Guide
Planning a trip in an electric car: range, stops and where to charge
A long trip in an electric car is a matter of planning the charging stops, not of range. Here is how to do it, by hand or with the Trip tab in the app.
Start from the real range, not the one in the brochure
On the motorway at 130 km/h a car uses much more than in town, and in winter the heating and the cold battery take their share too. Count on two thirds of the official range on a fast road in good weather, less in the cold. Leave with the battery full, charged at home or at a cheaper AC charger the night before, and plan the first stop before the battery drops to about 10%.
Charge from 10 to 80%, several times
A high-power charger fills the battery fast until about 80%, then slows down a lot. Two stops of twenty-five minutes cost less time than one stop to 100%. Choose chargers with several stalls, so a busy or broken one does not leave you stranded, and check the price per kWh before you get there: it changes from operator to operator.
Let the app plan the stops
In the Trip tab you set where you leave from and where you are going, the battery you start with and the minimum you want on arrival, and the app plans the stops for you. Three ways to do it: Fastest, with short stops on powerful chargers; Fewer stops, charging more each time; With services, where there is a bar, a restaurant or shops. The car comes from the Garage, with its consumption and charging speed; with a linked Tesla the starting battery is read from the car.
You get driving time, charging time, number of stops, energy and estimated cost, and for every stop the battery on arrival and at departure, the minutes, the power and the price. The whole route, stops included, goes to Google Maps with one tap, or to the navigator of a linked Tesla.
Times and costs are estimates: the charging time depends on the car's charging curve and on the temperature, and the price is known only for the chargers you can start with Taac!.
On the way
Before leaving the motorway, look at the charger's page: free stalls, power and price. If the stalls are busy, follow one and the app tells you when it frees up; where the charger allows it, book a socket for the fifteen minutes it takes you to get there. One account works on the Taac! network and on the chargers of other operators in twenty-five countries, so crossing a border changes nothing.
Frequently asked questions
How much margin should I keep?
What if the charger is broken when I arrive?
Does the planner use chargers I cannot pay with the app?
Does the trip cost more than by petrol?
Charge with Taac!, no subscription
One app for the Taac! network and the chargers of other operators in twenty-five countries. The price is on every socket before you start; you pay the kWh you receive, with a receipt in your history.