....in case you haven't seen this on NBC News....short piece......San Diego trip vs. Austin.......


....How Convenient Are Electric Vehicle Chargers? We Set Out On A Road Trip To Find Out.......


.....Jake Ward from NBC News........?!

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

I watched the TFL YouTube channel when they drove their F-150 Lightning across the country and up to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Even though the truck had a 300+ mile battery, on average they stopped every 100 miles to charge to at least 80%. After 80%, the charging rate slows down. You really need to plan the route. Walmart was the most common place to charge up.

Just picked up my second electric car last night (BMW i4). We have my wife's ICE for long vacation drives, so "range anxiety" is not something that I deal with often.

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After going 500 miles in my sons Bolt, I’m sticking with gas until the charging infrastructure improves.

Plus, Bolts charge slowly, so if you're going to drive long distances all the time, it's not a good choice. I don't drive long distances because by the time I take time off, it costs more than flying.

Again, this is where Tesla kills it when it comes to charging infrastructure. I wouldn’t take a road trip in any other EV.

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cbelt3
After going 500 miles in my sons Bolt, I’m sticking with gas until the charging infrastructure improves.

Yes, a Bolt is a first gen EV and is really designed for local commutes,

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Carnos Jax
Again, this is where Tesla kills it when it comes to charging infrastructure. I wouldn’t take a road trip in any other EV.

^100

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Forrest
I watched the TFL YouTube channel when they drove their F-150 Lightning across the country and up to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Even though the truck had a 300+ mile battery, on average they stopped every 100 miles to charge to at least 80%. After 80%, the charging rate slows down. You really need to plan the route. Walmart was the most common place to charge up.

Something is just not right. 300 x 80% is 240. There is no reason to stop every 100 miles unless the actual range was not 300.

Our Tesla Model Y long-range does lose effective miles in the MN winters. But that's as much keeping us humans warm as the lower electrical output of colder batteries.

Our last trip was well below freezing, and in windy snow conditions. We did stop about every 200 - but that was as much reducing driver fatigue as the batteries needing new electrons!

The Volt is the perfect car for me, as perfect as that could be. Work commute is less than 20 miles round trip. Most of the time, I don't even use the Level 2 charger, just let it charge over night on 110V.
Only range anxiety is myself trying to stretch the miles and keep the ICE off. Even when the ICE runs, it gets about 12-15 more mpg than my wife's Crosstrek, so trips are in the Volt, unless bad weather may be involved, then we use the AWD Crosstrek.
I would love to have a full EV along with the Volt, as we have 100% solar at home, with over a $1000 credit built up from Eversource, I'd love to eliminate more fuel cost.

Dave

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Welcome to Dave's BBQ!

Many have eaten here....

Few have died

The Lightning had a boxy camper on it with dramatically increased drag and cut efficiency. They basically made a worst possible case challenge for the Lighting, and it passed, though not with flying colors. The same team just did a 48 hour California to Florida rally in a Hyundai Electric car.

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sekker

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Forrest
I watched the TFL YouTube channel when they drove their F-150 Lightning across the country and up to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Even though the truck had a 300+ mile battery, on average they stopped every 100 miles to charge to at least 80%. After 80%, the charging rate slows down. You really need to plan the route. Walmart was the most common place to charge up.

Something is just not right. 300 x 80% is 240. There is no reason to stop every 100 miles unless the actual range was not 300.

Our Tesla Model Y long-range does lose effective miles in the MN winters. But that's as much keeping us humans warm as the lower electrical output of colder batteries.

Our last trip was well below freezing, and in windy snow conditions. We did stop about every 200 - but that was as much reducing driver fatigue as the batteries needing new electrons!

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

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Carnos Jax
Again, this is where Tesla kills it when it comes to charging infrastructure. I wouldn’t take a road trip in any other EV.

Exactly right. With their infrastructure, just dial in your destination and they've got it covered from start to finish (most of the time) There's still a stretch on I-15 from Montana into Alberta that's a bit dicey… but Tesla opened a 4 stall in Milk River, AB just a few weeks ago that makes the run from Great Falls to Calgary much less dicey. And that's what's happening all over. The network continues to expand and improve.

Other carmakers don't have anywhere near that same "built-in" reliability factor, and don't appear to have any plans to do so. They're still quite dependent on undependable public chargers …

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bfd

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Carnos Jax
Again, this is where Tesla kills it when it comes to charging infrastructure. I wouldn’t take a road trip in any other EV.

Exactly right. With their infrastructure, just dial in your destination and they've got it covered from start to finish (most of the time) There's still a stretch on I-15 from Montana into Alberta that's a bit dicey… but Tesla opened a 4 stall in Milk River, AB just a few weeks ago that makes the run from Great Falls to Calgary much less dicey. And that's what's happening all over. The network continues to expand and improve.

Other carmakers don't have anywhere near that same "built-in" reliability factor, and don't appear to have any plans to do so. They're still quite dependent on undependable public chargers …

And the great thing is Tesla's user work load is almost nonexistent, whereas any other EV, you have to do all the planning yourself (and this is assuming the chargers you arrive at are in working order, etc.....too often they're not).

Chiming in here...

The Bolt EV's charge rate is slower when measured by KWH. It does take longer if i am trying to fill my battery. But if you look at the miles gained per minute of charging, the Bolt comes out a winner. As an example, if I charge for 40 minutes, I can gain about 200 miles of range. A bigger EV may fill the battery faster, but that same electricity won't go as far as the Bolt.

Looking at Tesla's, their network is also not perfect. There are two different super charger site within a mile of my house. Last Friday night at 5pm, the closest had all 6 chargers in use and 5 cars waiting. The one two blocks further had 10 stalls in use and 6 cars waiting.

Just out of curiosity, I checked the Electrify America and EVGo sites on the other side of town, 5 of seven chargers were available.

The FUD campaign against electric cars, funded by the oil industry, seems to have been very successful.

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“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

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Markintosh

Looking at Tesla's, their network is also not perfect. There are two different super charger site within a mile of my house. Last Friday night at 5pm, the closest had all 6 chargers in use and 5 cars waiting. The one two blocks further had 10 stalls in use and 6 cars waiting.

Good points. I always seem to compare it to less busy locations. Sounds like Tesla has a lot of work still to do in heavily used markets. But on a long road trip I wonder if things are significantly better (since it's usually only travelers who use those locations)?

We've all said charging infrastructure is key.

I wonder how many Teslas at TSLA charging station are just local owners not charging at home.

Does TSLA charge a fee for their use?

How many of those users return promptly to let another owner have a go.

Is an owner notified by a text or app that their car has finished charging, or can they monitor so as to return at 60, 70, or 80% depending where they are on their trip?

I've also seen complaints about some charging bays not working, increasing the delay in getting topped off.

At one point TSLA told owners not to use the local stations.

What all this means to me is the only way I'd take a long road trip is in an ICEmobile, even if it only had two wheels.

The idea of testing an eV's range by hobbling it with a camper is a little wonky, without having a companion test of a vehicle not so hobbled.

An eV truck with a camper is not a counterpart to a car without a trailer.



The Volt is the perfect car for me, as perfect as that could be.


Ah, I'm filled with Volt lust and envy.

l've literally caught myself sighing every time I see one on the road.

They're all sharp lookin', though the last year or two is my favorite.

If it were practical for me to own an eV, it would be my first choice.

I no longer have a commute, and most of my driving is very local.

My longer distances would entail maybe 90min on the highway, so a round trip would generally be cake.

Or pie, as the case may be.

There's a place a ways south of me that makes great pies, my favorite being their apple and peach pies.

The distance escapes me at the moment, but it's an easy half to three-quarter day's ride on bike, so I'm sure a Volt would handle it easily.

The Volts in white are my kryptonite (in a good way, obviously).

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

I have a Models S Plaid and a Cadillac CTS-V. Selling the Plaid actually. The range for 90% of driving is perfectly fine, I plug it in typically twice a week at home, over night and the Model S is full in the morning. I think I have used public chargers 3 times in the almost year I have had it. The acceleration is amazing, fun to just floor it, but otherwise I don't really like the car.

Now for a road trip, EV is not a great solution. Tesla has a great system f showing you where to stop to recharge to get the most from the range, but on a planned 2000 miles in 9 days, it added 6 hrs or travel time over the Cadillac. Also that 6 hrs does not factor in if the charger is being used when you arrive, or out of order etc. With an ICE car, if a gas station is down, drive across the street to another one. If all 4 Superchargers are in use, you end up waiting for them to finish.

Things I like about the Model S plaid, acceleration, things I dislike, the yoke steerings wheel, the complete lack of buttons to do anything, everything goes through the massive touch screen, taking your eyes off the road for everything. Other cars, want to turn on the seat heaters? Press the button, want to change drive mode? Press a button, change radio source, yup, eyes on the road and press a button.

So after the novelty of the crazy accelaration wore off, I prefer driving the Cadillac, which handles and brakes much better, more fun to drive

I really want to get a hybrid to get through the development of an adequate charger infrastructure. In fact, in 2020, right after COVID, I went to my Honda dealer to get the new CRV hybrid. They had 2 and I figured I'd have to pay list price but I was willing to do that. But, when I got there, it turns out they put the battery where the spare tire would go and included a 3 year towing deal and a can of flat fix. That just wouldn't do it for me so I bought an ICE CRV. That turned out to be fortuitous because this last August we had a tire have a catastrophic fail on the interstate 150 miles from home (but happily enough, only 20 miles from a Costco!). I was able to call Costco and get a tire replacement reservation on a Sunday afternoon when we had to go to ATL to catch a flight the next morning. It was expensive but worked out fine. That would have been a big problem if I didn't have a spare, I'd bet. I was hoping Honda would move the battery to below the rear seat the way the RAV4 has it but it was not to be.

So much conversation around corner case usage. Sure, charging takes longer on road trips but if you center that then you're ignoring never buying gas. ...people and their cars.

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...people and their cars.


People and their opinions of what others should be feel what is important.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

We drove to and from Yellowstone in a Tesla Model Y, over 2000 miles each way. Was the best long-distance car trip to date.

Yes, we did have to route ahead of time. But we just made plans for our overnight stops and added charging station to the hotel plans. We found excellent hotels with chargers in their parking lots, very convenient.

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DinerDave
The Volt is the perfect car for me, as perfect as that could be. Work commute is less than 20 miles round trip. Most of the time, I don't even use the Level 2 charger, just let it charge over night on 110V.
Only range anxiety is myself trying to stretch the miles and keep the ICE off. Even when the ICE runs, it gets about 12-15 more mpg than my wife's Crosstrek, so trips are in the Volt, unless bad weather may be involved, then we use the AWD Crosstrek.
I would love to have a full EV along with the Volt, as we have 100% solar at home, with over a $1000 credit built up from Eversource, I'd love to eliminate more fuel cost.

Dave

Thanks to MRF recommendations, I drive a Volt as my main daily driver. I still think a PHEV is ideal for anyone that has range anxiety. Plenty of non-Volt options now, just have to be willing to order to wait for inventory. I think Chevy made a bad decision to kill the Volt, but maybe they just were not making enough $$ off each car.

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sekker
Thanks to MRF recommendations, I drive a Volt as my main daily driver. I still think a PHEV is ideal for anyone that has range anxiety. Plenty of non-Volt options now, just have to be willing to order to wait for inventory. I think Chevy made a bad decision to kill the Volt, but maybe they just were not making enough $$ off each car.

Friend of mine was telling me that there's a Jeep that gets 56MPG that sounded interesting to him. I had my suspicions since that sounded more like Prius MPG numbers. Try to find the actual MPG anywhere on their web page.

[www.jeep.com]

Here's the EPA page for it.
[www.fueleconomy.gov]

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GGD

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sekker
Thanks to MRF recommendations, I drive a Volt as my main daily driver. I still think a PHEV is ideal for anyone that has range anxiety. Plenty of non-Volt options now, just have to be willing to order to wait for inventory. I think Chevy made a bad decision to kill the Volt, but maybe they just were not making enough $$ off each car.

Friend of mine was telling me that there's a Jeep that gets 56MPG that sounded interesting to him. I had my suspicions since that sounded more like Prius MPG numbers. Try to find the actual MPG anywhere on their web page.

[www.jeep.com]

Here's the EPA page for it.
[www.fueleconomy.gov]

It gets 50 MPGe, but since it's a plug-in hybrid with 25mi electric range, how much gas you use totally depends on how you drive. If you have a 10mi commute, you might barely use gas. 25mi commute, half will be gas. It actually gets only about 20mpg running in hybrid once the battery runs out, so nothing like a Prius, really. Still, if you mostly drive around town, it's fairly compelling, considering it off-roads just as well as any jeep, and goes 0-60 in 5.5.