MW 8 important facts you should know about taking a road trip in an electric car
By Sean Tucker
You need backup plans, and lots of apps
Recently, I traveled about 650 miles in an EV with a battery that held about 230 miles of range. It was ... educational.
I learned America's infrastructure is not ready for this to occur regularly, particularly for heavy-traffic events.
I also learned the status quo is not that bad.
Many of the problems I encountered were simple matters of education. With more experience, most drivers could make this trip in an EV without many headaches. They'd need some patience. Still, the trip was manageable.
About this trip
You probably heard about the April 2024 total lunar eclipse. Having reached middle age, I have a group of friends who have scattered around the country following jobs and kids and whims. Once a year, we reconnect. We rent an Airbnb $(ABNB)$ together somewhere in the middle to compare notes and collect love. The eclipse was our 2024 excuse.
As an automotive journalist, I test a few dozen cars every year. I wanted to take this trip in an electric vehicle to test the state of America's charging infrastructure. Audi was kind enough to loan me a lovely Q8 e-tron Sportback for the journey. Audi claims a range of up to 296 miles between charges for this car, but I routinely charged the battery to 100% capacity and found the vehicle reported its maximum range in the low 230s.
More: The revised, renewed and renamed 2024 Audi Q8 e-tron has longer range and better driving dynamics
I drove from my home near Washington, D.C., to a rental house on a lake in rural Ohio for two minutes of a total eclipse and four days of cooking and catching up with dear friends.
The car did an excellent job. The charging network? The trip exposed just how much work that system still needs.
The trip would have been smoother on a lower-traffic day. Hundreds of thousands of Americans had similar ideas and headed into the path of totality for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That left me on some very crowded roads.
But that, in itself, was educational. I learned a few things driving an EV well beyond its range.
1. Traffic jams barely use up juice
A gas-powered car, to run its air conditioner, radio, and massaging seats (we're in a top-of-the-line Audi, remember), must run its engine. Sitting still burns a lot of gas.
An EV can run just those things. Yes, traffic jams are frustrating. But on the way up, we were stuck in about 24 miles worth of traffic jams, moving 10 mph or less, during which time the tiller on the range reflected almost no change. Crawling along at slow speeds uses virtually no battery.
This quality comes in particularly handy for those stuck in heavy winter traffic. An EV can stay heated for a much lower energy penalty than a gas-powered car, which must run its engine to power its heater. Drivers stuck in dangerous winter weather in an EV have fewer worries than those slowly running out of gas.
Read: The 10 greenest cars of the year: No. 1 is not an EV
2. You make up range going downhill
Through a long stretch of Appalachian foothills on the way to Ohio, I watched the range fall from 231 miles to 227 miles going uphill, then recharge to about 231 on the way down.
On the way home, at one point, mainly traveling down toward the Eastern seaboard, I watched the range gain 70 miles while I traveled more than 40.
Regenerative braking recharges the battery. Long stretches of coasting and braking extended my charge.
Also on MarketWatch: Global emissions rose last year, but EVs are making a dent, IEA report finds
3. Chargers at choke points will be overwhelmed
I-70 meets the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Breezewood, Penn., one of the few gaps in the interstate highway system. Travelers must use a small stretch of surface roads to switch highways. Commerce has turned that stretch of road into a logistics hub for drivers - nothing but gas stations, fast food restaurants, and truck stops.
There are 20 Tesla $(TSLA)$ fast chargers and six non-Tesla fast chargers in Breezewood. Before long, those Telsa chargers will be open to anyone, but on the day of my trip, they were closed to Audi owners. I didn't have an adapter, even if they weren't. I would have needed one of the smaller bank of six.
Don't miss: The cars that are most American-made: Tesla tops list again
With eclipse traffic filling the highways, every charger was full, and a line of 24 electric cars sat waiting for one of those six fast chargers to open. If each one took an hour to fill, the vehicle at the end of the line would be waiting at least seven hours to get back on the road.
Thanks to half-decent route planning, I entered Breezewood with enough charge left to get to Bedford 17 miles further along, or Somerset, 56 miles down the road. Fast chargers in both towns sat empty while drivers waited all day in Breezewood. I recharged in Somerset with no wait. The charging process still took long enough to require an extended lunch stop. But I had no trouble finding open chargers less than an hour down the road from those stuck waiting all day for a chance to plug in.
This situation is a minor problem when you have all day and night to get a few hours away. But I wouldn't want to flee a hurricane in an EV, stuck waiting hours to recharge.
4. Route planning tools are everything
What kept me from stopping in Breezewood? A route planning app called "Plugshare." Plugshare gives directions like Google $(GOOGL)$ Maps or Waze. But it also plots time and distance to chargers along your route, distinguishes fast chargers from slower Level 2 chargers, and even tracks which chargers are currently in use.
It's not the only tool of its kind, and I'm not endorsing any one route planning tool. But a good EV route planner is essential. Without it, I might have needed to queue up in position 25 and lose the day.
Instead, I reached an empty charger on my route with plenty of range to spare.
5. You need a backup plan for your backup plan
The night before our return trip, I decided to drive to the nearest fast charger to let me leave with a full battery. Plugshare assured me there were two six miles away, and both were open.
The app couldn't tell I was one of at least three drivers headed toward those two chargers that morning.
As I approached the first, a Ford $(F)$ F-150 Lightning pulled in ahead of me and plugged in. The truck would likely keep that one occupied for an hour or more.
Luckily, I got to the second quickly and plugged in.
But, as I charged, I watched a Hyundai Kona Electric pass slowly by the Lightning and then slowly by me, hunting for an opening. The nearest open charger, the app told me, was another 23 miles away in Canton. That driver would have to wait for one of us or drive another half hour in hopes of finding an open slot.
An app can tell you that a charger is currently open. It can't tell you someone is about to plug into it.
6. Broken chargers are a critical problem
Just because a charger is on the map doesn't mean you can use it.
A recent JD Power analysis found that about a fifth of all public charging attempts fail thanks to broken chargers or faulty payment systems.
I ran into a broken charger on my trip. Thankfully, a nearby charger worked. But none of us are accustomed to worrying that the nearest gas station may not function. With EVs, you have to plan for it.
7. You'll sign up for So. Many. Apps.
A patchwork of many different companies operates America's charging network. To use each charger, you often need to sign up for the app that controls it.
I test a few electric cars every year near home. So, I left for the trip with two charging apps on my phone. They are enough to get me around my immediate area regularly.
I returned with six more. Whenever you pull up to a charger from a new operator, you must download a new app.
Most EVs on the market in 2024 have "plug and charge" capability with the major networks. My borrowed Audi would have let me pull up to any Electrify America station, plug in, and walk away to get coffee, confident that the charger would work correctly and charge my account.
But not an EVGo $(EVGO)$ station. Or a Shell (NL:SHELL) Recharge station. Or an EVConnect station. Or...
8. You can charge when you get there
Over the next few decades of your life, you'll watch America slowly switch from gasoline to electricity for its transportation needs. You'll also watch everyone make a mental shift.
You fill up your gas-powered car on the way to your destination. Apart from a few ranchers out West with diesel tanks, no one you know has a gas pump waiting for you at your destination.
Plus: The 2024 Volkswagen ID.4 review: This electric small SUV keeps getting better
But you fill up your battery when you get there. Apart from a few dedicated people living off the grid, everyone you know has a plug to spare.
A recent government study concluded that when America has a robust charging network supporting tens of millions of EVs, up to 96% may be in private homes and workplaces. An EV charging network that meets your needs won't be as visible as today's network of gas stations. It'll just be waiting for you when you get where you're going.
A cord that plugs into a standard 110-volt outlet will only add a few miles of charge overnight. But every EV comes with one. You can safely get where you're going with a relatively low charge, catch up with friends you haven't seen in a year or more, and worry about getting more in a day or two. Ask me how I know.
This story originally ran on KBB.com.
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April 24, 2024 05:03 ET (09:03 GMT)
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