The Zeemcoin Road Trip continues, with the help of Miguel Zarzuela we are making a trip in an electric car (Opel Corsa 100% electric) of more than 2200 km, where we are evaluating the public fast charging network in Spain and Portugal.

In the first articles about this road trip we have told you about the first 6 stages of the trip, starting from Zaragoza we have passed through Madrid, Plasencia, Lisbon, the Algarve, Huelva and many other places on the peninsula, where we have been evaluating the quality of the public fast charging network as well as commenting on the anecdotes of the trip and the good and bad of each stage.

But now that we have left the mainland, in these last stages of the trip we are going to analyse the public charging infrastructure in the Canary Islands.

Stage 7: Santa Cruz de Tenerife – San Sebastián de la Gomera

According to Miguel, this stage is not really a problem for an electric car, as the islands (especially La Gomera) are not very large, so the range of the car should not be a big problem. However, there has been a problem when using the Iberdrola chargers as they are not yet operational, as we will mention below.

Four chargers have been evaluated during the course of this stage, they are as follows:

Endesa X – Las Turroneras
Endesa X – Los Realejos
Iberdrola – Hermigua
Iberdrola – Agulo

Of which the best was Endesa X de las Turroneras, very easy access from the highway, with a restaurant nearby and functioning as expected. And the worst were the Iberdrola ones in La Gomera, as they were not available.

In La Gomera no Iberdrola charger was operational. They were all switched on but had not yet started to work. On La Gomera, there are up to 1500 metres of unevenness, which is a bit overwhelming to see that not a single charger on the island was working. What is true is that the island is so small that you don’t need a lot of autonomy to travel around it.

It is true that at the time of writing this article all the chargers have been activated, leaving La Gomera perfectly prepared for electric mobility.

In terms of safety, Miguel tells us that he felt safe at all times during this stage of the journey. As for the accessibility and location of the chargers, the Endesa X charging point in Los Realejos is quite far from the main route. The rest of the chargers were well geolocated and the accessibility was quite good. For lunch he recommends that there are many “guachinches” in the north of Tenerife.

As a final reflection of this stage, Miguel recognises that the situation of La Gomera after the activation of all the Iberdrola PDRs is ideal for an EV. With maximum distances of around 40 km and fast charging points in all the villages, the infrastructure is very good. In addition, the range recovered on the island’s steep roads means that the final consumption is less than 12 kWh/100 km.

Stage 8: San Sebastián de la Gomera – Santa Cruz de Tenerife

In this eighth and penultimate stage, both La Gomera and Tenerife chargers have been evaluated and the stage has been a little complicated due to the lack of availability of fast chargers. However, as the distances in the archipelago are not great in any case, this was not a real problem.

Four chargers have been evaluated during the course of this stage, they are the following:

Iberdrola – San Sebastian De la Gomera
Endesa X – Arona
Endesa X – Canary Oil Llano Alegre
DISA – Via Penetracion Avenue

Miguel tells us that none of them have been particularly good, this stage has been quite bad as far as the PDRs are concerned. The worst was undoubtedly the Endesa X in Arona. After some time without working, it has disappeared from the JuicePass app. We left San Sebastián de La Gomera with three 50 kW chargers out of service and after crossing to Tenerife, the Endesa X charger in Arona didn’t work either.

As in all the previous stages, Miguel tells us that he felt safe at all times during this stage of the journey and as far as accessibility is concerned, it should be noted that there are almost no chargers in the southern part of the island of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and the only one that was available is not available. At least the location of the La Gomera porters is very good as they are situated after the ferries disembark. For lunch, Miguel recommends the guachinches, although it is true that they were not very close to the chargers evaluated at this stage.

But Miguel thinks that the world of electric vehicles on the islands is the future, as he tells us that every kilometre he drives on the islands, the more interesting EVs become in this environment. The Canary Islands are particularly rugged and average speeds are quite low. Consumption compared to the mainland has dropped from 15.5 to 12.5 kWh per 100 km, and the range is longer, partly due to the better climate.

Stage 9: Santa Cruz de Tenerife – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

We are now entering the last stage of our trip. This is the end of the Zeemcoin road trip and it couldn’t be in a better place, a city as beautiful and heavenly as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Let’s find out how the city is adapted for electric vehicles.

4 chargers have been evaluated during the course of this stage, they are the following:

Endesa X – Santa Catalina
Endesa X – San Isidro
Endesa X – Arucas
Cabildo GC – El Tablero (Maspalomas)

Of which the best has been the PDR of Arucas, as there are 2×50 kW together and close to the restoration area on the north motorway. The worst was in San Isidro, as it was not operational. It was completely switched off and could not be used at any time.

As usual, as far as safety is concerned, Miguel felt safe at all times, so we can say that this was a safe trip. Moreover, this stage was very easy to do, as it was in Tenerife, the distances to cover are very small and the autonomy is always much more than what is needed.

Accessibility was good in all of them. The PDR of the impressive Santa Catalina hotel is in a car park, but access is easy and the cost of stay is less than 1€.

This stage is quite pleasant and enjoyable through the nooks and crannies of the island of Gran Canaria. Lots of gradients, but very, very low speeds due to the terrain. After more than 500 km, the fuel consumption in the Canary Islands is exceptionally low, so the range is even higher. Again after climbing the Pico de las Nieves (1948 m above sea level) and coming back down again, the advantages of consumption and the use of regenerative braking of a pure electric vehicle are obvious.

TRIP REVIEW

Do you recommend this trip to drivers of electric vehicles?

Without any doubt. Due to the repercussion of this trip many friends have asked me, did you really do the Zeemcoin trip with your electric Corsa?

The charging infrastructure is more than sufficient today for the number of electric vehicles on the roads right now. Perhaps in Portugal you are more likely to find a busy PDR, while in Spain it is highly unlikely today.

Your favourite stage: Stage 3 Plasencia – Lisbon.

Entering Portugal from the western border of Extremadura via the Cedillo dam was exciting both for the adventure of not knowing for sure if the pass was going to be open (Google doesn’t account for it) and the uncertainty of passing into Portugal’s recharge network which doesn’t work with Spanish PDRs.

The best of this trip

The electric drive through new breathtaking landscapes in the Canary Islands. Discovering breathtaking views of the changing island landscape after every winding curve will always remain in my mind. Wishing to be able to repeat these roads on an electric motorbike.

The worst thing about this trip

Discovering that there is still a lack of will / investment in certain parts of the world for the deployment of a charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in line with the climate emergency and the need for decarbonisation on which we are embarked. There are still many regional differences that make certain regions very difficult to visit for countless reasons such as political, administrative and social.

Curiosities and anecdotes of the trip

On such a long trip I expected to have some problems/frustration when it came to charging, ferries, tolls, driving, but the truth is that it has been especially pleasant to be an electric nomad and do more than 3000 km without any incidents when it comes to charging or travelling.

The Zeemcoin Road Trip has come to an end, from the Zeemcoin team we would like to thank Miguel for having led Zeemcoin on this adventure and his professionalism throughout the trip and all the readers who have accompanied us throughout all these stages. New news and adventures of Zeemcoin will come soon and together we will climb towards a future with zero emissions.

Let’s keep going!