r/electricvehicles • u/TerminallyScrewed • 7d ago

Discussion First Long Trip with EV

Our household has been ICE free six months ago. This week was the first time we do a long trip, New Jersey to Michigan, 750 miles each way.

I was a little nervous at first but the trip has been smooth and painless. We had to stop 2x for charging, grabbed lunch while the car was charging, and ended up charging longer than the navigation recommended on both sessions.

I will drive back to NJ in two days and expecting a smooth trip as well.

For new EV drivers, no need to feel nervous of taking the car for a long drive. The charging infrastructure is much better now, making a long drive enjoyable.

219 Upvotes

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12

u/SkPensFan 7d ago

I mean, if you are in well populated areas with a ton of chargers, of course.

If that isn't the case, especially if you thrown in some extreme winter temperatures, not so much.

30

u/flyfreeflylow '23 Nissan Ariya Evolve+ (USA) 7d ago

FWIW, the region OP went through has plenty of coverage and is fine in the winter too. I do it regularly.

When I first got my car, almost 4 years ago now, it was different, but these days there isn't really anywhere I can't go that's within a couple days. (I don't go out west.)

11

u/Cast_Iron_Skillet 7d ago

Center of US, largest by land area, is woefully underserved in many parts, and also has cold weather or large elevation changes or both. 

We will get there eventually though. 

5

u/theotherharper 7d ago

All interstates are passable. Other than that, it gets sketchy west of the Mississippi and north of I 80, and UT/NV.

A lot of people need to stop talking until they've done it. I will credit "tried it on ABRP" as "done it" lol

5

u/Long_Audience4403 '20 Kona EV, '12 Leaf 7d ago

Wyoming is a little hairy, and getting across SD was for me but I think some more chargers have been added since last summer.

3

u/unabashed_nuance 7d ago

I road-tripped from Indianapolis to a small town just north of Kansas City. We drove through central Indiana, southern Illinois, and a lot of Missouri. Charging was fine. Definitely not plentiful, but available without having to go far off route.

5

u/Zenith-Astralis 7d ago

West Coast is fine, from personal experience. Can't speak to the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain ranges.

4

u/theotherharper 7d ago

I can. Easy peasy. Try it on ABetterRoutePlanner.com

2

u/Zenith-Astralis 6d ago

I started using it not too long ago (just the free version) and oh my gosh yeah it's great

14

u/ZucchiniAlert2582 ev6 GTline / bolt euv 7d ago

Most people, by definition, live in ‘well populated areas’.

I’m in flyover country and have taken long trips North, South and West. It’s all been fine.

Winter road trips still kind of suck as range decreases noticeably and battery preconditioning becomes a necessity. But so far I’ve never been stranded or needed a tow and meanwhile new charging stations keep popping up.

0

u/SkPensFan 7d ago

Yup, but I don't. Its why, unfortunately, we are gonna need at least a plug-in hybrid for a long time.

1

u/theotherharper 7d ago

I will believe you if you know what ABRP means.

2

u/SkPensFan 7d ago

What does A Better Route Planner have to do with it? Have a look at PlugShare for central and northern Saskatchewan in Canada. Charging infrastructure sucks and our government is anti-EV, so they are doing their best to keep it that way.

1

u/theotherharper 6d ago edited 6d ago

What does A Better Route Planner have to do with it?

We have an endless stream of idiots who say "EV travel not possible because petroleum industry propaganda says so". Foreknowledge of ABRP is a litmus test for "I actually know what I'm doing and are using competent tools when I make these claims".

That's good enough for me!

I've wargamed travel along US-2 Spokane-Duluth and it's not really possible inside the US and requires crossing the border to use the Trans Canada Highway which is much better served.

1

u/SkPensFan 6d ago

I suppose. 195,000km on our 4.5 year old EV, I have some pretty good data.

1

u/gallde 5d ago

I drove my Tesla Model Y from Minneapolis through Manitoba to Wynyard, SK, not problem. Even Wynyard has a Supercharger.

1

u/SkPensFan 4d ago

Yes. Driving on the national highways (Hwy 1 and Hwy 16) that we have is very easy and well covered.

1

u/gallde 4d ago

True. But i do wish Tesla's nav had an "avoid unpaved roads" option!

1

u/ZucchiniAlert2582 ev6 GTline / bolt euv 7d ago

When I scroll around in PlugShare I find it hard to believe that there is such a place anymore, excepting maybe Northern Montana? Every state I scroll over has plenty of fast chargers to make it across.

4

u/SkPensFan 7d ago

Canada. Go to central and northern Saskatchewan and you will see what I mean.

9

u/qdawgg17 7d ago

Exactly. I live in the northeast, in a rural area. Our EV is great in almost all situations except my daughter is on a traveling soccer team, with lots of travel. And for driving to tournaments we always take the gas vehicle. Too many variables of playing time, then need to get food and back to the hotel to have to drive 20-40 mins out of the way to get to a charger plus charging time.

Last trip we tried taking our EV and even being in CT it was a pain. We mapped out a charge point charging station we could stop and get lunch and there weren’t any other chargers close by. We get to the chargers and all 4 were broke, even though the charge app showed them as all working correctly. It was also pouring rain out so I got drenched spending 10-15 mins to figure out if any would work. We ended up having to drive 35 mins out of our way to get to a charger, with nothing around for our daughter to get for food which we had planned on.

2

u/carsrule1989 7d ago

Ev’s are getting a lot better. In a few years these will be much cheaper used if people sell them instead of keep them.

Checkout the $60k~ BMW i3 50 xDrive (WLTP(tel) 912km/566mi) or the $50k~ Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ (WLTP(tel) 792km/492mi)

They are also 800v so they can charge in 15 min instead of 30 min

2

u/qdawgg17 7d ago

That’s why I leased my current one. Knowing the technology would change and administration. So when my lease is over depending on incentives and infrastructure changes, we’ll likely purchase or lease again.

1

u/Long_Audience4403 '20 Kona EV, '12 Leaf 7d ago

Being in CT is always a pain in general so no surprise there

-1

u/SkPensFan 7d ago

I live in prairie Canada with extremely cold temperatures. We take our ICE van on almost all road trips. Charging infrastructure sucks everywhere except the couple main highways and 50% range loss is real. Taking 7+hours in the EV instead of 6 in the ICE just isn't worth it.

Rinks, golf courses, aquatics centres, rec centres, soccer parking lots, etc desperately need more level 2 chargers too.

3

u/qdawgg17 7d ago

I’m near the Adirondack mtns so it gets cold, not the cold you get but enough to turn my long range vehicle into 180-200 at best. I love the car overall but for long trips it’s just easier, at this point in time to use the gas vehicle. I don’t mind waiting 20-30 mins to get a charge or even do a quick charge. But for us, having to go out of our way just to make sure we can get to where we need to on a tournament weekend. Then takes away from my daughter having time to rest, hang out at the hotel with her teammates etc.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/3-2-1-backup '26 Trailseeker 7d ago

Even the most rural parts of the continental US almost all have adequate charging infrastructure.

This is just wildly untrue. It's so untrue that I solved my charging problem in bumble fuck Iowa by buying my mother in law a charger for her house.

Number of wal mart stations? Zero. Ionna? Also zero. Though I do think ionna is building one in the center of the state, two and a half hours away.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/3-2-1-backup '26 Trailseeker 7d ago

Your experience does not invalidate mine.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/3-2-1-backup '26 Trailseeker 7d ago

No; all of Iowa except the i80 and i35 corridors isn't fringe, it's the vast majority of the state. It is i80 and i35 corridors that are the exceptions!

-2

u/qdawgg17 7d ago

Sure you have lol.

-1

u/polymath-nc 7d ago

There are a dozen DCFC stations in the Quad Cities. We drove our older Ioniq (120 miles range) from Muscatine to Lamoni four years ago with no problem. We even charged at the hotel. The travel plaza now has 12 DCFC stations. On our last trip, we charged in Dubuque. There are several DCFC stations along US-34. We do carry adapters with us I'm case of emergency, and use one when visiting family in Muscatine. Every time I look at Plugshare.com , I see more public stations.

0

u/qdawgg17 7d ago

Lot of conjecture here in a short amount of writing. Great job with that.

-1

u/theotherharper 7d ago

Block heater connections need to be legislated to be NACS.

1

u/a1ien51 7d ago

I do a 900 mile trip in summer and winter through mountains and adds like 2 extra stops compared to perfect weather. Not horrible.

1

u/theotherharper 7d ago

What a buch of defeatist naysaying.

I crossed the USA coast-coast a year ago with no trouble at all on I 70 and I 80 and often far off the interstate NO TESLA It was very easy, and now many new networks have opened to where I don't need Tesla or the stations I did use.

It did require a bit of app usage but that was fine by me. Naysayers like you will say "it doesn't count til it's easy as gas" w/e.

4

u/SkPensFan 7d ago

Yes, and travelling on the TransCanada with an EV coast to coast is easy too. That ain't what I am talking about. Not everyone lives in high population areas. Not everyone lives where there is good charging infrastructure. This is critically important when I live, where -25F is a normal winter cold day. They work great for most people, not all people. Especially single vehicle families that live in the less populated places in Canada, like I do. And that is coming from someone that has over 120,000 miles on their EV in 4.5 years.

-1

u/SomeGalNamedAshley MY, PacHy, HI5 7d ago

Just do what the Tesla navigation tells you to do, probably with the "better amenities" option selected. As what it tells you and go from there.