Le Mans 24h road trip with my Taycan Turbo, 911's and Aston Martin Vantage

[tomw00]

I've just got back on Monday from the 24 heures du Mans.
We drove there and back in 5 cars - A GT3, 2x 911GTS, a Aston Martin Vantage and my Taycan Turbo.

Before we set out I was a little concerned that me stopping and charging for large amounts of time would p**s everyone off, however apart from a few inconveniences it was fine.

• 1st stop - Ionity charger at Coquelle - I decided to put about 15 mins worth of charge in case there were any issues at the next stop ( broken, ICE'ed etc). We needed to regroup after the ferry so this stop was fine for everybody.
• 2nd stop - Lunch - Le Crotoy - I found a 22kw charger while we had lunch. The car reached 100%. Amusingly my mate parked in an EV bay and the police came into the restaurant to find him and ask him to move it.
• 3rd stop - Hotel in Rouen - arrggh - the hotel has brand new uncommissioned EVSE. I popped to Lidl to charge while everyone else went for beer. The Lidl charger was pretty decent so it only took 25 mins. My beer was waiting for me when I got back.
• 4th stop - Next morning - Everyone else needed petrol - We stopped at a Total Engeries station on the Paris/Caen autoroute. There is a really good EV charging area too so I took advantage to "top-off". I was full before everyone else had queued up and paid.

The route back

I had planned to charge in the Porsche experience center in Le Mans but they were being equivocal about whether it would be open or not.

• 1st stop - We decided to stop at the Tesla supercharger north of Le Mans and have breakfast together. When we got there the the cafe was closed so everyone else went to the 1st service station with a charger. I was very low on charge so decide to put 15 mins worth in. Turns out the cafe was open and really nice. Oh well, we will know next time.
• 2nd stop - Shell services 60km north of Le Mans for breakfast - As we arrived the others were buying breakfast so were about 10 mins behind. The chargers here were excellent. Topped off while ate breakfast.
• 3rd stop - Long drive to Le Touquet. I decided to use the Tesla supercharger which were 2 km away from the restaurant we booked. I got a mate to collect me and drop me back. This was the only inconvenience of the whole trip. If I had of booked the restaurant it would have had a 22kw charger of course.

Recommendations/Tips

• Plan your charging stops - try to find somewhere with a couple of alternates incase the main one isn't available
• Set the ACC to a "decent" speed and let the car keep you on the average. If you drive manually your speed can slip without you noticing
• Get involved in the hotel/restaurant booking process beforehand to steer everyone towards an EV friendly place.

I think every other time I have attended the Le Mans 24h I have had my collar felt by Le Plod and relieved on €90. A combination of Waze and someone ahead being a spotter kept us from being nicked, although we did a load of cars pulled over at the peage. I suspect the les flics were using section timing between the toll booths.

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[tomw00]

...and I also should have said none of this would have been possible without the Taycan since there is not a hope in hell of fitting all the camping gear into a 911/Aston. The Taycan had ample space for everyone gear.

 

[WhydidisellmyM5]

...and I also should have said none of this would have been possible without the Taycan since there is not a hope in hell of fitting all the camping gear into a 911/Aston. The Taycan had ample space for everyone gear.

We were thinking of this for next year as we’ve done Le Mans a few times with a similar range of cars. Last time I did it, Plod hit my for 300 euros for speeding, yet when I got on the ferry, my receipt was only for 90. Never thought about using a Taycan as the work horse utility vehicle. Still seems like a lot of stops for charging. Did you pull in at home with more than 50% battery?

 

[tomw00]

We were thinking of this for next year as we’ve done Le Mans a few times with a similar range of cars. Last time I did it, Plod hit my for 300 euros for speeding, yet when I got on the ferry, my receipt was only for 90. Never thought about using a Taycan as the work horse utility vehicle. Still seems like a lot of stops for charging. Did you pull in at home with more than 50% battery?

Yes more than necessary. I guess you can divide the stops into categories. i) I needed to change ii) I optionally charged while ICE vehicles filled up with petrol or we had a break.
I got home with about 35% or so.

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