The Story so far….. in a galaxy (well country) not so far away (just over the channel), a family live with only an electric car as transport. France has all sort of special features and in the case of the Electric car, it is their love of the Type 3c connector which is “special” (and unique to France). Unfortunately, this means we are not equiped with a Type 2->Type 2 cable but we did by the optional Occasional Charging Cable (now with France/UK adapter attached).

20th December –
We drove to Rennes (122km) and used one of the several public charging stations (Type 3c connector although Type 2 is available) 22kw to charge while we went for lunch. As these charging stations are publicly provided they are in great locations suitable for walking into the pedestrian centre of Rennes.

We then drove on after lunch to Saint Malo where we checked in to our hotel for the night. A quick trip to Renault in Saint Malo to recharge seemed a good precaution before our ferry in the morning.
First learning point – Although Renault SAint Malo are very helpful, it turns out they have onnly 22kw at there disposal, despite 4 charging stations (or bornes as they are known). That means if someone else happens to be charging (and this was the case for the first time), then you “share” the available power. Hence, it took twice as long to recharge as planned (but had left plenty of time). Round trip – 4km)

21st December –
After a not particularly comfortable night (didn’t want to shell out on medium priced hotel – mistake!), we set off for the port (3km) and arrived with 95% charge “on the board”. Brittany Ferries at our request had put a special note that we should be parked close to a charge point BUT because we have a dog, they put us with the “carrying a pet” group of cars where there was, of course, no plug available. Still, no harm done since we were so full (just wanted to see if it was available since the ferry is 9 or 10 hours, depending on daytime / nighttime).
On arrival in Portsmouth (now 6.30pm), we set off for Fleet services more or less directly north by A3 and backroads (via Hook interchange), about 73km. No problem with the trip and arrived at Fleet Services just over an hour later to park in front of the Ecotricy chargers. I should at this point mention that the nice people at Ecotricty had sent us a “Electric Highway” card some weeks earlier (which I know about from Robert Llewelyn’s “Fully Charged” program on Youtube.
First Issue – Couldn’t get the Zoe to charge. Card worked fine. Plugged in and the dash says “On-going checks” but it never completes them. Charge station says “Waiting for request for power” and then times out with a “Expiry” message. Aarrrggh! Tried a few times and although once we did get a “Impossible to charge” message fleetingly as we removed the cable from the Zoe, we couldn’t get it to work. Tried to call Ecotricty (it was after 8pm on a Sunday but you never know) and couldn’t even get it to ring (I have a Vodafone UK mobile for my work).
Couldn’t get any internet connection to even do a little bit of research.
So, we had no choice but to push on with only 53% full. I had allow for this eventuality in the plan, but it was tight given that we would be travelling on motorways and nothing kills your battery like speeding along. Then, “good luck”, it turns out the M3 is speed restricted to 80kph (50mph) from Hook right up the M25. We could travel at 70kph without being too unreasonable to other drivers. Never thought I’d be glad of the M3 roadworks (apparently they will be there up until 5am on March 28th 2017!!).
We then deviated from our original plan to use the M4 and came along the A30 (as it is shorter and slower) instead. Arrived at the Parents-in-law with 23km showing (16%).
And the Occasional Charging Cable (wth France/UK adapter) worked! Only 15h50 to recharge to 100% but hey it is charging! It is now (as of 8.35am) at 79%.