Certainly something different for the Artisan channel but we really hope you enjoy this video! We had an absolute blast making it, special thanks to Hypervolt for making the whole trip possible, plus a big shoutout to Night Scape for the inspiration! If you did enjoy this video please leave a like, drop a comment and share it with your best friend! We also have an extra behind the scenes video of this whole trip, exclusive to our Channel Members - th-cam.com/video/8ecwx6HwLOY/w-d-xo.html
As a Brit living in France I appreciated the "translations" of your french in the boulangerie. ;-) What app were you using for the route planning? We're planning a reverse of your route, from Normandy to Cambridgeshire in a Zoe, but the reduced autonomy in the winter put us off trying at christmas. Maybe in the summer, it'll be possible.
I genuinley wasnt expecting that! - Lets hope that this is on lease - such that you can trade it in for an ID Buzz van?? - interesting as to how battery is only really at the domestic user - I think JCB have it around right?
Since you had fun making the video, you should now have fun replying to all anti-EV comments spreading misinformation. In fact, I am not even sure this van is to blame since you knew its range and the fact that it is not suitable for long travel. Planing to arrive at a charger with less than 10% is just bad planning, or the plan was just to fail and have a lot of views to boost the channel. Too bad I am not subscribed, because I would have love to unsubscribe.
This is the video quality content that’s been missing. Informative, no sponsorship plugs and entertaining. More of this please and slightly longer A really good video
To be fair, it does not say much about the charging network since the range is absolutely rubbish. the charging network is pretty good in France. I have travelled across France with an ID buzz (not an example of EV efficiency )during peak season and only have praised about the charging infrastructure in France.
9:45 what I love is that there's a charging point just on the side of a random road, away from the congestion, away from people who park up and disappear for the day, it's just there when you needed it. We need more random charge points like this for sure! (as long as they work of course!)
The whole range anxiety thing makes EV a stressful experience for any long trip. In a normal car or van, that is fill up and drive there without all the stress and forced problem solving. Great video 👍
correct and you can carry some extra fuel with you in a can in case you run out but with electric vehicles you cant store spare electricity in a can lol
@@rscosworthfan well a lot of EVs do show 0 miles range when there is about 10 miles of actual range left - so I guess you could treat that as your 'petrol' can. Or you could buy one of those portable batteries.
@@rscosworthfan buy a car with a bigger battery then? what, do you regularly run out of petrol? I've not done that in over 10 years, and I drive both a petrol and an electric car. I don't expect to run out of electricity either.
@@tomsixsix you keep trying to fire back and justify yourself and you keep shooting yourself in the foot and no ive never ran out of petrol i always keep my tank at lest half full when it dips below half i top it back up to full and i do have fuel in a can just in case if....if you run out of electricity out in the middle of nowhere you are screwed
When they first said about the range being 45 miles (during winter) i thought it was just that, cause it was winter. I hadn’t realised that it’s real world range was barely 60!! :O
well it is an ev conversion from abt this t6 rolled from the line as an diesel or gasoline car, you could order it directly at vw but they don´t offer it anymore since the id buzz launched, but that why the range is so poor it isn´t really optimized from the start and i think they couldn´t put a bigger battery in because of weight restrictions.
SO, I have a few questions, where did the flatbed take the van for recharging? Who paid for recovery you or breakdown cover? How much did the charging cost for the van over the whole journey? As you said the Tesla did it on a single charge, what was the cost of that charge? Under normal work duty cycles is the range of that van sufficient or are you compromised by it?
A second van Diesel was on hand to magically appear and push. The fellow actually had his wife pushing the van as well. That’s not going to happen with most blokes blobbies. Perhaps a Chinese diesel heater is needed so you you don’t freeze to death waiting for the recovery services. The future is bright for the recovery services !!!!
Love this! I have driven my Tesla from UK to Netherlands and back via Belgium and Northern France, as well as length and breadth of the UK. No problems at all and a really pleasant experience with a couple of stops in places I wouldn't have otherwise stopped. The contract of that vs the public (non Tesla) experience is stark. The other providers really do need to take a look and understand why Tesla is such a good charging service. I bought my Tesla for the car. I have kept it and love it because of the charging network
Yeah, we run round from central-north Norway to the UK in the summers with a Model 3. No problems on Tesla's network, but in France i got 5 fails from 5 different chargers when i tried not using superchargers.
We recently bought our first EV. One of the things that bemuses me is that almost every single public charge point save Tesla requires an app or an RFID card. Can you imagine the kerfuffle if every filling station required the driver to use a different card or an app? It's a ridiculous scenario and one that needs legislating out. NOW !!! Big up to Instavolt who appear to understand the need for contactless payment. And, every one of their chargers that we have rocked up to just works. 👍
I can advise you that all new charging points being installed now and going forward must be contactless and the government have mandated that existing ones (without contactless) get contactless fitted within the next few years. Also the government plans to ensure providers have their chargers working 99% of the time. So plenty of improvements coming in the future.
Epic video guys, and clear to see the huge amount of work that's gone into it . And also a good representation of the current charging network - although this is improving every day now. More of these please!
Hey Stuart is Light your given name or a trade name? I'm thinking it's a good name for a sparky! My birth name was Light so hello cousin, not so very many of us about in the UK at least!
@@garyfromlondon I'll take my dirty old diesel because: 1. It has never let me down. 2. I can work on it myself. 3. Parts are easy to get. 4. It's financially the most intelligent thing to do. Costed me 3500 (8 years ago!) to buy and is probably worth still the same with current inflated car prices. So per mile that thing will still cost me way less than a Tesla. The only reason to buy something modern is to write it off when you have a business. And when my old diesel finally fails I'll be on my motorcycle instead of in a Tesla. I don't want vehicles or appliances that make me dependant on others so they can leech money off of me.
@@sinki19841984 you obviously can't afford to buy a new car, so they are not for you. But anyone buying a new car it would work out a lot better to get an electric. You talk about servicing My Tesla has over 90,000 miles and has never been serviced, in fact there is no service schedule on a a Tesla, there is nothing to service so you can't get cheaper than £0 servicing
After having just travelled from West London to Northern Spain via Dieppe in my diesel Peugeot Partner using under 4 tankfuls and travelling 2000 miles, it`s diesel for the forseeable future for me.
The nice thing about being an electrician with an electric van is you can disassemble the charger and nobody will think the wiser. Because you definitely look like you belong there.
Just discover this channel. Together with a mate of mine we always visit French bakeries when in France. So that subtitling between 10:16 and slightly further absolutely made our day. Thx!
And this is the reason I bought a 2022 204 twin turbo diesel highline dsg Lwb transporter. I was able to drive from hainalt in Essex to john o'groats 2 weeks ago on a tank and a half of diesel. 13.5 hours and 670 miles later I arrived in Scotland. God knows how long that would have taken in the electric transporter
As I've always said, range anxiety isn't the problem, it's charge anxiety!! Until a better charging network is established in the UK most EV users will using their vehicles for commutes only!
Absolutely right! Until it's as easy to charge an EV as refuelling a petrol or diesel ICE, people are not going to buy EVs willingly. I have a 2014 Nissan LEAF, btw, with a 60 mile range, and dare not venture on longer journeys because of recharging uncertainties. Lovely car to drive and fine around town and local journeys.
@@gospelman7222 The nature of my job takes me some distance from home, some times staying away. The company I work at doesn't have charging on site, and so far the hotels I've been put up in haven't either. With this kind of charging support it's not worth risking an EV... yet!
“Green” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. I drove my 2001 Land Rover discovery 2 with it full for a two week camping trip up inside the artic circle with my young family, we were also towing a ex army trailer! I filled up at Portishead, Somerset and managed to get all the way to Salzbergen, west Germany which is around 550 miles on one full tank! you EV lovers are living in clown world!!
We’ve had an electric car for 18 months it does 135 miles on full charge in summer. 78 miles on full charge in winter… We drove to Scotland and the 7.5 hour journey took 14… These electric are shit, we have just bought a Diesel, 711 miles on a full tank. Electric vehicles never again!!!!!!
@@artisanelectrics The Mazda MX30, it’s been an absolute nightmare , Mazda have now put a Rotary engine in them and it’s a hybrid. Thank goodness we have bought a Diesel now.. 😬👍
Top Gear vibes, what a fantastic film! Well done guys. It's clear Tesla is the only way to go if you're serious about having a usable vehicle that you can *actually* charge en route.
we all love your electrical work, but sometimes it would be a refresher if you did something else like this for example, adds something more exciting and have an adventure, love this video and your others keep up the amazing work
15:40 You install chargers for a living. Well, even I know that if you put 1k resistor in series with a diode between CP and Ground, EVSE would detect it as vehicle connected and start giving power.
Clearly there is more to do on charging infra there (and in france) .. That said, 3 years (almost) with an E-NV200 for my work van, with a real-world range of 120-140km before it moans, I've yet to get stuck. Some days are 200-250km runs back and from between customers, but plug it in at lunchtime usually does me. That said, I'm rarely more than 25km from at least a couple of 50KW options. I think you found more faulty chargers on one trip that I've found here in almost 3 years.
Welp, could have gone better I suppose. I did a 2000km+ trip myself early last June starting from Presov, east Slovakia to the almost northern point of Poland, Wladyslawowo at the Baltic Sea. On the way back I took a detour thru Poznan and then Czech Republic to see a relative. I did this in a 5-seater e-NV200 with 87% SoH 24kWh pack. It took me a day and a half to get there and another 2 days to get back. I averaged at 75km per charge. So yes, over 25 charges on the quick chargers and AC during night. I had some close calls with range but I always got to the charger before I got the turtle indicating severe power restriction. 😁
The van did not let you down, you tried to run the van down to the last mile before charging, could you charge at other charge point that wold be closer together. When planning a route I would plan 1 charger then a back up if that was broken like the one in the shopping centre to go too. Even if we had charger on every street corner you would always find broken ones.
Quality video, I wouldn’t have the nuts to try this route with the transporter EV, I’d feel safer riding my Cube EMTB way more range 😂, keep up the good work 👍🏾
Loved the video! Imo, to give credit to the van, you did manage to get from Cambridge to France with it. Not bad for such a low range vehicle. Pretty cool the tesla made it in one charge.
Loved this. I thought my range of 100 miles was bad in the Nissan eNV 200... but this is bad... Glad we went for our Nissan opposed to waiting for the VWS
How can a van have such a poor range! I use a maxus e deliver 3 as a work van being an electrician in London. And I can get over 150 miles out of the 52.7kwh battery, less in winter with heaters on
This is the first of your vids I’ve ever seen and only half way through saw me hit the subz and like! Fabulous vid bud, obviously I’m sorry for how it all ended up for y’all but it was an absolute treat to be able to experience it with you! All joking aside though, as a paralysed driver real, lived-world experiences like this have me terrified. It’s already hard enough to find accessible parking spots that are *properly* accessible, by which I mean they have chevrons wide enough that I can build my wheelchair at the side of the car and transfer into it. So to add all the kerfuffle you’ve had to deal with on top of that regularly everyday stress is just too much. The govt, motability and all the other folk in authority don’t seem to get that though and so I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like when I *have* to go to an EV. EV Tech is exciting of course but there’s just no way it will be as doable for folk like me as the current ICE setup is for decades to come… and really I think it will be decades.
So funny to see you struggle! I feel you are doing a public service though, educating us as to the woes of success. I'm too poor to afford such an annoyance luckily. Your French is very impressive!
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There's a TH-camr called Marc who's traveling around the world on his electric motorcycle right now. It's been... challenging for him, to say the least... One of the most annoying things he keeps running into is charging stations which require apps, each brand a different one, so I chuckled when you ran into the same thing 😁 Why is it so hard for manufacturers to just have a POS terminal and make it possible to pay with a card? Rhetorical question, I know everyone wants our data nowadays...
Actually in Italy we have many brands. But most of them (let's say 90-95%) allow roaming with each-other apps. EnelX Way is the most common (you can also have some flat rates if you choose a subscription which can be deleted any time without minimum stay and can be bough many times each month - EnelX has 145kWh for €45,00 which is around €0,31/kWh on all the charging points available, UltraFast, Fast, Type2 AC).
The app issue is real. For my work e-van here (Norway) we have RFID tags for 3 main chains, unfortunately as soon as I go off the beaten track, I drop onto a more local network we don't have the tags/apps for direct payment. Still charge but it's more of a hassle having to claim it back than being directly billed to work. The reason for it is simple, they want to lock in customers to their chain, and as a registered customer with their app/tag you pay less than a drop-in customer. There are currently moves to force the charging networks to offer card payment for drop-in customers. Clearly this means retrofitting card readers. The equiv to the AA here, and the electric car owners club bot offer RFID tags that can be used on all networks . . with a catch . . you still have to register that tag with each network you want access too. There's no monthly cost, just the one of job of going through them all signing up.
Looks like the charging infrastructure in central Europe is slightly better than in France and the UK. The place where I work has a Nissan eNV 200 bus conversion with very similar range (80-90 km) and it's been travelling all over Austria for a year now without a single breakdown. We did have to jump-start it in the car park several times because the 12 V battery had gone flat after sitting for a few weeks though. It's amazingly ironic that EVs need a regular car battery to work. If that's flat, no matter how much charge you've got in the traction batteries, you can't go anywhere without jump leads, a jumper pack or jump leads. It's surprisingly relaxing to drive on the motorway with even lorries overtaking you. I've only driven it once so far (a shorter trip with only one charge stop) and really enjoyed it. It's a massive beast, 7.5 m long, so maneuvering it around tight city places and car parks is a bit tricky.
Love that contactless payment. Here they call it NFC... It's on the Chargepoint YT videos. No one ever defines the acronym, but fortunately, the Internet says it means "Near Field Communication". Un fortunately, Sony doesn't use that term, they call it "nearby device"(Sony Xperia Phones used to beat great... FM radios, and compact option... Now their all monstrous, and you'll be lucky to find one with a 3.5mm stereo port). Also, the Chargepoint technical support folks tell me that it is the NFC hardware that craps out *first* when it rains.
What a great film!!!! I don't know how you drive that van? I was getting stressed just watching. Won't be replacing my six vans with EV any day soon.....
Love the video! Really nicely done. I concur with your findings on the transporter, we also had one. I honestly thought the one we had was a Friday afternoon special. Alas, it turns out ours was above average. We consistently got 60 miles out of it I genuinely am shocked at the rubbish VW have turned out lately, which is sad, because I have been a VW fan boy for 30 years. FYI, I manage a fleet of 3000 vehicles, 2000 are VW.
This takes me back to watching content from Jonathan Porterfield and James Coates (James and Kate) driving from the Leicester area up to Aberdeen in 24 and 30kWh Leafs, 28kWh Ioniqs and whatever the small battery Zoe was. And a few vans... Have to say that the range on that Van is dire but if I had a small business need based within an urban area I'd be happy with one.
I think this has just sealed the deal to get another diesel van. I can't have a range of 60 miles and run need to call in the cavalry to give me a push! Great video and well made, it was like watching top gear!
This van is pretty terrible, but if you can go a bit smaller, I've had good luck with the 40KWh e-NV200 - I get a range of about 135 miles driven conservatively on the motorway and 180 miles around town - knock off around 15% in winter for heating(/cold battery inefficiency?) The infrastructure definitely isn't good enough for a 65 mile range, but double that and it's fine in my experience. Check out Glyn Hudson's TH-cam channel for some long journeys in an e-NV200 based camper.
@@Cwiiis Yup. This road trip would have been a complete non issue in a eNV200 or something like a BUZZ, but unfortunately a lot of the vans on sale right now are garbage like this.
The whole point is he took the very worst e-van. It’s more of a conversion than a factory e-van. Hence why it’s range is dire. I personally wouldn’t be going near Diesel if you do any work near a City, as emissions zones are going to get heavily tightened and although this budget sees it paused due to the current economic circumstance, fuel duty will go up.
Enjoyable and informative video. I think it is going to take government intervention to get the charging infrastructure sorted. It should not be necessary to set up an account with half a dozen different companies to recharge your vehicle. You don't need accounts to buy petrol or diesel. My son has had this problem with his Nissan Leaf.
Missed a trick, what's the biggest Jackery you can get and how much range do you get from emptying it into the van? Should've taken a few as a backup... 😃
Great video, junk van! I live on an island 9x7 miles and could easily run it out of charge in a morning, so going further afield is just a no no. Good effort 👍🏽
It's nice to know that ESB charge points in London are just as bad as those back in Ireland. 😂 in case you didn't know that first charge point is run by ESB who are the Irish DSO. They have a network here with quite a few of the same awful Efacec charge points.
they need to make a work van that is designed from day one to be a work van. also with the flat roof they could do flat solar panels to help offset the charging since a lot of us once we get to a job are there all day anyway.
I don't think you could fit more than 200 or 300 Wp to the roof. Compared to the vehicle's power I doubt that would get you very far. My work EV has PV panels for the leisure battery and even that's struggling to keep just those topped up (it's technically a bus conversion so the leisure battery runs the doors, the interior lights and stuff like that).
I will stick with my 120hp Euro 6 Vivaro with over 1000kg load, 960 km round trip and with 25% of fuel left with no range anxiety. What you went through was a nightmare of a trip and totally stressful.
Oh dear! Imagine driving to Berlin in one. What concerns me is the risk of one setting fire to a ferry, there has already been a car transporter fire, and there was Luton airport (confirmed by the Fire Brigade to be an electric car).
This has got to be my 2nd favourite video of yours (have a guess what's the first?), Absolutely loved it! Also Can't believe you watch @Nightscapldn , I love his channel and have been watching it since he started!
As a well seasoned classic car and bike rider in continental Europe I feel your pain. I have broken down more times than I care to remember. The charging network needs a lot of work but more to the fact VW should be absolutely ashamed of that van, how they said 60miles is good enough is ridiculous. That's one van I will not go near. Well done all.
At 09:59 as you arrive at the charging point. That big biege box behind you houses the diesel generators that charge you van, oh my God you could not make this clean energy thing up.
Based on comments, many people did not understood that the issue is with this specific vehicle. It is the problem with such "fun video", even good EVs take the blame.
Hopefully by the time I have run my current petrol car into the ground the charging infrastructure will be fit for purpose. Really like the look of the Kia EV6 at the moment although the volvo xc40 is probably a close second
Ford Transits still take the beating. Diesel or no Diesel. Get yaself a Euro 6 compliant van…no stress of range or if charging points work or not. You run low on fuel 5 mins later your back on the road. 600 mile range out of a tank of fuel to boot at probably less cost. Only down side is the Regen issue and dodgy injectors they have but from watching that video i’ll happily put up with that and know im getting where i need to go stress free!!
The brother of a friend of mine used to go to paris charles de gaul aiport three times a week in an hgv from tamworth they were long days but doable so no need to refuel no delays to charge
Think I'll stick to diesel. Of course you do realise that when those stickered charging points fail, you'll be inundated with calls from Angry customers demanding it's fixed.
Blimey that’s shocking range! My eVito gets about 160 in the battery with a realistic range of 140. But I live in a hilly area so loads of recharge opportunities 😃
Electric vehicle idea is good only one bad thing is they need ca 2200 gallons of water once burning whilst petrol or diesel car need about 200-500gallons to stop fire. First response cars carry usually from 200 to 500 gallons of water ...
Great video BUT ignoring the range of the van, seems like the main issue here was the chargers no? I’m still considering buying one as I only do 30ish miles per day in my business (local courier work)
Yeah definitely charging infrastructure has a long way to go… other than Tesla network all the others are very unreliable and we still need many more locations to be able to allow more flexibility. The van is ideal for your kind of work though. I did regularly get 40-50 miles out of it on normal daily use.
Certainly something different for the Artisan channel but we really hope you enjoy this video! We had an absolute blast making it, special thanks to Hypervolt for making the whole trip possible, plus a big shoutout to Night Scape for the inspiration! If you did enjoy this video please leave a like, drop a comment and share it with your best friend!
We also have an extra behind the scenes video of this whole trip, exclusive to our Channel Members - th-cam.com/video/8ecwx6HwLOY/w-d-xo.html
As a Brit living in France I appreciated the "translations" of your french in the boulangerie. ;-) What app were you using for the route planning? We're planning a reverse of your route, from Normandy to Cambridgeshire in a Zoe, but the reduced autonomy in the winter put us off trying at christmas. Maybe in the summer, it'll be possible.
I genuinley wasnt expecting that! - Lets hope that this is on lease - such that you can trade it in for an ID Buzz van?? - interesting as to how battery is only really at the domestic user - I think JCB have it around right?
Why'd you say "charge at watts per hour"...
Since you had fun making the video, you should now have fun replying to all anti-EV comments spreading misinformation. In fact, I am not even sure this van is to blame since you knew its range and the fact that it is not suitable for long travel. Planing to arrive at a charger with less than 10% is just bad planning, or the plan was just to fail and have a lot of views to boost the channel. Too bad I am not subscribed, because I would have love to unsubscribe.
It's hard to plan to stop at anything less than 10% because of the range, no need to be salty 👍
This is the video quality content that’s been missing. Informative, no sponsorship plugs and entertaining. More of this please and slightly longer A really good video
Should try getting from London to Edinburgh in the VW Transporter be good to see how good the UK public network is.
Its quite simple really. The VW would be on the back of a flatbed transporter just like its T4 cousins
It seems the van has enough space for a petrol generator in the back?
You're expecting modern infrastructure north of London? lol
@@auraman1000 I watch Macmaster regularly.
To be fair, it does not say much about the charging network since the range is absolutely rubbish. the charging network is pretty good in France. I have travelled across France with an ID buzz (not an example of EV efficiency )during peak season and only have praised about the charging infrastructure in France.
This is reminiscent of a Top Gear feature when it was at its best. Amazing job! It actually made me sad about how far Top Gear has fallen.
Yeah fully agree 😂
9:45 what I love is that there's a charging point just on the side of a random road, away from the congestion, away from people who park up and disappear for the day, it's just there when you needed it. We need more random charge points like this for sure! (as long as they work of course!)
Can't believe they sold a van that has less range than my 2015 Leaf with original battery.
I’m in love with France, and I ain’t Lyon.
You old trickster!
Eiffel for this one!
I Seine that one coming Cory.
The whole range anxiety thing makes EV a stressful experience for any long trip. In a normal car or van, that is fill up and drive there without all the stress and forced problem solving. Great video 👍
correct and you can carry some extra fuel with you in a can in case you run out but with electric vehicles you cant store spare electricity in a can lol
@@rscosworthfan well a lot of EVs do show 0 miles range when there is about 10 miles of actual range left - so I guess you could treat that as your 'petrol' can. Or you could buy one of those portable batteries.
@@tomsixsix portable batteries have you seen them they are the size of a suitcase so what happens if your boot is already full with shopping etc
@@rscosworthfan buy a car with a bigger battery then? what, do you regularly run out of petrol? I've not done that in over 10 years, and I drive both a petrol and an electric car. I don't expect to run out of electricity either.
@@tomsixsix you keep trying to fire back and justify yourself and you keep shooting yourself in the foot and no ive never ran out of petrol i always keep my tank at lest half full when it dips below half i top it back up to full and i do have fuel in a can just in case if....if you run out of electricity out in the middle of nowhere you are screwed
When they first said about the range being 45 miles (during winter) i thought it was just that, cause it was winter. I hadn’t realised that it’s real world range was barely 60!! :O
nd it, EVs come with a , don't go below 20% or over 80%, is that not the case here? Otherwise, ideal charge 25 miles?
well it is an ev conversion from abt this t6 rolled from the line as an diesel or gasoline car, you could order it directly at vw but they don´t offer it anymore since the id buzz launched, but that why the range is so poor it isn´t really optimized from the start and i think they couldn´t put a bigger battery in because of weight restrictions.
SO, I have a few questions, where did the flatbed take the van for recharging? Who paid for recovery you or breakdown cover? How much did the charging cost for the van over the whole journey? As you said the Tesla did it on a single charge, what was the cost of that charge? Under normal work duty cycles is the range of that van sufficient or are you compromised by it?
The future looks so much fun, back up crew, journey times increased 3 fold, and reliable infrastructure. Good video illustrating this madness.
A second van Diesel was on hand to magically appear and push. The fellow actually had his wife pushing the van as well. That’s not going to happen with most blokes blobbies.
Perhaps a Chinese diesel heater is needed so you you don’t freeze to death waiting for the recovery services.
The future is bright for the recovery services !!!!
Love this! I have driven my Tesla from UK to Netherlands and back via Belgium and Northern France, as well as length and breadth of the UK. No problems at all and a really pleasant experience with a couple of stops in places I wouldn't have otherwise stopped. The contract of that vs the public (non Tesla) experience is stark. The other providers really do need to take a look and understand why Tesla is such a good charging service. I bought my Tesla for the car. I have kept it and love it because of the charging network
I agree,Tesla are in a league of their own,with everyone else playing catch up.
Yeah, we run round from central-north Norway to the UK in the summers with a Model 3. No problems on Tesla's network, but in France i got 5 fails from 5 different chargers when i tried not using superchargers.
We recently bought our first EV. One of the things that bemuses me is that almost every single public charge point save Tesla requires an app or an RFID card. Can you imagine the kerfuffle if every filling station required the driver to use a different card or an app?
It's a ridiculous scenario and one that needs legislating out. NOW !!!
Big up to Instavolt who appear to understand the need for contactless payment. And, every one of their chargers that we have rocked up to just works. 👍
I can advise you that all new charging points being installed now and going forward must be contactless and the government have mandated that existing ones (without contactless) get contactless fitted within the next few years. Also the government plans to ensure providers have their chargers working 99% of the time. So plenty of improvements coming in the future.
Chargers should all be plug in and pay, no stupid apps, otherwise it's never going to work
@@arod9998 "in the future" noted.
I think this is my favourite video yet, nice change from the norm. Should do a challenges videos next in teams haha. Bravo 👏🏻 on a fantastic video.
Epic video guys, and clear to see the huge amount of work that's gone into it . And also a good representation of the current charging network - although this is improving every day now. More of these please!
Thanks Stuart! It was a nightmare but we had loads of fun making it!
Hey Stuart is Light your given name or a trade name? I'm thinking it's a good name for a sparky! My birth name was Light so hello cousin, not so very many of us about in the UK at least!
@@artisanelectrics great fun to watch, must have been a relief to know the Tesla was always there as back-up.
You have now convinced me to keep my diesel longer lol 😆 great video though 👍
Smart move, you could done that journey on less than a tank of diesel
@@curtisj2165 The Tesla made it on one charge, no need for a dirty old diesel
@@garyfromlondon I'll take my dirty old diesel because:
1. It has never let me down.
2. I can work on it myself.
3. Parts are easy to get.
4. It's financially the most intelligent thing to do. Costed me 3500 (8 years ago!) to buy and is probably worth still the same with current inflated car prices.
So per mile that thing will still cost me way less than a Tesla.
The only reason to buy something modern is to write it off when you have a business.
And when my old diesel finally fails I'll be on my motorcycle instead of in a Tesla. I don't want vehicles or appliances that make me dependant on others so they can leech money off of me.
@@sinki19841984 you obviously can't afford to buy a new car, so they are not for you. But anyone buying a new car it would work out a lot better to get an electric. You talk about servicing My Tesla has over 90,000 miles and has never been serviced, in fact there is no service schedule on a a Tesla, there is nothing to service so you can't get cheaper than £0 servicing
I've just invested in another Ford Galaxy diesel!
After having just travelled from West London to Northern Spain via Dieppe in my diesel Peugeot Partner using under 4 tankfuls and travelling 2000 miles, it`s diesel for the forseeable future for me.
Fantastic vid Jordan, well worth the wait! rollercoaster of a journey!
This is the best advertisment ever for combustion engine vehicles.
No. Just showing how rubbish this van is.
Nice video guys, really enjoyed the different style. Would have been even better if it was a bit longer
just wait till tesla comes out with a van 🤣
The nice thing about being an electrician with an electric van is you can disassemble the charger and nobody will think the wiser. Because you definitely look like you belong there.
Just discover this channel. Together with a mate of mine we always visit French bakeries when in France. So that subtitling between 10:16 and slightly further absolutely made our day. Thx!
Subtitles there were brilliant 😂
And this is the reason I bought a 2022 204 twin turbo diesel highline dsg Lwb transporter. I was able to drive from hainalt in Essex to john o'groats 2 weeks ago on a tank and a half of diesel. 13.5 hours and 670 miles later I arrived in Scotland. God knows how long that would have taken in the electric transporter
Love the last line! That's a brilliant ending! Fair play for trying absolutely brilliant content!
As I've always said, range anxiety isn't the problem, it's charge anxiety!!
Until a better charging network is established in the UK most EV users will using their vehicles for commutes only!
Absolutely right! Until it's as easy to charge an EV as refuelling a petrol or diesel ICE, people are not going to buy EVs willingly. I have a 2014 Nissan LEAF, btw, with a 60 mile range, and dare not venture on longer journeys because of recharging uncertainties. Lovely car to drive and fine around town and local journeys.
@@gospelman7222 The nature of my job takes me some distance from home, some times staying away. The company I work at doesn't have charging on site, and so far the hotels I've been put up in haven't either. With this kind of charging support it's not worth risking an EV... yet!
That's obviously the idea, don't people going anywhere other than work!
“Green” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. I drove my 2001 Land Rover discovery 2 with it full for a two week camping trip up inside the artic circle with my young family, we were also towing a ex army trailer!
I filled up at Portishead, Somerset and managed to get all the way to Salzbergen, west Germany which is around 550 miles on one full tank! you EV lovers are living in clown world!!
We’ve had an electric car for 18 months it does 135 miles on full charge in summer.
78 miles on full charge in winter…
We drove to Scotland and the 7.5 hour journey took 14…
These electric are shit, we have just bought a Diesel, 711 miles on a full tank.
Electric vehicles never again!!!!!!
What car was that?! Sounds pretty rubbish
@@artisanelectrics
The Mazda MX30, it’s been an absolute nightmare , Mazda have now put a Rotary engine in them and it’s a hybrid.
Thank goodness we have bought a Diesel now.. 😬👍
Great video, I like the direction. It reminded me a little of a Top Gear special, would love to see more stuff like this ..
Great videos dude
Thanks 🙏
Top Gear vibes, what a fantastic film! Well done guys. It's clear Tesla is the only way to go if you're serious about having a usable vehicle that you can *actually* charge en route.
we all love your electrical work, but sometimes it would be a refresher if you did something else like this for example, adds something more exciting and have an adventure, love this video and your others keep up the amazing work
15:40
You install chargers for a living.
Well, even I know that if you put 1k resistor in series with a diode between CP and Ground, EVSE would detect it as vehicle connected and start giving power.
Clearly there is more to do on charging infra there (and in france) .. That said, 3 years (almost) with an E-NV200 for my work van, with a real-world range of 120-140km before it moans, I've yet to get stuck.
Some days are 200-250km runs back and from between customers, but plug it in at lunchtime usually does me. That said, I'm rarely more than 25km from at least a couple of 50KW options. I think you found more faulty chargers on one trip that I've found here in almost 3 years.
Welp, could have gone better I suppose. I did a 2000km+ trip myself early last June starting from Presov, east Slovakia to the almost northern point of Poland, Wladyslawowo at the Baltic Sea. On the way back I took a detour thru Poznan and then Czech Republic to see a relative. I did this in a 5-seater e-NV200 with 87% SoH 24kWh pack. It took me a day and a half to get there and another 2 days to get back. I averaged at 75km per charge. So yes, over 25 charges on the quick chargers and AC during night. I had some close calls with range but I always got to the charger before I got the turtle indicating severe power restriction. 😁
Amazing production quality and editing! Loved every minute of it!!
The van did not let you down, you tried to run the van down to the last mile before charging, could you charge at other charge point that wold be closer together. When planning a route I would plan 1 charger then a back up if that was broken like the one in the shopping centre to go too. Even if we had charger on every street corner you would always find broken ones.
Quality video, I wouldn’t have the nuts to try this route with the transporter EV, I’d feel safer riding my Cube EMTB way more range 😂, keep up the good work 👍🏾
Loved the video! Imo, to give credit to the van, you did manage to get from Cambridge to France with it. Not bad for such a low range vehicle.
Pretty cool the tesla made it in one charge.
Do more of these Videos. Entertaining and great quality. Loved it!
Loved this. I thought my range of 100 miles was bad in the Nissan eNV 200... but this is bad... Glad we went for our Nissan opposed to waiting for the VWS
How can a van have such a poor range! I use a maxus e deliver 3 as a work van being an electrician in London. And I can get over 150 miles out of the 52.7kwh battery, less in winter with heaters on
LOL, and i could do the same journey four times over in my 2Ltr Tdci, with just one fill £55 in a tenth of the time. Ditch the switch.
This is the first of your vids I’ve ever seen and only half way through saw me hit the subz and like!
Fabulous vid bud, obviously I’m sorry for how it all ended up for y’all but it was an absolute treat to be able to experience it with you!
All joking aside though, as a paralysed driver real, lived-world experiences like this have me terrified.
It’s already hard enough to find accessible parking spots that are *properly* accessible, by which I mean they have chevrons wide enough that I can build my wheelchair at the side of the car and transfer into it.
So to add all the kerfuffle you’ve had to deal with on top of that regularly everyday stress is just too much.
The govt, motability and all the other folk in authority don’t seem to get that though and so I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like when I *have* to go to an EV.
EV Tech is exciting of course but there’s just no way it will be as doable for folk like me as the current ICE setup is for decades to come… and really I think it will be decades.
So funny to see you struggle! I feel you are doing a public service though, educating us as to the woes of success. I'm too poor to afford such an annoyance luckily. Your French is very impressive!
There's a TH-camr called Marc who's traveling around the world on his electric motorcycle right now. It's been... challenging for him, to say the least... One of the most annoying things he keeps running into is charging stations which require apps, each brand a different one, so I chuckled when you ran into the same thing 😁 Why is it so hard for manufacturers to just have a POS terminal and make it possible to pay with a card? Rhetorical question, I know everyone wants our data nowadays...
Actually in Italy we have many brands. But most of them (let's say 90-95%) allow roaming with each-other apps. EnelX Way is the most common (you can also have some flat rates if you choose a subscription which can be deleted any time without minimum stay and can be bough many times each month - EnelX has 145kWh for €45,00 which is around €0,31/kWh on all the charging points available, UltraFast, Fast, Type2 AC).
The app issue is real. For my work e-van here (Norway) we have RFID tags for 3 main chains, unfortunately as soon as I go off the beaten track, I drop onto a more local network we don't have the tags/apps for direct payment. Still charge but it's more of a hassle having to claim it back than being directly billed to work.
The reason for it is simple, they want to lock in customers to their chain, and as a registered customer with their app/tag you pay less than a drop-in customer. There are currently moves to force the charging networks to offer card payment for drop-in customers. Clearly this means retrofitting card readers. The equiv to the AA here, and the electric car owners club bot offer RFID tags that can be used on all networks . . with a catch . . you still have to register that tag with each network you want access too. There's no monthly cost, just the one of job of going through them all signing up.
Looks like the charging infrastructure in central Europe is slightly better than in France and the UK. The place where I work has a Nissan eNV 200 bus conversion with very similar range (80-90 km) and it's been travelling all over Austria for a year now without a single breakdown. We did have to jump-start it in the car park several times because the 12 V battery had gone flat after sitting for a few weeks though. It's amazingly ironic that EVs need a regular car battery to work. If that's flat, no matter how much charge you've got in the traction batteries, you can't go anywhere without jump leads, a jumper pack or jump leads.
It's surprisingly relaxing to drive on the motorway with even lorries overtaking you. I've only driven it once so far (a shorter trip with only one charge stop) and really enjoyed it. It's a massive beast, 7.5 m long, so maneuvering it around tight city places and car parks is a bit tricky.
Love that contactless payment. Here they call it NFC... It's on the Chargepoint YT videos. No one ever defines the acronym, but fortunately, the Internet says it means "Near Field Communication". Un fortunately, Sony doesn't use that term, they call it "nearby device"(Sony Xperia Phones used to beat great... FM radios, and compact option... Now their all monstrous, and you'll be lucky to find one with a 3.5mm stereo port). Also, the Chargepoint technical support folks tell me that it is the NFC hardware that craps out *first* when it rains.
Auditions for the next Grand Tour presenter. And this felt real!
I appreciate that!
What a great film!!!! I don't know how you drive that van? I was getting stressed just watching. Won't be replacing my six vans with EV any day soon.....
Love the video! Really nicely done. I concur with your findings on the transporter, we also had one. I honestly thought the one we had was a Friday afternoon special. Alas, it turns out ours was above average. We consistently got 60 miles out of it I genuinely am shocked at the rubbish VW have turned out lately, which is sad, because I have been a VW fan boy for 30 years. FYI, I manage a fleet of 3000 vehicles, 2000 are VW.
I was actually rooting for you to win the challenge despite not being entirely convinced with ev's.
This video is the best video I have ever seen. Well done to the whole artisan team.
Thanks Thomas!
Really enjoyed this one, really entertaining! Funny fact: the Amiens Supercharger is open for non tesla vehicles now
This takes me back to watching content from Jonathan Porterfield and James Coates (James and Kate) driving from the Leicester area up to Aberdeen in 24 and 30kWh Leafs, 28kWh Ioniqs and whatever the small battery Zoe was. And a few vans...
Have to say that the range on that Van is dire but if I had a small business need based within an urban area I'd be happy with one.
i'm impressed with Jordan's French
Merci
I think this has just sealed the deal to get another diesel van. I can't have a range of 60 miles and run need to call in the cavalry to give me a push! Great video and well made, it was like watching top gear!
This van is pretty terrible, but if you can go a bit smaller, I've had good luck with the 40KWh e-NV200 - I get a range of about 135 miles driven conservatively on the motorway and 180 miles around town - knock off around 15% in winter for heating(/cold battery inefficiency?) The infrastructure definitely isn't good enough for a 65 mile range, but double that and it's fine in my experience. Check out Glyn Hudson's TH-cam channel for some long journeys in an e-NV200 based camper.
@@Cwiiis Yup. This road trip would have been a complete non issue in a eNV200 or something like a BUZZ, but unfortunately a lot of the vans on sale right now are garbage like this.
The whole point is he took the very worst e-van. It’s more of a conversion than a factory e-van. Hence why it’s range is dire. I personally wouldn’t be going near Diesel if you do any work near a City, as emissions zones are going to get heavily tightened and although this budget sees it paused due to the current economic circumstance, fuel duty will go up.
You could get a decent electric van instead.
Enjoyable and informative video. I think it is going to take government intervention to get the charging infrastructure sorted. It should not be necessary to set up an account with half a dozen different companies to recharge your vehicle. You don't need accounts to buy petrol or diesel. My son has had this problem with his Nissan Leaf.
Love love LOVE the video guys! EPIC ✨
is there something like an extension chord you can get for your electric car?
Missed a trick, what's the biggest Jackery you can get and how much range do you get from emptying it into the van? Should've taken a few as a backup... 😃
3kWh jackery, 37kWh VW, you might get 4 miles out of it in 1 hour. Not efficient because of DC-AC-DC conversion.
Great video, junk van! I live on an island 9x7 miles and could easily run it out of charge in a morning, so going further afield is just a no no. Good effort 👍🏽
wow what an utter faff!!!!
The range on this VW is embarassing for the brand and just goes to show thats Diesel is still KING!
It's nice to know that ESB charge points in London are just as bad as those back in Ireland. 😂 in case you didn't know that first charge point is run by ESB who are the Irish DSO. They have a network here with quite a few of the same awful Efacec charge points.
Quality vid, thank you! As for those caption translations, comedy gold 🤣
they need to make a work van that is designed from day one to be a work van. also with the flat roof they could do flat solar panels to help offset the charging since a lot of us once we get to a job are there all day anyway.
I don't think you could fit more than 200 or 300 Wp to the roof. Compared to the vehicle's power I doubt that would get you very far. My work EV has PV panels for the leisure battery and even that's struggling to keep just those topped up (it's technically a bus conversion so the leisure battery runs the doors, the interior lights and stuff like that).
Most trades have ladders, pipe tubes etc on the roof so not really suitable for a panel on the roof.
I will stick with my 120hp Euro 6 Vivaro with over 1000kg load, 960 km round trip and with 25% of fuel left with no range anxiety. What you went through was a nightmare of a trip and totally stressful.
Enjoyed this video. A touch of the “Quentin Wilson” about you here. Also you loved flexi them Francois linguistics 😂
Oh dear! Imagine driving to Berlin in one. What concerns me is the risk of one setting fire to a ferry, there has already been a car transporter fire, and there was Luton airport (confirmed by the Fire Brigade to be an electric car).
This has got to be my 2nd favourite video of yours (have a guess what's the first?),
Absolutely loved it!
Also Can't believe you watch @Nightscapldn , I love his channel and have been watching it since he started!
Amazing! Glad you liked it!
As a well seasoned classic car and bike rider in continental Europe I feel your pain.
I have broken down more times than I care to remember.
The charging network needs a lot of work but more to the fact VW should be absolutely ashamed of that van, how they said 60miles is good enough is ridiculous.
That's one van I will not go near.
Well done all.
At 09:59 as you arrive at the charging point. That big biege box behind you houses the diesel generators that charge you van, oh my God you could not make this clean energy thing up.
Based on comments, many people did not understood that the issue is with this specific vehicle. It is the problem with such "fun video", even good EVs take the blame.
Hopefully by the time I have run my current petrol car into the ground the charging infrastructure will be fit for purpose. Really like the look of the Kia EV6 at the moment although the volvo xc40 is probably a close second
Ford Transits still take the beating. Diesel or no Diesel. Get yaself a Euro 6 compliant van…no stress of range or if charging points work or not. You run low on fuel 5 mins later your back on the road. 600 mile range out of a tank of fuel to boot at probably less cost. Only down side is the Regen issue and dodgy injectors they have but from watching that video i’ll happily put up with that and know im getting where i need to go stress free!!
Add blue sensor faults . DPF valves blocking unless thrashed
Great video guys and great effort 👏
The brother of a friend of mine used to go to paris charles de gaul aiport three times a week in an hgv from tamworth they were long days but doable so no need to refuel no delays to charge
Think I'll stick to diesel. Of course you do realise that when those stickered charging points fail, you'll be inundated with calls from Angry customers demanding it's fixed.
Magnifique vidéo , superbe performance malgré les difficultés et l’autonomie du véhicule .
J’espère qu’il y aura une partie 2
Awesome video!
Blimey that’s shocking range! My eVito gets about 160 in the battery with a realistic range of 140. But I live in a hilly area so loads of recharge opportunities 😃
How do you do all your service calls on a 50 mile range battery. That would be impossible in my city
Here we go, excited for this video
Really cool video! Though, I do not recommend putting your stickers directly on the chargers.
Those companies sometimes are annoying
Holy! What an amazing video!
Really enjoyed the video. Thank you!
Great video, loved it. Well worth waiting for
Glad you enjoyed it!
Really enjoyed that, great work artisan team 👍🏻
Happy to hear that!
What torch are you using at 15:55?
Electric vehicle idea is good only one bad thing is they need ca 2200 gallons of water once burning whilst petrol or diesel car need about 200-500gallons to stop fire. First response cars carry usually from 200 to 500 gallons of water ...
Great video BUT ignoring the range of the van, seems like the main issue here was the chargers no? I’m still considering buying one as I only do 30ish miles per day in my business (local courier work)
Yeah definitely charging infrastructure has a long way to go… other than Tesla network all the others are very unreliable and we still need many more locations to be able to allow more flexibility. The van is ideal for your kind of work though. I did regularly get 40-50 miles out of it on normal daily use.
Did get!? Say it isn’t so!?? Have you got rid of it?
Thank you for a most entertaining and enlightening video! Greetings from Canada😊
Nice experiment, even if I disliked the sticking of stickers on chargers, those looks awful and is just degradating...
Yeah this looks a lot easier than filling up my tank in 5 minutes.
So you think it’s acceptable to vandalise each and every charger you come into contact with ?
why on earth anyone wants an electric vehicle is just beyond me. We are basically going backwards
Think you need to keep with the Top Gear theme and blow that thing up
How many miles did you cover? And what was your total charging costs?
3:35 50kW per hour... you don't say... and there I was thinking kW was a measure of power, which already has a time component (1W = 1J/s).
The van may not be the best but it just goes to show the EV infrastructure is no where near where it needs to be.
Curious but why dont you have the UK green plates to show that its an ev?