We have made it to the Novotel Hotel at Paris CDG! 400kms through 3 countries in one electric afternoon. We had 35km left of range when we pulled up at the door in fact.
It has been a slow drive, in part because we ran into rush hour around Antwerp and were averaging no more than 10km/h for a good hour. We also took it really slow (90km/h to 100km/h) in order to be sure to arrive with charge to spare as this is a new car and we are on unknown roads.
I also forgot to include in my plans for the day some lunch! So we stopped for a meal near Brussels too.
The reason I am posting this so late is that we have been trying to get the charge point here to charge the car faster, with Tesla’s fantastic tech support on the phone all the time right through to past midnight. The problem is that the socket here is a blue 32A single-phase one. These are great for the Roadster but as the adapter for such sockets does not yet exist for the Model S we were stuck with a slower charge rate (20kms for every hour of charge rather than the planned 40kms, or the hoped for 60kms!).
What this means is that tomorrow we will either barely arrive at IKEA in Tours, or we will have to charge first at the IKEA near here (IKEA are just awesome!).
We have some good photos but for now we will have to do with this one of Tesla Tilburg just as we arrived:
Tomorrow lets see how much range the car has and then we will start our tour of the French IKEAs!
Drive & Dream 
show that pics, it s a p 85+ signature? first in spain i m guessing? love to give it a try once u land that rocket here in spain ,
cheers and good way home
Mark, whaou… what a first stressed day! Hope now is going to be better than before…
Please send us pictures of the car, cables etc…
Cheers and enjoy your trip in France
Jean (tigerjeff on TMC)
Perhaps interesting for future Spanish owners wishing do this same trip:
There are IKEA’s with charging equipment in Belgium. Probably the most suited one is the one in Ghent, it is right next to the motorway, and it s solar powered (138km from Tilburg)(https://www.google.be/maps/preview#!q=Henri+Crombezlaan%2C+Gent)
There is another IKEA in Zaventem, which is a longer detour perhaps. ((https://www.google.be/maps/preview#!q=Ikea+zaventem)
Also any future owners wanting to stop for lunch are welcome to eat at my place (for free) 😉
It is 10min south from Antwerp… so if you got through the horrible traffic, I’ll be happy to provide a peaceful and relaxing stopover. (no charging yet, still need to get a 16A – 3phase plug)
Or a great place to have eat and show off the car is at the golf club (http://www.golfclubbeveren.be/)
Fantastic advice. That first leg was very long and could be tricky for first time EV drivers. Also, the CDG stop had only 16A single phase charging (or 32A with the right adapter from Tesla when it finally appears).
Better would be to follow your advice, charge at these IKEAs, and find a nice place to sleep in the North of France. Of course that makes it a slower drive down, but that’s what these trips are for… enjoying!
I will pass your advice on, but if want to share it in the TeslaMotorsClub forum you should… people would thank you very much.
Cheers
Mark
A friend tried to charge their Model S in Ghent today but they found the charge point there different to the ones in IKEA France.
You need a Mennekes cable of your own, which they didn’t have (big mistake when you go on the road) and for some reason the store only had a male to male mennekes cable. The Model S is also a male connector so this cable couldn’t work. Shame.
What cars have a female Mennekes built in?