"Congrats with choosing an electric car! But won't this be inconvenient for your holiday trips?" friends asked when we got the Tesla Model S last year. Well, we were going to find out, because our holiday destination for summer 2016 was Tuscany, Italy.
Good preparation is half of the success, they say in Holland. In this case, good preparation makes all of the success. Because you cannot go on a holiday for three weeks through 5 different countries without preparing where to charge your car, what devices you might be needing, what cards to buy for public charging, etc. Luckily Robert did all the preparations for the Tesla, where I could focus on which summer-dresses to pack.
The choice of accommodations to stay took us some time, as there are no options yet to search for charging facilities for electric vehicles (ev) on Tripadvisor, Booking.com, AirBNB or other search sites. If everyone with a electric car will request these sites to provide this, it will hopefully be available next summer.
We decided to take it slow for the drive from Amsterdam to Tuscany: we departed on Friday at noon and drove with three stops at Superchargers (SC) in Germany to Strasbourg in France for our first overnight stop at an hotel with a Destination Charger (DC) on its parking. The second day we drove through Switserland with 2 stops until we stayed in Milan at an hotel with another DC.
The third day we drove - with one short stop for charging - to our first agriturismo (B&B) near Certaldo. The owner of Il
Paluffo (Luca del Bo) has a Tesla himself and he arranged with Tesla to install two DC's at his premises. He also organises
Tesla tours through the Chianti region. The accomodation is superb. It has an eco-friendly pool with fantastic views of the Tuscan hills and the beatiful village of San Gimignano.
The house is really authentic, like in the middle ages. You can still see how they made the olive oil many years ago. A healthy breakfast is served every morning at in the courtyard of the house with fresh coffee and a vegetable juice.
After two nights we drove to our second accomodation, with a short visit using a public charger in the beautiful old city Volterra. The Italian card we ordered from Due Energy worked perfectly. Just as in the Netherlands you activated the charging by swiping the card.
At the end of the afternoon we arrived at '
glamping'
Relais Vedetta Lodges in Scarlino near the coast. Our lodge was far from
oldschool camping; it was 50 m2, had wifi, a coffeemaker with milk-warmer, tv, airco, a fridge and a rainshower and a two terraces, one on each side. There are only 8 of these luxury lodges and a few rooms at the hotel, where you can find a pool with view of the island Elba, a lounge area and a restaurant. The breakfast was brought to us every morning in a basket. What a luxury feeling to enjoy breakfast with a view on our own terrace.
We had emailed a few weeks back to ask for charging facilities, and when we arrived they provided a spot just for us: our own charger next to a parking place with the sign 'reserved for electric vehicle', what a service. However, the charger was very slow and the power not very stable. For us it was no problem because we stayed four nights at the lodge and didn't travel a lot. One day we drove to a Tesla DC in Marino di Scarlino, five minutes to the coast, for a quick charge while enjoying a pizza at the harbour.
Other guests from Norway with a red Tesla did not have the patience to charge at 6 km per hour. Credits for the owner for the effort, but we did advice them to improve it. If you need to charge up quickly, go to the DC in the harbour. For the other times: enjoy the quietness and luxury of Relais Vedetta Lodges.
After a short stop in the medieval town of Montelcino, where we tried the famous Brunello wine, we drove to
Borgo Sant'Ambrogio near Pienza. They also confirmed us that they would facilitate to charge, which was a actually an outlet in the
kitchen.
The cook drove an electric Nissan Leaf himself, so he was very interested in the Tesla and our experiences in Tuscany. The accomodation is
wonderful. A nice two-story room in a very old building, with a terrace at a courtyard. The infinity-pool has stunning views of Pienza and the hills, in changing colours at sunset. You can drive to wonderful cities as Montepulciano, Pienza and Siena.
The last hotel we drove to was in Castellino in Chianti, a bit up north.
Villa di Capovento is a family-house from a very nice Italian couple with their two-year old baby, who rent out 6 rooms for guests.
The accommodation has an infinity-pool and a terrace. Behind the trees there is a large field of solar-panels. The breakfast is superb, with home-made jams, bread, honey and yogurt.
You can go visit all the beautiful Chianti villages and enjoy a wine-tasting, but you can also stay at Capovento and eat their very good and healthy lunch and diner, accommodating with their own fine Chianti wines. We strongly advise this place, with stable and good charging facilities for your electric car.
On our way back we drove through France and Belgium in two days back to Amsterdam. For the fun part we used the app Plugshare to rate the charging spots. The SC with our highest appreciation is in Varazze, Italy, located directly at a nice harbour.
"How was it to travel by Tesla?" they asked after we returned last week. And we can only confirm: absolutely no problem. The 1400 km trip calls for stops each 2,5 hours, but that is essential anyway for the driver: a walk, toilet facilities and coffee. Try to plan your lunch, diner and stayover near a SC and you are almost there.
Our experience is that the owners of the small Tuscan agriturismos are really enthousiastic to facilitate charging our Tesla. Allthough we offered to pay for the electricity we used, they all refused this. The growing group of EV-riders seems to become a nice target group for the hosts, as they are very eco-friendly.
Hopefully next year the search for charging-providing accomodations will be easier as this year.
Because we are allready looking forward to go back to Tuscany by Tesla next year.
