My family were lucky enough to be introduced to the amazing island of Corsica by pure chance over 14 years ago and each time we visit – 6 holidays so far – we love it a little bit more. This year it was time to mix things up a little and go green with an electric car.

As the kids are now young adults with all the diary commitments that entails, it’s harder to get away together, but summer 2026 saw us once again booking a villa holiday in Corsica. We were looking forward to beautiful beaches once again, spectacular mountain scenery, delicious food and plenty of exploring. As the family has grown older our holidays have changed – but each time getting better and we never struggle to find new and exciting things to fill our days. However, what we hadn’t quite anticipated was that one of the most memorable parts of the Corsica holiday this year would be driving an electric hire car.

All four of us are regular drivers in the UK but none of us had ever driven an electric car before, so when I realised that our hire car was going to be fully electric, the first reaction was probably best described as apprehensive. Unhelpfully my 18 year old son said it would be “well easy” and told me to stop being such an old dad!!

Dad Thoughts

In truth, this old dad was quietly wondering….

Will I be able to drive it?
What if we run out of charge somewhere in the mountains?
Am I going to drive everyone crazy looking for charging points all holiday?

So full disclosure, yes, there was definitely a little nervousness as I collected the car.

Initial Nerves

Picking up a hire car in Corsica was nothing new to us but an EV was a whole new ball game. Perhaps my nervousness showed on my face… whatever the reason, the company representative explained how everything worked, gave us a map of charging points and suggested that we download an app and attach a credit card to it to make everything easier.

After I had signed the dotted line and made my way to the car park we found our Citroen EV that would be ours for the week.

First Impressions

So quiet! There was no engine noise, no traditional gear changes and the acceleration was pretty nippy, all with barely a sound. The next thing you notice is, of course, no familiar fuel gauge. Instead, I became silently fixated on the battery percentage and wondering just how far that percentage would actually take us…

Corsica is an island of dramatic landscapes, winding mountain roads and some wonderfully remote places, so my biggest concern was range. We have always ventured up to the region of U Cavu and enjoyed a day in the cool rock pools but we didn't want to find ourselves halfway up a mountain with the battery warning light flashing!

Panic Over

But after a quick introduction to the car and a little time getting used to it, those worries started to disappear. We realised that the first 20% or so of battery life seems to drop alarmingly quickly, and then the rate slows… or perhaps I just stopped obsessively checking it! The EV got us from our villa to everywhere we wanted to go in Corsica – amazing how quickly even an old dad can learn new tricks after all.

Getting to Know Our Electric Hire Car

It didn't take long before we realised that driving an electric car was remarkably easy. The car was quiet, smooth and incredibly responsive. Pulling away was effortless, and there was something rather relaxing about travelling without the noise and vibration of a traditional petrol or diesel engine... and I'm all for relaxing when I'm on holiday.

Corsica – Surprisingly EV Friendly

Probably the biggest surprise of the holiday was just how well set up Corsica is for electric vehicles.

After picking up the car on day one and knowing the island well, we had imagined charging points might be few and far between. In reality, we found that there were plenty of places to charge. If you download one of the various apps available you can see not only where the chargers are, but how powerful they are (more power means faster charging) and whether they are free or currently in use. We used the E-Motem app for the week which we found incredibly easy to navigate.

Rather than constantly worrying about the battery, we simply incorporated charging into our day. The chargers are located at places you want or need to stop at anyway, so we would plug the car in while shopping at the supermarket or while having lunch. When we wanted to out for a day from the villa, we used the app to plan ahead a bit, but it only took a minute or two and it became part of the rhythm of the holiday. And if you plan to stay relatively close to your villa rather than take big days out, you’ll probably only need to charge once or twice as most modern EVs have a range of at least 300km.

And, unlike filling up with petrol, there was something quite satisfying about returning to the car and discovering that it had gained plenty of charge while we had been enjoying ourselves. Even better was the low cost compared to regular petrol or diesel fuels.

From Nervous to Converted

Perhaps the funniest thing about the whole experience is how quickly our attitude changed.

At the beginning of the holiday, we were nervous about driving an electric car.

By the end, we loved it.

We found ourselves appreciating how smooth and quiet it was, how easy it was to drive and how you don’t actually have to obsess about charging or getting stranded somewhere after all.

We were doing our bit for the environment too which always wins a tick from the younger generation.

We also realised that our biggest worry – the range – really didn't need to be such a concern. With a little forward planning and the help of the various charging apps, travelling around the island was very straightforward.

Would we Hire an Electric Car Again?

Absolutely. In fact, we are more inclined to choose an electric hire car in the future rather than avoiding one, especially in Corsica or in mainland France where the EV infrastructure is also excellent. We even spoke about updating our current UK runaround to an EV but that was after the 3rd Pina Colada and is yet to happen!!

Our Corsican adventure was a great introduction to electric driving, and the island proved to be an excellent place to try it. What started as something we were genuinely quite nervous about ended up becoming one of the unexpected highlights of the holiday. The only thing that would have made it better is there had been a charge point at the holiday villa, but we’re told that this is starting to happen more and more, so we’d look out for that feature in future.

So, if you're heading to Corsica and your hire car happens to be electric, don't panic! Do a little planning, download the relevant charging apps, familiarise yourself with the car and then enjoy the experience.

We certainly did.