Which country in Europe is best for an electric car road-trip? To decide, you need to weigh up how good the charging infrastructure is, versus how appealing the country for driving around.
Happily, Carwow has done the hard work for you, working out where electric car drivers will feel most comfortable and entertained.
The long road-trip is perhaps the last hurdle the electric car will have to leap. Many people take it on, covering thousands of miles in a matter of days, crossing countries and even continents. Once electric cars can truly manage that – and that means 500-mile range figures, 15-minute charge times and widely available fast charging – then they truly can replace the conventional car.
Flightless holidays and electric cars have both soared in popularity this year, so it’s considering which countries are best-prepared for EV drivers.
By Carwow’s reckoning, EV-friendliness and tourism factor each contribute a maximum of 10 points, for a total possible score of 20.
EV-friendliness is based on four factors: EV ownership levels, density of fast chargers, density of all chargers, plus the highway network. Tourism is judged by three main points: number of UNESCO world heritage sites, popularity with tourists and coverage of national parks. .
Top 10 countries in Europe for an EV road-trip
- Norway – 10.6
- Netherlands – 9.5
- Switzerland – 5.5
- Belgium – 5.5
- Denmark – 4.4
- United Kingdom – 4.3
- Croatia – 4.1
- Austria – 3.9
- Germany – 3.9
- Slovenia – 3.8
So Norway takes the cake, winning partly because of the number of fast chargers it has per 100km of highway – an impressive 655 on average. That gives drivers more of a change of filling up quickly when they plug in.
This, in combination with its stunning scenery, helps it beat the Netherlands, even with the latter’s higher number of chargers overall.
For comparison, here is the list of European countries with the most fast chargers:
- 1. Germany – 5,074 fast chargers
- 2. United Kingdom – 4,008 fast chargers
- 3. Norway – 3,426 fast chargers
- 4. France – 1,975 fast chargers
- 5. Spain – 1,242 fast chargers
- 6. Netherlands – 1,069 fast chargers
- 7. Sweden – 1,023 fast chargers
- 8. Switzerland – 846 fast chargers
- 9. Italy – 833 fast chargers
- 10. Austria – 575 fast chargers
“With climate change constantly on the news agenda, everyone is looking at ways to play their part and go a bit greener,” said Mat Watson from Carwow.
“Whilst the UK fares well as a contender for an EV-friendly driving holiday, you can access a huge amount of Europe without stepping onto a plane. The good news is the charging network is getting better and better every day, and some European countries are already leagues ahead, so if you’re driving electric you can fully relax.”