After crossing ten European countries in an electric van, one thing is clear: charging infrastructure is improving fast — but it still has sharp edges that the brochures don't mention. Here is what we wish someone had told us before we left.
The app situation is a mess (and the fix is simple)
Every charging network wants you to download its own app. By the time you've reached Spain you'll have seventeen. Delete all of them. Instead, get two things: a Chargemap Pass RFID card and a IONITY membership. Together they cover 80% of what you'll actually use in Western and Central Europe without fumbling with your phone at 11 pm in the rain.
For real-time charger status — which ones are actually working right now — use PlugShare. It's community-sourced, brutally honest about broken chargers, and often more accurate than the network's own app.
Fast chargers are not always where the maps say
This one stings. We've driven 45 minutes off-route in Southern France to reach a 150 kW charger shown as available, only to find it fenced off for construction. OpenChargeMap and PlugShare user check-ins are updated more frequently than most official maps. Filter for "checked in last 48 hours" before relying on a charger for a critical stop.
Also: in Portugal and Spain, many high-power DC stations are located at Lidl, Mercadona and Galp forecourts. These are often more reliable than motorway services and far cheaper. Search supermarket carparks, not just motorway rest stops.
Range anxiety is mostly a planning problem
Genuine range anxiety — the kind where you're genuinely not sure if you'll make it — almost never comes from the van. It comes from a bad plan. Two habits eliminated it for us entirely:
- Plan to leave the next charger at 30%, not 10%. Leaving buffer means a broken charger is an inconvenience, not a crisis.
- Use ABRP (A Better Route Planner) with your exact van model and current battery health set. Generic EV calculators are optimistic. ABRP with real-world settings is honest.
Cold weather costs you more than you think
In Norway in November our stated 400 km range shrank to about 260 km. Cold does two things: it reduces battery capacity and increases energy use (heating). For cold-weather trips, plan stops every 150–200 km regardless of what the dashboard says. And pre-condition the battery while plugged in before setting off — heating a battery from grid power is free; heating it from your range is expensive.
Night charging is a vanlife superpower
The biggest advantage an EV van has over a diesel van for vanlife is something most people don't think about: you can charge overnight at a campsite hook-up. Most European campsites charge €3–6 for electricity. At 10–12 A from a Type F Schuko socket you'll add around 2–3 kW per hour — roughly 25–35 km of range overnight while you sleep. Over a two-week trip that's the equivalent of hundreds of kilometres for almost nothing.
A Mode 2 charging cable with a Schuko plug (the common Type F domestic socket in continental Europe) is one of the most underrated items you can carry.
The countries that surprised us
The Netherlands and Germany have excellent rapid charging density — you're rarely more than 30 km from a fast charger. France is well-covered on motorways but rural gaps are significant, and many chargers require a French bank card for contactless payment — RFID card wins again.
Portugal improved dramatically between 2022 and 2024 — Mobi.e network chargers are everywhere and the Charge.E app has finally become usable. Spain has Iberdola and Endesa networks with good motorway coverage but they're still catching up on rural routes.
Plan each country individually rather than assuming uniform coverage. Our country guides have charging network notes for each destination.
One last thing
Carry a Type 2 cable even if your van normally charges at DC fast chargers. The Type 2 AC network is everywhere — hotels, parking garages, town squares, dealerships. Slow charging at 7–11 kW from a destination you're visiting anyway is often smarter than a dedicated 50 kW stop just for charging.
The electric vanlife experience genuinely gets better every year. Just go in with realistic expectations and a good RFID card, and you'll be fine.
