Taycan to Lofoten Islands, Norway (Follow Our Trip Report)

[perski]

Weather didn't cooperate on providing any northern lights? Hopefully the sights made it worth it after all? Hopefully not too rough ferry ride given the rather stormy forecast.

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[tigerbalm]

Weather didn't cooperate on providing any northern lights? Hopefully the sights made it worth it after all? Hopefully not too rough ferry ride given the rather stormy forecast.

Unfortunately no northern lights – but we've seen them before – and yes, the scenery easily made up for them.

It is very windy and cold sailing down the Oslofjord right now.

 

[tigerbalm]

Arctic circle/Saltfjellet E6 road closed

Just got a text alert:

E6 Saltfjellet:
Uvær, vegen er stengt. Ny vurdering kl. 19:00.
Gjelder fra 23.02 kl. 14.58, beregnet sluttid 23.02 kl. 19.00.

For mer info: vegvesen.no/fjelloverganger/#/saltfjellet?sms

Translation:

Storm, the road is closed. New assessment at 19:00.
Valid from 23.02 at 14.58, estimated end time 23.02 at 19.00.

===============================

Just gives us a sense of how lucky our timing was – crossing over in perfect weather. Here are the gates closed right now:

 

[tigerbalm]

On-board cruise ferry to Germany

Current status:

Feeling the most seasick I've ever been

 

[Hirschaj]

On-board cruise ferry to Germany

Current status:

Feeling the most seasick I've ever been

That sucks, I hope you start to feel better soon after you get off that ferry.

 

[JerryLNK]

Norwegian arctic winter grime

Car on-board proudly wearing its Norwegian winter coat of grime!

@tigerbalm Your trips demonstrate that these Taycan's are not only sophisticated but rugged. No need to use "kid-gloves". What a fabulous journey. Thank you for your time to post this brilliant travelogue. And if anyone expresses doubts about owning an EV, then they should read your material. Cheers!

 

[tigerbalm]

Day 14: Oslo (norway) –> Kiel (Germany)

Today is a "sail" day where we take the ferry between Oslo and Kiel, Germany – which takes twenty hours.

Our hotel is very close to the port and when we drive out of the tunnel linking the underground parking with Oslo, we immediately see our boat in the distance.

A few minutes later, we're in the queue.



Boarding by the bow doors.

Squeezing between the trucks.

Until we're safely parked up.



Taking the busy elevator to deck 11 to our cabin.



Which had been upgraded – for free – by Color Line to their "suite" class.

Which comes with plenty of amenities and supplies for the trip.



We watch from our window disembarking from port – reversing out before turning around to sail south.

Enjoying watching the Oslofjord pass by.



Once we leave the protection of the fjord – what was already a windy day picks up – and when out in the open seas – we really start to experience the storm.

We hadn't really been taking notice of the weather forecast and had gone to eat some food shortly after setting off. We'd pay for this overnight with severe enough sea sickness.

As we publish this – the sea has calmed down and we're about two hours away from docking at Kiel – where we have a long autobahn journey to catch our next boat at Hook of Holland.

We only drove about 650 meters today – so no trip stats.

 

[Scandinavian]

You must have had the most unfortunate timing for this ferry trip. It is fine as long as the ferry sails in the protection of the Oslo fjord, but once you are out in the North Sea, it can be extremely rough. Hope you will recover quickly and be able to drive.

I think the west coast of Sweden outside Gothenburg measured nearly 40 m/s, ie a hurricane? (>33 m/s). No time to be anyway near the sea then.

 

[tigerbalm]

Day 15: Kiel (Germany) –> Hook of Holland (The Netherlands)

After a rough crossing in a North Sea storm – we pull into Kiel past a modern submarine in the Germany Naval Yards.

And make our way down to the car deck – where despite the movement of the ferry overnight – the car has not moved a millimetre.

Driving down the ramp into Germany.

Today is a relatively simple day – drive six hundred kilometres across northern Germany and Netherlands – to make our connecting ferry before it leaves at 22:00 tonight.

We actually have plenty of time and with the progress we can make on the autobahn combined with plentiful charging – we are soon at our first planned stop.



And second.

Both with very pre-heated batteries from the sustained high-speeds of the autobahn – we take in energy at a quick 265 kW in both cases.

We decide to tweak our routing slightly to keep us in Germany longer – and avail of motorways.



Eventually crossing into Netherlands – and a 100 km/h speed limit until 19:00.

Picking up our final charge – about 60 km from Rotterdam.



Making it to our ferry with nearly three hours to spare. They let you onto this ferry very early so we're able to rest up in our cabin.

Like the previous time we took this ferry – it leaves about 30 mins earlier then scheduled – you would not want to miss your check-in time!

The days charging stats

Location	Start SOC %	End SOC %	kWh added	Cost	Duration	Ambient Temp	Battery Temp	Charger Type	Network
IONITY Ostetal Nord	33%	95%	54.53	€17.99	33 mins	10C	39C	DC 350 kW	IONITY
IONITY Salzbergen	11%	89%	68.94	€22.75	35 mins	8C	41C	DC 350 kW	IONITY
IONITY Bodegraven	13%	88%	65.71	€21.68	28 mins	9C	36C	DC 350 kW	DC 350 kW

Today we did 657 km over 7:37 hours, with an average speed of 87 km/h, consuming 29.2 kWh/100km.

 

[tigerbalm]

Day 16: Port of Harwich (United Kingdom) –> Dublin (Ireland)

With the change in timezone from CET to GMT – we arrive into the United Kingdom at an early 05:30 and walk the long corridor of cabins.



Down to the vehicle deck.



Where the airflow from yesterdays autobahn run is still clearly visible.



As we disembark the ferry, we notice that it is very foggy outside.

It is only on leaving the port we appreciate how dense the fog is.

Thankfully, the roads are relatively quiet this early on a Sunday morning. The adaptive cruise control (ACC) radar – operating in the non-visible 20 Ghz microwave band – becomes genuinely useful in these conditions. Giving us early warning of vehicles ahead – before we can spot them through the fog.

It is surprisingly cold this morning – at 0C – something that is noticeable in the frozen water droplets on our side mirrors.

It is still foggy by the time we reach Cambridge for our first charge.



With the timing of the ferry to Ireland today – we have some time to kill – and decide to visit nearby Bletchley Park – home to the UK's WW2 code-breaking effort. As both of us are software engineers -we have been here many times – but it is alway an enjoyable time.





We continue west across the United Kingdom – stopping off for a comfort break and some hot chocolate in Wales near our port.





Arriving in Holyhead with plenty of time.



Boarding a ferry for the final time on this road-trip.

Making it into Dublin and home at midnight as scheduled. Plugging in for a real "destination" charge.



Unpacking most of our technical equipment in anticipation of a full valet clean tomorrow.



Glad to have completed this long journey safely.

The days charging stats

Location	Start SOC %	End SOC %	kWh added	Cost	Duration	Ambient Temp	Battery Temp	Charger Type	Network
IONITY Cambridge	16%	90%	61.70	€21.66	31 mins	8C	35C	DC 350 kW	IONITY
IONITY Stafford	24%	92%	56.31	€19.76	23 mins	10C	36	DC 350 kW	IONITY

Today we did 656 km over 10:17 hours, with an average speed of 63 km/h, consuming 23.7 kWh/100km.

 

[tigerbalm]

That's all folks!

Thank you for following along with us on this road trip from Dublin to Lofoten Islands and back again.

We really enjoyed sharing our travels and experiences with each of you. In particular, we want to thank the many people who sent us Direct Messages of support, questions and suggestions.

In 16 days we did 6927 km over 119:47 hours, with an average speed of 60 km/h, consuming 25.4 kWh/100km.

Slightly higher consumption than last year - probably accounting for a higher average speed and also much deeper snow and ice on the roads.

Over the next week, we'll share a combined charging log, a hotel log and some thoughts and observations on the trip.

We hope you'll join us on our next road-trip which is going to be back to Norway for a summer experience in southern Norway – exploring the dynamic scenery and mountain passes – that are not possible during winter.

Our next winter trip is the baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and crossing over the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki and arctic Lapland.

 

[allroadusa]

 

[Scandinavian]

Thanks for sharing another epic trip.

I am very impressed and envious with all the details. I have enjoyed the photos and videos. At times I wish I had that discup line and structure to document trips like you have done.

Looking forward to your summer trip report from Norway!

 

[tigerbalm]

Anatomy of a Norwegian Speed Check

 

[anonymouse]

Yikes, that Norwegian speed trap is nasty. They are notorious for their speeding fines. I've been lucky (including a week in Lofoten driving a rented Tesla Mode 3 Performance which was quite hard to tame down to local speeds when driving on empty sunlit roads at 2am). Your video makes me very fearful for next time!

You arranged a great trip. The Color Line is a good choice - a strange hybrid between a cruise ship and a ferry. In summer there is sunbathing and a water slide on the upper deck. And rerouting to spend a bit longer on German roads seems like a good idea: it is just SO tedious to exit the autobahn and drive for a day at 100km/h on Dutch roads.

You need to go back to Lofoten in Summer, to see the scenery differently, for sunny midnights on the beach, the cinnamon buns baked in an ancient oven at Å, and a simply outstanding chamber music festival for those who like classical music. And we need to go in winter now!

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