience of someone travelling on an EV through Spain. Is Glyn Hudson, a blogger on electric mobility that has travelled from North Whales to the south of Spain on an eNV200 Nissan van. They, as El Pais’ journalists, have charged mostly in Nissan car dealers and rapid chargers and they have often used Twitter to find charging stations and find out about their status. You can follow Glyn Hudson’s adventure on his Twitter account.