Northern Italy: Recommended charging networks and tips

[nikc]

I'm planning a trip to Milan / Bergamo / Como in a few weeks, and looking at the likely charging networks I'll need to use.

Some poking around on Chargemap suggests:

- Swisscharge
- Enel X (via the Juicepass app)
- eCarUp

as the networks I'll need. Can anyone with experience of that region recommend any others? Or any other tips? There seems to be a general dearth of fast chargers around there at the moment.

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[RonJBr]

There are sufficient chargers, but still typically off the highway. Like the Ionity chargers. In cities you will find the enel x ones. Chargemap has been great help in several of my trips ti Italy sofar

 

[Daniel]

I did a 10 day's trip in Tuscany from my town (Gap ) via Torino in april.
Ionity with plug and charge works perfectly.
I used Juicepass with the apps and my paypal account for the other places.
The EnelX company is reliable.
Chargers of 50 kw minimum are not very numerous, it was ok in april, in summer ???

 

[McgR]

I am leaving next week for Flims/Como/Galtur. I am planning to use Ionity chargers and Virta for the trip and local Enel X chargers. To be sure I ordered the RFID card. It takes some time to activate the account. Not direct like with other companies and it also took 10 days for the card to arrive. I will let you know how everything worked out.

I also planned to do some passes : oberalp to Flims, Splugen to Como, Malice- Skt Moritz - Ofen pass to Galtur and the high Alpen strasse back home. Should be fun. Not sure if I should do the Stelvio on a Saturday morning. Could be very busy and not really fun drivingup hill in a traffic jam.

 

[PorscheCH]

I'm planning a trip to Milan / Bergamo / Como in a few weeks, and looking at the likely charging networks I'll need to use.

Some poking around on Chargemap suggests:

- Swisscharge
- Enel X (via the Juicepass app)
- eCarUp

as the networks I'll need. Can anyone with experience of that region recommend any others? Or any other tips? There seems to be a general dearth of fast chargers around there at the moment.

I know the region rather well (...). I'd suggest:

-do a close to full charge in CH before entering Italy

- the Porsche charging app/black card for Ionity stations (sadly only 1 south of Milan , there s one on a2 in Bellinzona) and for Porsche centres - check myporsche app (e.g. Milan, only usable during office hours and Como, stall is on fenced premises but facing outward so you can use it 24/7). Porsche centres are a good backup as most people don't go there due to "high" rates

- Enel x =Juicepass mobile app, it will activate the vast majority of stations. you can buy one of the packages if you will use it to get lower flat rates down to 0,3x eur per kWh. they offer I think 70kwh for 25 eur or 145kwh for 45 eur, don't forget to cancel *after* you used it else you get billed monthly. I can tell you more on how to restore the bundle if you need more than its max capacity
- ecarup is expensive in Italy (only has good deals in the Sudtirol region)
-swisscharge expensive as well in most cases in Italy
- I would also add nextcharge (good deals in CH at gofast stations) for maximum compatibility at secondary stations

ps. in Como area food is just okay-ish watch out a lot of touristy stuff. if you are up for fancy stuff go have dinner/lunch at villa d'este in Cernobbio - not cheap but good stuff (still a lot of tourists but good quality)

happy to provide more detailed tips

 

[PorscheCH]

I am leaving next week for Flims/Como/Galtur. I am planning to use Ionity chargers and Virta for the trip and local Enel X chargers. To be sure I ordered the RFID card. It takes some time to activate the account. Not direct like with other companies and it also took 10 days for the card to arrive. I will let you know how everything worked out.

I also planned to do some passes : oberalp to Flims, Splugen to Como, Malice- Skt Moritz - Ofen pass to Galtur and the high Alpen strasse back home. Should be fun. Not sure if I should do the Stelvio on a Saturday morning. Could be very busy and not really fun drivingup hill in a traffic jam.

Flims and to a lesser extent Splugen will also be somewhat crowded by daily visitors + annoying caravans/RV carrying 15 tons of stuff for 1 week of holiday etc unless you go early or quite late at the end of the day. And in CH you are more or less stuck, don't try crazy overtakes because you can (there is a funny variety of unwritten rules like max overtake 2 cars and leave at least 2 seconds vs oncoming traffic). you can get into $$$$$ troubles.

Avoid Stelvio (Stilfer), you already know.. again *early in the day or late-ish like 8pm* ofen pass is really fun - I normally do zernez - meran a dozen times a year. there you can push it within the limit or so, tons of tight turns, cliffs , amazing panoramas etc. fewer people (it's the Swiss national park)

Como, as said, lots of tourist traps or mediocre food (better than the average Swiss treat but still not Milan-level). you might want to drive a bit around, Cernobbio, from there one can do a short drive to Laglio, Carate Urio and Moltrasio, twisty narrow B roads etc.

Enel x as said above is a wise choice (you can bring the rates down / halve the rates as explained) app will work as good as the card

 

[McgR]

Flims and to a lesser extent Splugen will also be somewhat crowded by daily visitors + annoying caravans/RV carrying 15 tons of stuff for 1 week of holiday etc unless you go early or quite late at the end of the day. And in CH you are more or less stuck, don't try crazy overtakes because you can (there is a funny variety of unwritten rules like max overtake 2 cars and leave at least 2 seconds vs oncoming traffic). you can get into $$$$$ troubles.

Avoid Stelvio (Stilfer), you already know.. again *early in the day or late-ish like 8pm* ofen pass is really fun - I normally do zernez - meran a dozen times a year. there you can push it within the limit or so, tons of tight turns, cliffs , amazing panoramas etc. fewer people (it's the Swiss national park)

Como, as said, lots of tourist traps or mediocre food (better than the average Swiss treat but still not Milan-level). you might want to drive a bit around, Cernobbio, from there one can do a short drive to Laglio, Carate Urio and Moltrasio, twisty narrow B roads etc.

Thx for the tips! I was thinking to from Italy to Galtur by Sankt Moritz, Zernez, Mals Nausders. I have some spare time and thought it would be nice. I can also go directly to Nauders and don’t do the detour over Mals. Do you think it would be worth it. Quite some faster chargers in Mals.

 

[PorscheCH]

Thx for the tips! I was thinking to from Italy to Galtur by Sankt Moritz, Zernez, Mals Nausders. I have some spare time and thought it would be nice. I can also go directly to Nauders and don’t do the detour over Mals. Do you think it would be worth it. Quite some faster chargers in Mals.

really depends on your tastes and patience with slow moving tourists . Mals (or Malles in Italian) is a sweet but very little village. Not too much to see. Maybe worth checking out the near lake resia submerged tower (in curon Venosta), the area is nice but more-of-same of your whole trip.

But the drive over the ofen pass is worth the fun. (a bit less for the other occupants)

ps. don't speed in Swiss villages
ps2. in the Italian side get also "ecarup" as mentioned above. they have almost free charges on selected quick stations (not super fast) in South Tyrol (you need to check one by one as rates vary), hidden in small villages - I tried them 2-3 times they work perfectly.

 

[McgR]

really depends on your tastes and patience with slow moving tourists . Mals (or Malles in Italian) is a sweet but very little village. Not too much to see. Maybe worth checking out the near lake resia submerged tower (in curon Venosta), the area is nice but more-of-same of your whole trip.

But the drive over the ofen pass is worth the fun. (a bit less for the other occupants)

ps. don't speed in Swiss villages
ps2. in the Italian side get also "ecarup" as mentioned above. they have almost free charges on selected quick stations (not super fast) in South Tyrol (you need to check one by one as rates vary), hidden in small villages - I tried them 2-3 times they work perfectly.

Thx !
Can you use the Enel X / Porsche card for those chargers ?

 

[jwvbeek]

I'm currently on holiday. Now im in Austria and just came back from a village nearby Florence - Italy. The Enel x stalls work pretty good (with Porsche charging cards), but at some very strange locations. Ionity chargers are at much better locations, but are spread thin in Italy.

Be aware of the fact that the fastchargers can be very busy in peak season. Specifically on Saturdays the Ionity chargers are pretty busy, eg Brennero, Trento and Capri. Because of this we travelled on Thursday but still the Brennero chargers had a queue of a couple of cars.

Last year I made a trip to Garda lake and I notice that is wasnt as as busy as this year. I expect the growth of EVs is faster the the growth of charging stations.

 

[PorscheCH]

Thx !
Can you use the Enel X / Porsche card for those chargers ?

Enelx most likely - they have a vast coverage. Porsche card, I would not rely much on that beyond Ionity and Porsche centres (also typically x2 more expensive on other networks). In any case Enelx will activate most stations. I was suggesting ecarup (just the app not the card) as it's easy to sign on and it offers pretty good deals in some stations in Tyrol.

 

[PorscheCH]

I'm currently on holiday. Now im in Austria and just came back from a village nearby Florence - Italy. The Enel x stalls work pretty good (with Porsche charging cards), but at some very strange locations. Ionity chargers are at much better locations, but are spread thin in Italy.

Be aware of the fact that the fastchargers can be very busy in peak season. Specifically on Saturdays the Ionity chargers are pretty busy, eg Brennero, Trento and Capri. Because of this we travelled on Thursday but still the Brennero chargers had a queue of a couple of cars.

Last year I made a trip to Garda lake and I notice that is wasnt as as busy as this year. I expect the growth of EVs is faster the the growth of charging stations.

it depends. You could have used Free-to-X stations on the A1 highway, e.g. Arno Ovest near Florence and Modena (both 300 kw nominal), def less strange than having to leave the highway to go to Ionity in Forli in a god forsaken shopping center. Free to X can also be activated with Enelx cards or app (not Porsche)

It's really only the area in Trentino Alto Adige which is full of tourists on EVs hence requiring a bit of planning ahead. Also way too many knuckleheads charging at 300+ stalls on cars which max out at 60-80 kw . At some point a time based fee should be charged (or better, in my view, stalls not allowing handshaking from cars below a certain max absorption) chasing these idiots away.

 

[nikc]

Thanks for the info, I got back a few days ago.

I found that EnelX was OK for charging, they had enough 150+kW chargers that were either en route to places I was going or just a small detour that it wasn't a problem.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that the EasyPark app (that I use for parking in Switzerland) is widely usable in that part of Italy as well. Although, as the app warns you the first time you try and use it, you do need to have something you can put in the windscreen to show that you've paid using the app.

The one place that didn't use EasyPark, the myCicero app worked (although it's definitely not as good).

 

[EJO]

What is the exact app name in the app-store for EnelX? I see several, like Juicepass, Enel X pay, ..

 

[McgR]

What is the exact app name in the app-store for EnelX? I see several, like Juicepass, Enel X pay, ..

Juice Pass

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