Summertime and many EVs on the road
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2026 5:32 pm
It was the first time I’d seen people having to wait their turn to charge their EVs, here in the French Ardennes (Woinic). Headlines in the French press and on France Inter. The French operators of major motorways are urging drivers to charge their vehicles efficiently. Their advice: charge to around 80 per cent. This is because the final stage of the charging process is much slower than the first, meaning other motorists can be served more quickly. APRR, which is responsible for the link between Paris and Lyon, has also drawn up scenarios. If necessary, drivers can be given a queue number and wait in a separate waiting area until a charging point becomes available.
Outside the holiday season, there’s in Woinic sometimes only one in use. And, not entirely unusually, not all the charging points are working. Another familiar sight: foreigners, but also French citizens, struggle to navigate their way through a menu system on a display. And sometimes discovering, not here in Woinic, at the end of that ordeal that their payment card isn’t accepted by the operator of all that fancy equipment...Spring and autumn in rural France: different pictures.
Outside the holiday season, there’s in Woinic sometimes only one in use. And, not entirely unusually, not all the charging points are working. Another familiar sight: foreigners, but also French citizens, struggle to navigate their way through a menu system on a display. And sometimes discovering, not here in Woinic, at the end of that ordeal that their payment card isn’t accepted by the operator of all that fancy equipment...Spring and autumn in rural France: different pictures.