Your car · Electric cars

How to Pack an Electric Car for a European Road Trip

Checked 4 October 2026 on ADAC's, the operators' and the EU agency's own pages · skynomad

An electric car needs less in the boot than a diesel, and what it needs is easy to forget. Leave the Type 2 cable at home and every slow charger on the trip is useless to you.

The other costs are hidden. Charging from a household socket loses 12.7% to 24.2% of what you pay for, in ADAC's August 2026 test. In the cold, the car can use far more than its summer figure.

So pack for three things: the plug, the payment and the breakdown.

Pack Your Own Type 2 Cable

Public AC chargers, the slower posts in car parks and streets, usually have a socket and no cable. You bring your own. DC fast chargers are the other way round: the cable is always attached.

If your car came with one Type 2 cable, it goes on the trip. The plugs and cables page shows which plug fits where.

Treat the Domestic Socket as a Last Resort

The cable that plugs into an ordinary wall socket is for emergencies. ADAC, the German motoring club, warns that hours of charging can heat a household socket's worn contacts until they catch fire. It advises a limit of 10 A or less, even on a socket rated for 16 A.

It is also the expensive way to charge. In ADAC's test the losses ran from 12.7% for a Tesla Model Y to 24.2% for a Mercedes CLA, and a long lead to the socket adds more. Plan the trip around chargers, not walls.

Pay With a Bank Card at the Big Chargers

At the big chargers you do not need an app. Under the EU's charging rules, every public charger of 50 kW or more installed from 13 April 2024 must take a payment card or a contactless device. Older ones of that size must follow by 1 January 2027, and the price per kWh must be shown at the charger.

Bring a bank card that pays contactless, and check whether it charges a fee abroad. One or two charging apps may still save money on your route.

Plan for Higher Consumption in the Cold

Winter is where the range goes. In the Green NCAP tests ADAC reports, electric cars used on average 70% more energy at −7°C than at 23°C, from 38% more for the best car to 107% for the worst. ADAC's own road test at 0°C found 21% to 30% more.

Heat the car while it is still plugged in, about 15 minutes before you leave, and use the seat and steering-wheel heating. Then plan winter charging stops closer together than the summer ones.

Carry a Jump Starter for the 12-Volt Battery

The breakdown ADAC sees most in electric cars is the small 12-volt battery, the one that runs the locks and the computers. When it is flat, the car will not wake up, however full the main battery is.

A portable jump starter brings the 12-volt system back, and the car then switches on the main battery itself. ADAC puts one at €40 to €50. I would carry one before I carried anything else on this page.

Never Let Anyone Tow It on Its Wheels

Most manufacturers forbid towing an electric car with its wheels on the road. Turning wheels can make the motor generate power, which can damage the drivetrain. ADAC allows it only for a few metres at the lowest speed, to get the car out of danger.

Tell your breakdown cover the car is electric when you call. The AA, for its UK cover, tows a car with a flat battery to the nearest charging point. ÖAMTC in Austria has carried cars to a charger on a pickup.

Pack the Type 2 cable and the jump starter, and charge from walls only when nothing else is left. Every figure on this page was read on ADAC's, the operators' or the EU agency's own page on 4 October 2026.

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