Are there electric vehicle charging points on UK-France ferries?

We want to travel from the UK to France next summer in our electric car: will we be able to charge it on the ferry or Eurotunnel shuttle?

Most ferry operators do not offer electric vehicle charging points, and encourage drivers to charge their cars in the terminal before or after sailing.

Irish Ferries offers recharging points on its Dublin-Cherbourg WB Yeats ferry – provided that passengers wishing to use them pre-book their space at an additional charge – but not on its UK-France services.

Passengers who do intend to use these charging points must check in at least one hour in advance of their sailing time.

P&O Ferries told The Connexion that: “A number of new charging points have been installed at the Port of Calais, all of which will become operational in the coming months.”

The company has said in the past that it could not “say we will definitely have [electric vehicle charging points] available on board in the future,” although it “could see that charging points would be very advantageous and convenient for our customers.”

Eurotunnel’s Le Shuttle does not have charging points installed, but both its UK and French terminals have free rapid chargers for universal electric, hybrid and Tesla cars.

Charging stations are located near the entrance to the Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo passenger terminal buildings, and are signposted by blue ‘Charge’ flags in the main car parks.

A Brittany Ferries spokesperson told a Connexion reader that: “At the present time our ships do not have electric charging facilities, however this is something which is under investigation.

“As yet we have no time line for the addition of electric charging but as this type of car will certainly increase we would want to make provision for our passengers in the future.

“There are however charging points at several of the ports we use. The type of point and the companies who run them can be found on our website - from the main menu select Ports, there the particular port you require, finally scroll down the page and click the + symbol next to 'Electric Cars'.”

DFDS Ferries did not respond to our request for information about the possibility of installing electric vehicle charging points aboard its services.

There are charging stations available in the towns of Plymouth, Portsmouth, Dover, Calais, St Malo and Roscoff, although they may not be in the port area.

You can find charging points near you, both in the UK and in France, using this ChargeMap tool.

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