Y Soft CEO, Václav, is a true technology enthusiast. His latest interest is in electric vehicles. Putting this technology to the test, he is driving his Audi e-Tron 5,500KM around southern Europe. This blog series gives an insight into his road trip as Václav shares his tips and tricks as he goes along. Follow our journey and discover breathtaking historic places of interest from Italy to Greece.
For more insider information, follow the Audi Etron road trip (@etronroadtrip)

Why would you do this? 5,500km is a long way!
EV technology has come a long way, but is it up to the challenge of a European road trip? This is what I wanted to find out. Traveling 5,500km through 9 countries is a true test! We want to find out if EV is up to the challenge. How long will we be delayed waiting to charge? How often will roadside assistance be needed? Will we get to show off EV technology at its’ best and enjoy the journey? Let’s find out!

Travel plan

1. Leg 1: Trip Brno to Verona
2. About ​Verona
3. Leg 2: Trip Verona to Florence
4. About Florence
5. Leg 3: Trip Florence to Siena
6. About Siena
7. Leg 4: Trip Siena to Bari 
8. Leg 5: Ferry to Corfu
9. About Corfu
10.  About Meteora
11.  About Delphi

The trip
Starting in Central Europe, my road trip takes us through Italy, Greece, and back through the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea. With the road trip taking me through 9 countries, I will get to push EV technology and see how it fares.

Info about Electric Vehicles (for newbies)
For this road trip, I am using the Audi e-Tron 2019. Realistically, it has a range of 250 – 360 km, depending on how fast you travel. In my experience, the range works as follows:

• Highways: 125 km/h average (i.e. instrument cluster shows around 130km/h), the range is realistically 280 km (switch aircon off and you gain 15km – it’s not worth it!).
• Combination: 100 km/h average, the range is approximately 320 km.
• Countryside: 70km/h average, the range is over 360 km.

The EV market is rapidly expanding, with new models available every month. However, despite this growth, not many people are used to them. One big area to get to grips with charging. You do need to ‘refill’ or charge more often, but you don’t always need to wait for a full charge. 

QUICK GUIDE TO CAR CHARGING:

TRANSIT CHARGING

DESTINATION CHARGING

EMERGENCY CHARGING

Leg 1: Trip Brno to Verona 

• Stage (from-to): Brno, Czechia – Verona, Italy
• Date(s): 2.8.2021
• Keywords: Verona, Charging

The Plan

• Large fridge and freezer. We only need water. It doesn’t make any sense to take food to Italy! 
• Small grill. You never know what may happen or where we end up. Grilled food and cold wine will help to pass the time waiting for road assistance if we need it.
• 25m long extension cord. 2.5 mm in diameter to provide the maximum power from a regular outlet for emergency charging. We also packed another 10m long industrial 400V extension cable.
• We almost forgot the bottle opener, disaster!

• Sleeping bags
• Power generator

Plan Summary

The reality

Next up

About Verona

Some of the key sights to see in Verona:

Arena di Verona (this is a very well-preserved amphitheater)

Basilica San Zeno Maggiore & Arco dei Gavi

Basilica di Santa Anastasia

Castel San Pietro & Castel Vecchio & Scalligero Bridge

Castel San Pietro

Arena di Verona

Other things to see:

• Casa di Giulietta (Juliette’s house – be warned of the wait!)
• Casa di Romeo

 

Leg 2: Trip Verona to Florence

• Stage (from-to): Verona, Italy – Florence, Italy
• Date(s): 4.8.2021 – 5.8.2021
• Keywords: Verona, Florence

The Plan 

With the car fully charged, there should easily be enough charge to cover the 230 km distance between Verona and Florence without stopping. The hotel in Florence has a charge point.

 

Plan summary  

Leg distance:	230 km
Estimated time without charging and any break:	2 hours & 50 minutes
Number of charging stops:	0

 

The Reality 

When we reached our destination we still had 80 km of range remaining. However, the hotel was not able to get a garage with a car charger. It is quite common to find a standard power socket in a garage, but because the hotel was right in the city center, the valet parking took the car 2-3 km away. Thankfully there were two fast charges along our route which we could easily reach within our remaining 80km range.

About Florence

Florence is as beautiful as it gets. It’s a vibrant medieval city with historical sites on every corner. We very quickly discovered that the two days we had planned to spend here were nowhere near enough. We heartily agree with our tour guide Paolo, there are many good reasons to return to Florence.

Our guided walking tour was a perfect introduction to the city. Over 3.5 hours, Paolo showed us the most important sights in the city. We learned about the Medici family clan, who effectively ruled the city and the region for centuries. Through their (and other families) support and passion for art made Florence the cradle of the Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Brunelleschi, and Donatello are just some of the well-known names who received some form of patronage from the Medici’s.

If you like beef, you must try the Florentine T-bone steak. We enjoyed a steak at Il Pailolo. It is comparable to steaks in Texas, Argentina, or Japan.

Top things to see

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Battistero di San Giovanni and Piazza Duomo

Piazza della Signoria and Pallazo Vecchio & Piazza di Santa Maria Novella (The rooftop bars around the square are worth visiting, the atmosphere and scenery are stunning.)

Galeria degli Uffizi
In 1559, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany had a building built for offices (Uffizi) as the town hall. Today, the Uffizi is Florence’s most famous art gallery. After the ruling House of Medici died out, their art collections were given to the city of Florence under the famous Patto di famiglia. 

Ponte Vecchio & Pitti Palace & Gardens (Next to the Ufizzi and Pitti palace was built a 1 km long roofed corridor (Vasari), going through Ponte Veccio. This route was used to travel between the office and home. The corridor is now under renovation and should open in late 2021.)

Basilica del Santa Croce
This is not just “another beautiful” basilica. This is the burial place for famous names Galileo Galilei, Dante Alighieri, Michelangelo, Rossini, and Machiavelli.

Basilica Santo Spirito (and the Piazza)
Great for a lunch break with a vibrant piazza on the other side of the river offering shade under the trees and even more “local” eateries.

Leg 3: Trip Florence to Siena

• Stage (from-to): Florence - Siena
• Date(s): 6.8.2021
• Keywords: Florence, Siena

The Plan 

From Florence, we headed out to Siena, which is a small medieval city built on top of a hill. It is only 80 km away from Florence but as we failed to charge at the hotel, we would arrive without any reserve charge. We would pass two fast chargers on the journey, so a quick 15-minute break should replenish us enough to have a reserve.

Plan summary 

Leg distance:	80 km
Estimated time without charging and any break:	1 hour & 10 minutes
Estimated time with charging:	1 hour & 25 minutes
Number of charging stops:	1
Total expected charging time:	15 minutes

The Reality

When we arrived at the first fast charger it was occupied by another vehicle. Thankfully, the slower AC (11 kW) was available. As it was next to a grocery superstore, we hooked up to the slow charger and went to buy some food and water. When we came back to the car the fast charger was available, so after a further 5 minutes of fast charge we were good to go. 

However, it wouldn’t work in the app. In Italy, most charging spots are operated by a single company (there is not much competition) called Enel. They build thousands of charging spots across Italy but, as we learned later, a lot of them were do not work properly.
 
Anyway, after failing to charge the car with the app (which was showing that CSS - fast charging - was not available), we tried to activate it using a card from Audi Charging Services. This is a small RFID card that can be used to activate IONITY chargers. You just swipe the card in front of the charging station which activates the charging and you receive an invoice each month which is automatically paid using the registered credit card. To our surprise, the card worked and we spent another 10 minutes filling up on juice.
 
When we arrived in Siena our next surprise was ready for us. Our accommodation was in the historical city center, which we entered from the wrong side. We had to reverse and go around the entire city! Not only did this add extra time but it also created unplanned extra distance. We were very thankful we decided to stop for a quick charge before we got there! The rule with EV is to charge when you can. As you cannot park in the historical center, the accommodation offered valet parking services. We had already made sure they had EV charging available when we booked. The valet took our car and took it to charge overnight. We arrived at around 1 pm with 15% of charge left. Sadly, the overnight garage could only charge from a regular 230V power socket, so the next morning at 8 am we “only” had 70%.
 
That meant we would need to make an extra 15 minute stop. We didn’t need more because there was a super-fast (350 kW) charger on our way.

About Siena

This beautiful medieval city is built on a hill. Legend says that the city was founded by the two sons of Remus, who fled Rome after Romulus killed their father (another legend is that Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf). According to the Siena legend, the sons of Remus made a statue of the she-wolf, which went on to became a symbol of Siena. Fleeing Rome, one son rode a black horse and the other a white one. This is reflected in Siena’s coat of arms.

The city did not prosper until the 4th century AD when the main route for pilgrims from Northern Europe to Rome changed due to security concerns. After that, Sienna started to become a trade and banking center. One of the oldest banks in the world has been operating in Siena since 1472. In 1115, thanks to Countess Matilda, Siena was split into small independent areas, which led to a formation of a republic. It lasted until Siena lost against Florence when Medici joined forces with the Spanish king. 
 
Our guide Agnese, (toursbylocals.com) explained to us that Siena is split into 17 Contradas, each proudly has its own coat of arms. Each year, 10 Contradas are randomly chosen to compete in the Palio race. This is a 3-lap horse race around the main square of Siena. This race has been going since the 16th century!
 
The amount of tradition, legend, and folklore here is unprecedented. Horses are assigned to Contradas by “draw”;  Contradas may change the jockey (who is racing bare-back), but not the horse. Horses are shown dressed in a parade, which is a competition of its own before the horse race. Each Contrada has its own stable, where the horse stays in the days before the race. There are two Palio races each year: July 2 and August 16. The city is always crowded, but it is definitely worth the experience.
 
The biggest challenge walking through Siena is where to point your camera. With every step, we found other breath-taking scenarios as we uncovered the beauty of this place. Siena is also known for its cuisine, which we can confirm is amazing.
 

Duomo di Siena

Piazza del Campo and Torre del Mangia

Pallazo Salimbeni (The world’s oldest bank which opened in 1472.)

La Basilica Cateriniana

Small streets of Siena

Leg 4: Trip Siena to Bari 

• Stage (from-to): Siena, Italy – Bari, Italy
• Date(s): 7.8.2021 – 8.8.2021
• Keywords: Siena, Bari 

The plan 

This was one of our longer legs, but there was only one super-fast charger on the route. This is about 60km from Siena. As we were only able to recharge our car to 74% at the hotel in Siena, we will need to take a brief stop at the super-fast charger (150 kW). After that, we know that there are other fast chargers along our route.

Plan summary 

Leg distance:	740 km
Estimated time without charging and any break:	7 hours & 20 minutes
Estimated time with charging:	9 hours & 30 minutes (no super fast chargers)
Number of charging stops:	2
Total expected charging time:	2 hours & 10 minutes

The reality

The super-fast charger (IONITY) had four stations, two of which were already being used. Pulling up to one of the available stations we noticed that the display was broken, but we managed to authenticate with our e-Tron card and started charging. After 15 minutes we had reached 100% charge and were ready for the next leg.

We planned to stop in Tivoli, a beautiful small city known for its Roman spa. It is close to Rome and 230 km from Siena. We wanted to charge in Tivoli before lunch, which was booked for 12:30 in a lovely restaurant, Sibilla which is based within ancient ruins. We allowed 1.5 hours for charging in Tivoli, as fast chargers (50 kW) take 3 times longer to fill our battery than super-fast ones.

Tivoli

The issue was not finding the charging spot but an accident on the highway, causing over an hour delay. That left us with much less charging time. When we reached the charger we successfully activated it via the app and started charging. This lasted for all of 30 seconds until it suddenly stopped. We tried using the app to reactivate it but it wouldn’t work. Thankfully,  our e-Tron contactless card worked and we started to charge again… for another 30 seconds. After four tries we gave up as the charger was clearly broken. We had to leave to catch our 12:30 lunch reservation, but we had enough juice to continue to another charging point after lunch. To our surprise, we spotted a slow AC charger (11 kW) available in the parking lot 200m from the restaurant, which worked perfectly. During lunch, we added over 15% (50 km of range).

Continuing from Tivoli to Bari

The highway from Rome towards Bari had a couple of accidents causing a further two hours of delays. Our navigation swiftly replanned our route through the countryside which was beautiful, but slow. 
 
The next charging point was in a shopping mall, but this charger had the same issue as we’d found before. It stopped charging after a minute or so. We only had around 80 km of range left and we started to panic. What would happen if we couldn’t charge using this type of charger? Using the AC (11 kW) charging points would add on another 7 hours. Looking ahead, we may have to sleep in the car to reach the ferry in time at Brindisi (130km south of Bari). We knew this was an adventure, but we did not expect it in Italy!


Another fast charger was only 5 km away, so we decided to give it a try. We used the app and this time everything worked just fine. We went to a nearby cafeteria to pass the time, and in one hour and 5 minutes, we went from 30% to fully charged. It was a little stressful, but we knew there were plenty of fast chargers, so knowing that at least some work was reassuring.


Worse than the charging drama was another hour delay avoiding more standstill traffic on the highway. Little did we know that there were more traffic jams to come. We lost another hour and 30 minutes. Consumption goes swiftly up when you travel fast, but going slowly on the highway does not use much power, even with the air-con and fridge running.
 
After another 230 km, we stopped for dinner. We left our car charging at a nearby fast charger and headed out for pizza. This time everything worked… until we reached 80% charge, after that the charger suddenly stopped. We had enough charge to continue to our destination which was halfway between Bari and Brindisi, but after that we had to continue to Brindisi, catch a ferry and go to Corfu. So we stopped in Bari for one more charge. This wouldn’t have been necessary if we had a hotel with car charging available.


What a surprise, the charger in Bari stopped charging within 30 seconds. Being used to this now, we moved 15 km to another fast charger, which worked perfectly. After 25 minutes of charging, we went on to our hotel. It was 30 minutes after midnight, and we had 170 km remaining range, enough to reach Brindisi and Corfu without charging.
While the charging took 2.5 hours there were plenty of other time add-ons. Searching for new chargers = 30 minutes. Accidents and traffic jams = 4 hours 

When you are charging, you can grab a coffee, check emails, or eat. This is not the case in a traffic jam! 
 
We stayed in Polignano a Mare. It is an amazing small vibrant city, worth exploring, but we ran out of time.


The whole leg took 11 hours + 2.5 hours of charging. If there had been super-fast chargers available, the total charging time would have been under one hour.

For comparison: in the first leg, we reached 100 km/h average speed for the entire leg, here we were only 68 km/h.

Leg 5: Ferry to Corfu

• From: Pagliano al Mare - Brindisi - Corfu (Kerkyra)
• Dates: 8/8/2021
• Keywords: Ferry, Corfu, Port

The Plan 

Drive to Brindisi (80km) and board the ferry, arriving at Corfu. No charging should be needed.

 

Plan summary 

Leg distance:	80 km to Brindisi  200 km on a ferry  10 km driving to the hotel in Corfu
Estimated time without charging and any break:	1 hour to Brindisi  7 hours 30m on Ferry
Number of charging stops:	0

 

The Reality  

We stayed overnight in a city called Polignano a Mare. This is a picturesque town with a vibrant atmosphere, coves, and rich nightlife.

In the morning we drove to Brindisi Port to catch a ferry to Greece. We arrived an hour early as we were nervous about more delays. While we didn’t really need to charge (we only needed 15km range to reach the port and then the hotel and we had 30% battery), but we need to buy something, so we plugged into one of the slow AC chargers next to a grocery store which was 2 km from the port. 
Did you know that you can remotely activate aircon using the app? This is a great benefit!

We added 5% of power while we shopped for half an hour, taking us to 35% or 150km range, and we continued to the port. As we had booked our ferry tickets online, at the port, we simply went to the “check-in” area, showed our Covid Green Pass, Greek PLF (this is a form that must be completed online before entering Greece), and in 5 minutes we got our tickets. We were unsure what the procedures would be with Covid, but it was much faster and smoother than we expected.

The best part was waiting to board. We had plenty of time as the tickets had said to arrive 2-3 hours before departure. One hour would be enough really. 
The temperature was 37 ◦C so we kept running air-conditioning and we had our fridge and freezer running too. We waited 1 hour 30 minutes, and only drained about 3% of the battery (circa 9 km range). 
That was great to understand as it means that we don’t need to be afraid of depleting the battery before reaching the next charging point in the future.  

Eventually, we started to board. There were no problems with electric vehicles, but there are some simple measures for CNG cars.


We parked the car and enjoyed the 7 hours 30 minutes sail to Corfu. The best part was turning on the AC through the app before arrival so that we got into a nicely cooled-down vehicle. This feature will be extremely useful on our trip throughout Greece. 

About Corfu

The Plan

The hotel should have a charging station for us to charge during our stay. We have 3 days on Corfu, and we are going to spend one day at the beach and the other days exploring the island. Each day we should travel around 130km, so charging at the hotel should be sufficient.

Plan summary

Leg distance:	130 km north Corfu trip 160 km south Corfu trip
Number of charging stops:	None needed as charging overnight at the hotel

The reality

We arrived quite late at the hotel. They didn’t have a wall box, which is a device that provides additional safety to destination charging, but they did have an industrial 400V power socket. This isn’t too bad, especially if it is reserved for electric vehicles.
Everything worked fine. We had 30% of battery and started charging before midnight which should mean we would be fully charged before 6 am, well ahead of schedule.

When we woke up in the morning, we had a push message on the mobile from the car telling us that charging has been interrupted due to no power. What happened? About one hour after us, another driver used the standard 230V power socket to charge their car and it blew the fuse. We tried to charge a few more times, but the fuse continued to blow. We came to the conclusion that only one car can charge at a time. It then turned out that charging the car at full speed (11 kW) also blew the fuse even when there was no other car charging. Sadly, the hotel’s infrastructure was not fit for electric car charging.

Thankfully, this was not a big deal for us as it is not difficult to reconfigure the car’s charger to use less power, but it would be more complicated for those who are not advanced EV users and fans. We reconfigured the charger to use only 8,4 kW, and after one hour the fuse blew again. We reconfigured to using 6 kW only and that worked well. The downside of this is that it takes more time to charge, but since we were staying for three nights, this was not an issue for us.

South Corfu – a one day trip

Corfu is the 7th biggest Greek island and has a lot to offer. This trip was about 140 km. We started at 10 am and finished about 10 pm, with a long picnic stop in the evening.


Corfu’s main city is Kerkyra. This is picturesque and filled with tavernas and cafes. The main attraction is an Old Venetian Fortress, which is worth climbing for the amazing views.


After that, we continued to a city called Paleokastrica, which has beautiful beaches. It was a lovely place, but to us, it felt very busy and filled with tourists. Close to the city is the medieval citadel Angelokastro, which is worth a visit.


Our next step was Gardiki, the ruins of another medieval castle. It’s not very big, but it is on the way to the Lake Korission, our ultimate goal, and was worth a 30 minute stop.


Lake Korrision (about 6 km long) is right next to the sea, separated by a thin strip of land, which forms the most amazing beach. While it is busy during the day, it gets very quiet and romantic in the evening.

This was an ideal place for a picnic. Four-wheel drive is not necessary, but it helps you to get closer to the beach, which is handy if you have a lot of stuff like us 😊. 

North Corfu – a one day trip

Kassiopi Fortress
This is another well-preserved medieval fortress (there are three on the island). Another nice place to visit.


Pantokrator
This is the highest mountain on Corfu. With an altitude 906 m it provides amazing views of the island, you can also see  Albania. It is accessible by car and there is a nice coffee place right at the top, but in our case, our navigation (we tried built-in nav, Google maps, and Seznam Mapy) took us on a small track which was too narrow for us to use.


The correct way to access it is through the city of Acharavi.


Nymfes Falls
The falls dry out during summer, which we didn’t know. Despite that, it was still good to see, the way there was a really beautiful drive.
 

Canal d’Amour
Located in the city of Sidari, there are great beaches with some great places to eat and drink. You can see why people come to this narrow channel and romantic cove. 

 

About Meteora 

The Plan

From Corfu, we will take the ferry to Igoumenitsa and then continue to Kalampaka, which is the city next to Meteora, where we are staying. Our guest room (not a hotel) does not offer charging facilities, but they mentioned we could charge our car overnight using a regular 220V power socket.

 

Plan summary 

Leg distance:	180 km
Estimated time without charging and any break:	2 hours & 30 min
Number of charging stops:	None as charging overnight at the hotel

The reality

We had already learned that we don’t need to be at the ferry port 3 hours before departure, so this time we arrived a relaxed one hour ahead. This was still more than enough time. The ferry journey itself took around 90 minutes. 

We had only charged to 90% (because another car was charging at the hotel) but this was plenty of range for what we needed. However, we decided to stop at a fast charger on our way. Mainly we wanted to check out a fast vehicle charging station (50 kW). In contrast to Italy, most of the fast chargers are built within gas stations in Greece. They don’t use an app or card to activate, instead, the station’s personnel unblock the charger and handle payments.

This is less convenient as payment works in the same way as if you are buying fuel. When you charge using the app or card you are billed automatically, and this also provides a better overview of your real charging spend. But if you are traveling through Greece, you don’t need to install yet another app, which isn’t a bad thing.

The fast-charging worked fine, we were only there 10 minutes as we only wanted to test if it worked. The service person also cleaned our windows, a very nice treat! 

 

The Meteora is pillar rock formations on the top of which are monasteries from the 14th to 16th century. This place is considered by the Eastern Orthodox Church as the second most sacred in Greece, after mount Athos in Khalkidhiki.

Six of the monasteries are preserved and in use still today. They are also open to the public. In medieval times they were built with no access, using ropes and ramps to pull people and material up, but today there are staircases available, most are carved in the rock pillar itself.

Amazing rock formations in Meteora
One of the six operating monasteries 

They used ropes and ramps to pull people and goods up.
The monasteries are much bigger than they appear.

About Delphi 

The Plan 

This leg should be around 240 km. As we should be fully charged from the hotel there should not be any need to stop for charging.

Plan Summary

Leg distance:	230 km
Estimated time without charging and any break:	3 hours
Number of charging stops:	None as charging overnight at the hotel

The Reality

We could only charge using a standard power socket (230V) at our hotel in Meteora. On our first try, we blew the fuse. Having learned from our experience, we knew that we needed to use a slower charge setting. Going to 10A (which gives a 2,2 kW charging speed) seemed to do the trick. For the first time on our trip, we had to use our super long extension cord, which was connected to a regular power socket in the owner’s apartment.

In the morning we had charged to about 90%, but we weren’t in a hurry, so climbed up to one of the monasteries. During this walk, we received a message on our mobile phone telling us that charging had stopped due to a fault. Electric cars are integrated with mobile phone apps so you can check the charging status, start air conditioning or heating, and many other features.

When we got back to the hotel we assumed that the fault was with the extension cord. We now had 92% charge which was enough range to reach our next destination: the Ancient Sanctuary of Delphi. The car shows you the approximate charge range on a map, so we knew our level of charge was enough to cover almost the whole of Greece. We reached Meteora as expected.

One great thing about electric cars is that for normal daily routine you don’t need to spend any time at gas stations (if you can charge at home or in the office). In Brno, where we live, we can go without highway charging for a couple of months. We only realize this when we run out of windscreen wiper fluid!


Delphi is an ancient sanctuary, the seat of the legendary oracle, Pythia. The high priestess Pythia was consulted for every major decision, whether private or public. The fame of Delphi was such, that even other countries, such as Egypt for example, supposedly sent messengers to consult the Oracle of Delphi.

The excavated remains date to 4-6th century BCE, but the place served as a sanctuary long before that. This is not a surprise as it has a milder climate due to the mountainous surroundings and breathtaking views.

View at the remains of Apollo Temple. The temple was the centerpiece of the entire sanctuary.  

Ancient Greek Theater

 Tholos