As a family of 4, including twin twenty-year-old sons, we decided to do a road trip in Spain for our family holiday, travelling from Lisbon – Vila Nova de Milfontes – Seville – Marbella – Granada – Cordoba and back to Lisbon. We had a great time but I thought it may be useful for others to explain our experience from the EV charging perspective.
Loulé
We had to wait 30 minutes for the Loulé SC (Supercharger), which is the worst I have experienced in 5 years of driving my Model 3, but tedious rather than a disaster. The car did warn us in advance and suggested an alternative, but it was in the wrong direction, so we persisted. This was at lunchtime and I suspect a lot of Algarve holiday makers top up while avoiding the midday sun in the shopping centre with its A/C – there was no queue when we left. It took 40 minutes for a full charge to ensure we got to Seville, while we had lunch and the kids did some shopping.
Seville
When we arrived, we left the car in the included parking and walked everywhere, visiting places such as Catedral de Sevilha and Setas de Sevilla. When we left, we went to the Seville SC which was exasperating because it was in the middle of an upgrade from 150W to 250W chargers and at least 3 were disconnected, but it was not obvious until after you parked in a slot and tried to plug it in. The result was that I only managed to charge on the 3rd attempt: Tesla really should put up signs on the disabled chargers to avoid the confusion. This is in a shopping centre with a Burger King and various quite expensive restaurants. We made one stop on the way to Marbella at the Aguadulce SC (no detour but a bit barren with just a basic cafeteria).
Marbella
This was interesting in that I had planned to use the Marbella SC, but discovered that the local Mercadona supermarket has a very good deal with Iberdrola, costing only €0.25 / kWh for a 22kW charger. It was our nearest supermarket anyway and there were also some nice cafes, so that is mainly where I charged during our 1 week stay, making day trips to gorgeous places like Ronda, Mijas, Setenil de las Bodegas and Caminito del Rey. We did stop once at the Marbella SC as it was on the way back from Ronda and we needed a full charge (not a detour, but on a slower road at a hotel where you need to get a parking ticket from the reception).
Granada
When we left for Granada, I topped up at the Fuengirola SC (2 km detour, in a hotel). We then filled up at the Granada SC (10 km detour, as it is on the other side of the road, but has an OK cafeteria). In Granada itself, we just parked the car in the garage included with the accommodation and we didn’t need to charge again as we visited the Alhambra and other areas on foot, bus or by taxi.
Cordoba
This just required a single charge on the way at the Antequera SC (no detour, but at a dismal service station). In Cordoba, we parked in the included underground car park and walked or took taxis around the town, visiting the stunning Mesquita-Catedral de Córdova and Palacio de Viana. Before leaving I filled up in the Victory Place Parking Wenea charger, but as these are in the normal parking area, had to pay for the parking while charging, adding almost as much (€4 on top of the €6) so the moral is: use the fast charger!
Return to Lisbon
This was the longest single trip, 500 km in one day, so I decided to make 3 stops. The first was a 50kW CCS charger in Llerena (no detour and a nice cafe beside it), managed by Wenea, it is free as part of an EV promotion policy of the Badajoz region. The 2nd stop wasn’t really necessary, but I prefer to break the journey, so we topped up at the McDonalds in Badajoz which is managed by Iberdrola and gave a solid 50 kW. The last was the Montemor SC (10 km detour and in a golf resort) – you have to reserve a table if you want to eat anything here.
Summary
- I strongly recommend installing all the apps your can find and add your credit card before you leave – don’t wait until you have to use one and find you have a poor network etc. In reality it takes 5 minutes each and is much cheaper than using single roaming apps. As an example, the Cordoba charger I used cost me €6 for 16 kW, while Miio would charge almost €9. Some only allow for a Spanish address, but it doesn’t seem to matter what you put – it worked fine with a Portuguese credit card. I added Iberdrola, Wenea and Enel-X-Way (but didn’t use it).
- All the public Spanish chargers we came across operate on a per kWh basis (from €0.25 – 0.41 for a 22kW and €0.45 – 0.56 for 50kW, including taxes), so it is clear what it costs and you are not penalised for having an 11 kW limit on a 22kW charger, or when charging over 80% on a fast charger. There are some legacy slow chargers that are expensive (€0.59 for a 7kW) in town centres, so avoid them. This really shows up how badly designed and expensive the Portuguese Mobie public network is, with its Byzantine charging structure.
- The Badajoz region has an EV promotion policy which provides free charging, such as the 50 kWh CCS charger in Llerena, which works perfectly and is well placed for a trip from Cordoba to Lisbon.
- We booked accommodation with parking included – it is so much simpler and more relaxing to be able to dump the car for a few days. It is also out of the heat, safer and reduces traffic congestion in the cities we visited.
- I prefer to make more stops rather than pushing the range. In my view stopping every 1.5-2.5h is ideal, regardless of the need to charge, simply to take a break and stretch my legs. I’ve never felt range anxiety in 5 years of driving an EV.
Statistics
This is a summary of the costs and performance, bearing in mind the temperature outside was typically 37-40ºC so we had the A/C on all the time. The car was also fully loaded with 4 of us, plus holiday luggage. I stick to the speed limits, so 120 km/h on motorways and up to 90 km/h on other roads. It includes the initial home charging cost and discounts the remaining charge when we arrived. Total km was calculalated from the car odometer. The Total kWhs is the value indicated by the chargers, not the car. The cost includes taxes and parking fees while charging.
| Total km | Total kWh | Wh / km | Total Cost | Cost / kWh | Cost / 100km |
| 2280 | 363.3 | 159 | €112.87 | €0.31 | €4.95 |