Am looking to drive my Born to Germany next summer and wondered if anyone has any Born/EV specific tips or cool stories if they've done similar.
Or any tips on charging in Germany and northern Europe? I heard contactless payments are not as common as in the UK.
Cheers!
Driving a UK Born in continental Europe
An Octopus Electroverse card would seem to be a good option - the app shows plenty of chargers, some very high speed as part of the Electroverse affiliated networks
I was looking at doing the same thing and plenty chargers seem to show up in the areas I want to visit
https://electroverse.octopus.energy
I was looking at doing the same thing and plenty chargers seem to show up in the areas I want to visit
https://electroverse.octopus.energy
Cupra Born | V2 | 77kWh E-Boost | Geyser Silver | North East Scotland
Hey, I live 10 miles from the DE border and regularly go to DE for some shopping, some lunch or a wee blast around the Black Forest. I also do some trips to Colmar and Strasbourg for long weekends, swapping between the Autoroute and Autobahn. Only charged twice in German, once at a Ionity near Europa-Park (contactless no problem) and once at a hotel overnight. In the past, I've travelled much of DE in an Impreza Turbo, going just to drive fast up to Colmar and back...for something to do, and been to the Nordschleife in my R32, all much fun!
Born specific tips??
Economy, measured in KW per 100KM here, for Autobahn driving in summer, I use 20kw as a bench mark, if I can keep it below that, I've done well. So that's 3.1 miles per KW or better. It's not easy to do unless you stay below about 75mph.
Speed limits, a lot of the Autobahn is unlimited, sounds fun, but 160kph on a smooth open road isn't that exciting, but good to do it...to say you have!
Before pulling into the overtaking lane, have a good look and indicate, yes, there are cars and bikes doing 150mph + and you don't want to just glance and think they are far enough away.
The Autobahn is much busier than 20 years ago, finding an empty bit to test you cars speed is getting harder and harder, so it's often busy and it's just like a normal motorway at 70mph anyway.
If there is a traffic jam (and you get mega jams in DE, you split the road, ie. left lane hangs left, right land hangs right, and the middle of the road is for emergency vehicles ("Rettungsgasse"). This is a strict rule, and is quite strange if you haven't seen it before. DE and AU do this, in CH they don't bother.
When it rains, the unlimited speed limit no longer applies, there are often signs showing the max speed when wet. It's often ignored but there are plenty checks so it's your risk.
The Autobahn is often 120kph limit, for area's of bridges, slip roads etc, and there are often speed camera's, not the type in the UK, ie a colourful box, or a van on a bridge, they are hidden portable camera's that are hard to see.
The main roads (100kph) and the 80kph roads have many fixed speed camera's, also not easy to see ( no big deal as limits are fine, just be careful).
When driving into towns and villages, there is no speed limit sign, you treat the town name sign as the start of the 50kph, and when you exit the town, there is a yellow sign showing the name of the next town (or sometimes the name of the current town but with a red line through it) and this is when the 50kph ends and goes back to 100kph.
Lot's of 30kph in towns here, majority of people abide to the speed limits as getting caught can be expensive. At least in CH, 50kph in a 30kph would be 1500€ and no license for 6 months, maybe a court case, a bit faster and you start to pay a % of your top salary.
You don't indicate to stay in a roundabout here, only when you exit.
Many roads are give way to the right, meaning a side road joining a main road, you give way to car's coming onto the road, all unmarked roads like this are give way to the right.
Make sure you have your required crap in the boot, high vis vest, red triangle etc, there are roadside checks and they do check this stuff. Have a breakdown recovery for EU setup
That might sound like a lot of rules, but it's standard stuff, having lived in Scotland with performance cars and bikes till I was 25, and enjoyed there full performance in the rural roads, CH is very restrictive and extremely risky to get caught having fun, 60mph in a 50mph (all main roads in CH are 50mph here) will see you with a few thousand pound fine and no license for a while, and the checks are everywhere.
Whereas Germany is really great to drive, 60-65mph and really big, wide main roads, super smooooooooth, in general a very good standard of driving, no need to worry about going a wee bit fast in the autobahn mostly, but watch your speed anywhere there is a speed limit.
Otherwise, have a great time, it's a great place to visit, the people are great, great to travel around, some great places to eat (for kids too), the best Weissbier! etc, a good choice for a summer trip in the Born, my 10 yo daughter and wife love weekends in Germany!
Oh, and for charging apps, I use many, as some show more info than others (costs, tethered, speeds, availability, pics, reviews, checkins etc), I can check which ones I use and let you know if you want.
Born specific tips??
Economy, measured in KW per 100KM here, for Autobahn driving in summer, I use 20kw as a bench mark, if I can keep it below that, I've done well. So that's 3.1 miles per KW or better. It's not easy to do unless you stay below about 75mph.
Speed limits, a lot of the Autobahn is unlimited, sounds fun, but 160kph on a smooth open road isn't that exciting, but good to do it...to say you have!
Before pulling into the overtaking lane, have a good look and indicate, yes, there are cars and bikes doing 150mph + and you don't want to just glance and think they are far enough away.
The Autobahn is much busier than 20 years ago, finding an empty bit to test you cars speed is getting harder and harder, so it's often busy and it's just like a normal motorway at 70mph anyway.
If there is a traffic jam (and you get mega jams in DE, you split the road, ie. left lane hangs left, right land hangs right, and the middle of the road is for emergency vehicles ("Rettungsgasse"). This is a strict rule, and is quite strange if you haven't seen it before. DE and AU do this, in CH they don't bother.
When it rains, the unlimited speed limit no longer applies, there are often signs showing the max speed when wet. It's often ignored but there are plenty checks so it's your risk.
The Autobahn is often 120kph limit, for area's of bridges, slip roads etc, and there are often speed camera's, not the type in the UK, ie a colourful box, or a van on a bridge, they are hidden portable camera's that are hard to see.
The main roads (100kph) and the 80kph roads have many fixed speed camera's, also not easy to see ( no big deal as limits are fine, just be careful).
When driving into towns and villages, there is no speed limit sign, you treat the town name sign as the start of the 50kph, and when you exit the town, there is a yellow sign showing the name of the next town (or sometimes the name of the current town but with a red line through it) and this is when the 50kph ends and goes back to 100kph.
Lot's of 30kph in towns here, majority of people abide to the speed limits as getting caught can be expensive. At least in CH, 50kph in a 30kph would be 1500€ and no license for 6 months, maybe a court case, a bit faster and you start to pay a % of your top salary.
You don't indicate to stay in a roundabout here, only when you exit.
Many roads are give way to the right, meaning a side road joining a main road, you give way to car's coming onto the road, all unmarked roads like this are give way to the right.
Make sure you have your required crap in the boot, high vis vest, red triangle etc, there are roadside checks and they do check this stuff. Have a breakdown recovery for EU setup
That might sound like a lot of rules, but it's standard stuff, having lived in Scotland with performance cars and bikes till I was 25, and enjoyed there full performance in the rural roads, CH is very restrictive and extremely risky to get caught having fun, 60mph in a 50mph (all main roads in CH are 50mph here) will see you with a few thousand pound fine and no license for a while, and the checks are everywhere.
Whereas Germany is really great to drive, 60-65mph and really big, wide main roads, super smooooooooth, in general a very good standard of driving, no need to worry about going a wee bit fast in the autobahn mostly, but watch your speed anywhere there is a speed limit.
Otherwise, have a great time, it's a great place to visit, the people are great, great to travel around, some great places to eat (for kids too), the best Weissbier! etc, a good choice for a summer trip in the Born, my 10 yo daughter and wife love weekends in Germany!
Oh, and for charging apps, I use many, as some show more info than others (costs, tethered, speeds, availability, pics, reviews, checkins etc), I can check which ones I use and let you know if you want.
Cupra Born, 77Kw, Silver, 20" Firestorm, Advance Pack, Beats, Heat Pump, Swiss Model.
-
SabreDentist
- Posts: 44
- Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2023 8:37 pm
The other critical point is to adjust your headlights for right hand drive conditions to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. There is a toggle switch under headlights in the infotainment unit that toggles from LHD to RHD. Easy to forget.
Thats's a good call phope, I do have one of those and I can at least work out which networks it covers.
I'm thinking that getting a few charge cards in advance might work better than trying to link a German based app to my UK bank account.
Born V3
Hypervolt V3
Octopus Intelligent Go
Hypervolt V3
Octopus Intelligent Go
Thanks for this, I knew it would be a software thing rather than sticking tape over the headlights like people used to do back in the day.SabreDentist wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2023 5:04 pm The other critical point is to adjust your headlights for right hand drive conditions to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. There is a toggle switch under headlights in the infotainment unit that toggles from LHD to RHD. Easy to forget.
Born V3
Hypervolt V3
Octopus Intelligent Go
Hypervolt V3
Octopus Intelligent Go
