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Hellendoorn to Basel – the Elroq gets to prove itself on the Autobahn

It is an early October morning when we leave. Starting point: Hellendoorn, in the eastern part of the Netherlands. Four large overnight bags are in the back – full of clothes and camera gear – and it fits easily. Because although the Elroq is slightly shorter than the Enyaq, it still offers a generous 470 liters of luggage space. Enough for a family, or in our case: one editor, one cameraman and a lot of camera gear.

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Our travel car is the Skoda Elroq 85, with a 77 kWh battery pack (571 WLTP-kilometer range) and 210 kW (286 hp). In 6.6 seconds you’re at 100 km/h – more than enough to flow with traffic on the German Autobahn. Because that’s where our adventure really begins. At Enschede we cross the border, heading for Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Freiburg and the end point of day 1: Basel.

Fast charging Skoda Elroq

The Autobahn is busy – as it almost always is – and we can’t go much faster than 130 kph. Near Frankfurt, we are on the road for four hours and ready for a charging stop. The car can go another 160 kilometers, but not our bladder. The Elroq can fast-charge with 175 kW, so a short break with coffee and a sandwich is enough. Less than half an hour later, we are back on the road. At the end of the afternoon we roll into Basel with an average consumption of just under 19 kWh/100 km – neat, especially on the Autobahn.

Salt like gold – a visit to Salina Helvetica

The next morning begins literally salty. We visit Salina Helvetica, a giant salt factory a few minutes outside Basel. There is a huge stockpile of road salt here – thousands and thousands of tons. It is a bizarre sight: gigantic white mountains of salt – sometimes meters over 30 meters high – that help Switzerland through the harshest winters. And yes, as a tourist you can take a tour of the factory and along the mountains of salt – highly recommended.

The E-Grand Tour

From Basel, we drive east toward the Säntis, one of Switzerland’s imposing mountains. The route we drive through Switzerland is part of the Grand Tour of Switzerland, a 1,600-kilometer road trip that the country itself has mapped out for tourists along the most beautiful places. There is also an electric variant: the E-Grand Tour, with many charging stations and fast chargers at strategic locations.

Despite the mountainous terrain, the Elroq also performs very well here. On the highway, we reached between 400 and 450 kilometers quite easily, but now that the pace is a bit slower, we are heading towards 500 kilometers. In addition, in the mountains, the Elroq proves once again how comfortable electric driving can be. As soon as you descend, you release the brake pedal and the electric motor brakes the car. As a result, you hardly have to brake at all, and at the bottom of the mountain you sometimes see an extra 20 to 30 kilometers of range appear on the display. At such times, you really don’t want to go back to a gasoline-powered car.

After just under three hours of driving, we arrive at the Säntis. Located at the intersection of three cantons – Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden and St. Gallen – the mountain is the 13th highest mountain in the Alps and the 29th highest peak in Europe. At the foot of the Säntis is a cable car that leaves every half hour for the summit. From the top, if the weather cooperates, you can see six countries at once: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France and Italy.

From the Säntis to Lucerne  

We drive on toward the heart of Switzerland: Lucerne. The route winds through valleys, forests and past crystal-clear lakes. In the Elroq it is wonderfully quiet: the seats are comfortable, the infotainment system responds smoothly and Google Maps shows us the way – completely wirelessly from our phone – on the large Skoda screen. What is particularly striking is the excellent sound insulation. Even at higher speeds, you can still talk to each other quietly. Skoda clearly didn’t skimp on this.

In Lucerne, we put the Skoda in a parking garage on a charging station – you can find those on every corner in Switzerland, too. The city itself is a postcard. The city breathes history, with medieval facades and winding streets. The highlight is the Chapel Bridge, a wooden bridge from 1365, which you can simply walk on for free.  

But those who have nothing to do with history must also have been here. After all, Lucerne is home to Switzerland’s most popular museum: the Verkehrshaus. Here everything revolves around transportation – from airplanes to submarines, from gondolas to racing cars. There’s even a giant tunnel drill in front of the museum. For fans of anything that rides, flies, glides or floats, this is paradise. It also caters to the car enthusiast, with a large collection of unique vehicles.

Mountain passes and tunnels

Our last day is the most spectacular. We ride three mountain passes: the Brünig, Grimsel and Furka. The route is straight from the Grand Tour of Switzerland app – ideal for those who don’t want to miss anything from the country, without first having to spend hours planning a route yourself at the kitchen table.

On the hairpin curves of the Furka Pass, the Elroq shows what it has to offer. Despite its neat family car image, it steers surprisingly precisely, thanks in part to the optional DCC suspension with adaptive dampers. In sport mode, you can take alpine curves with more pace than you might think. With 286 hp, it also climbs uphill effortlessly. Do you buy an Elroq to storm mountain passes? Probably not, but put the suspension in comfort mode and it turns into a wonderfully smooth mile-eater.

We make a quick pit stop at the iconic Belvedere Hotel, which sits in a hairpin curve in the middle of Furka Pass and was made famous by James Bond’s Goldfinger. These days, it’s also an Instagram hotspot – and rightly so. By the way, the view from this stop is just as impressive as the view of the hotel.

Then we descend toward Lake Lucerne and take the ferry from the village of Gersau to Beckenried. A short crossing, but a perfect ending: the Elroq on the deck, mountains in the background and just the gentle lapping of the water. This almost fairy-tale crossing of about 30 minutes – which we would never have found ourselves – is also part of the Grand Tour of Switzerland.

Conclusion

Where before you could only go abroad with expensive EVs without range anxiety, now you can do so with a mid-size car like the Elroq. The Elroq (starting at 34,990 euros, “our” 85-version starts at 42,990 euros) effortlessly drives long distances, whether on the highway or on a mountain pass. Charging is done during short breaks that you would take with a gasoline-powered car even after a few hours of driving, and in Switzerland the charging network is excellent.

And Switzerland itself? We can be brief about that – it is simply breathtakingly beautiful. With the Grand Tour of Switzerland app, you’ll get to places you wouldn’t otherwise easily end up: from a salt factory to a fairytale ferry ride. In the video below, we tell you more about our ride in the Elroq, the Swiss charging network and you’ll see many more beautiful pictures: