A surprising EV road trip from Zaandam to Bari

This year’s plan? Drive from the Netherlands all the way down to Bari, in southern Italy. Flying and renting a car locally is getting increasingly expensive so driving is a great solution. Driving also offers freedom and flexibility while on holiday.

The journey started with a solid 7-hour drive into Germany. Freiburg made for the perfect first overnight stop: pretty streets, nice architecture, a chance to stretch legs, and easy hotel charging.

The next day meant winding through Switzerland where the XPeng’s navigation proved itself useful, rerouting them around a massive traffic jam and suggesting convenient charging stops along the way. “The in car navigation for EV trips is very easy these days. You set the destination, and it finds you chargers on the way. You can even set it to look for fast chargers,” Tessa explains. “We usually tried to charge near our destination so the car would be ready the next morning.”

By the time they reached enchanting Florence, everything felt smooth. Also Rome followed with just a single charge en route.

Puglia was the wildcard. Tessa had worried about the charging network in Italy’s south as there were not as many chargers as in the north, but in the end it worked out just fine. Distances between towns were short, and chargers were easy to find and working well at shopping centres and IKEAs. The only bump in the road, private parking.

“One night our car was locked inside a mall car park after closing,” she recalls. “We had to wait until morning to get it out. My advice, always check whether a car park stays open overnight before plugging in!”

After 2 weeks of holiday just outside Bari, the adventure took an unexpected turn: the XPeng wouldn’t open. It was completely dead.

Ayvens support quickly arranged roadside help. “The tow truck driver was amazing,” Tessa says. “One of the only people in the region who really knew EVs.” He managed to restart the small starter battery so they could get the car back to their Airbnb, but the fix was only temporary and the next day should be travel day, back home. No local garage had the expertise to handle EVs, also no replacement availability so it wasn’t possible to drive back to the Netherlands.

The solution… fly home in 2 hours with Ayvens covering the tickets and even the extra luggage, well arranged. “We could follow the car’s journey as it was repatriated, first spending some time at the tow company, then travelling up to lake Garda, and finally arriving at the XPeng garage in the Netherlands.”

Charging in Italy? Better than it looks at first glance. Fewer stations than in the Netherlands, but reliable. “Every charger we tried worked, unlike in some other countries,” Tessa says. Local apps like Enel for Italy are worth downloading as a backup, though she rarely needed them thanks to her charge key. And she points out IKEAs as hidden gems: “They’re building lots of new chargers across the south and they all work.”

Despite the hiccup, Tessa’s enthusiasm hasn’t faded. Next destinations on her EV wish list: Prague & the Czech countryside, or maybe the lush north of Spain & Portugal.

Because even when things don’t go quite as planned, the freedom of an EV road trip still wins out over airport queues.

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  Check your car park: Make sure it stays open overnight as getting locked in isn’t fun.
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  Have the right apps: Download local charging apps (like Enel in Italy) and link a credit card, just in case your charge key doesn’t work.
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  Charge near your destination: Plug in at malls or hotels so your car is ready to go the next day.
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  Look out for IKEAs: They normally have great charging infrastructure and while on our holiday we saw more chargers being installed.
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  Don’t worry too much: Even in southern Italy, charging worked out better than expected.