Driving an electric car across several European countries sounds like the perfect test for range anxiety. One recent two-week journey covered France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy in a battery-electric SUV.

The route included motorways, Alpine roads and city driving, with 19 charging stops along the way. The conclusion was surprisingly positive: public chargers were plentiful, including rapid units, but an EV road trip still requires more preparation than travelling in a petrol or hybrid car.

Subscriptions Can Pay Off

Frequent public charging can become expensive, so a subscription may be worthwhile on a long trip. On this journey, a charging-network plan costing around €12 per month reduced the price per kilowatt-hour at selected rapid chargers. Only seven of the 19 charging sessions actually used that network, yet the subscription still saved roughly €58 overall. The key is choosing a provider that has plenty of chargers along your planned route rather than simply picking the cheapest membership.

Convenience Is Not Always Cheapest

Charging cards can simplify life considerably. Instead of downloading a new app at every stop, one card may activate chargers from multiple operators and keep all payments in one place. That convenience, however, can come at a premium.

During the trip, using a universal charge card at some stations cost around 25% more than paying through the operator’s own app. The practical strategy is simple: use a roaming card for reliability, but check the operator’s direct price when the difference matters.

Treat 20% as Empty

One of the most useful habits was mentally treating 20% remaining battery as zero.

Chargers can be broken, occupied or difficult to locate. One planned stop was already out of service, while navigation software occasionally failed to show compatible rapid chargers nearby. Keeping that 20% reserve leaves enough energy to reach a backup station without turning the search into an emergency.

Range Drops Faster at Speed

Estimated range can look reassuring in cities and become much less reliable on fast roads. During motorway driving with air conditioning running, the remaining-distance estimate fell considerably faster than expected. At one point, the car reached a charger with less than 30 km of predicted range remaining when the driver had expected roughly twice that amount.

This is not unusual for EVs. High speeds generally increase energy consumption, so drivers should watch actual battery use rather than relying entirely on the dashboard’s initial estimate.

Expect More Stops

The trip required 19 charging sessions. A comparable petrol journey might have needed only around four fuel stops. That sounds inconvenient, but most rapid-charging breaks lasted roughly 15–25 minutes. The longest normal stop was 49 minutes.

On a long-distance holiday, those breaks can become useful pauses for food, coffee or simply getting out of the car. The complete journey used 585 kWh of electricity and cost roughly €333 in public charging. For comparison, an efficient full hybrid covering the same distance was estimated to require energy costing closer to €233.

Plan, Then Stay Flexible

The trip showed that European EV travel is already practical, but spontaneity works better when supported by preparation. Map charging stops before departure, keep alternatives ready, compare payment methods and assume the car may consume more energy on fast roads. Do not build the journey around finding free charging either. None appeared during this trip, and some slower destination chargers were actually among the most expensive.