Jim GarrettI keep hearing about people who are positively disposed to EV's, except that they think road trips are difficult. I find this troubling because I enjoy EV road trips tremendously. I like driving anyway, but watching the forest roll by while driving in a quiet vehicle is a dream. EV's pull up hills easily and quietly, and recover that energy going downhill, maintaining as much efficiency in hilly terrain as on a level surface.
Last weekend we drove to visit our second offspring, and achieved remarkable range for this car, owing to mild weather and modest speed. We drove from Northampton, western Massachusetts, to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn to visit our second offspring, a 1-way distance of 162 miles. We drove a VW ID.4 with adaptive cruise control (only slightly autonomous, in that it slows down behind other cars).
We live in an apartment and have to walk half a mile to a level-2 charger normally. We had errands to run before the trip so I plugged in and set the car to 100%, to give us the maximum time before having to unplug (we pay a penalty when the car is plugged in but not charging), and we ran our errands in our second car. We finished our errands and returned to find the car had reached 98%. Then we set off for NYC.
I had noted the locations of the service plazas in Connecticut that have chargers, along I-95 and state highway 15 (which runs through the interior, a hilly and lush forested drive). These plazas use the AppleGreen charging network, same as the New Jersey turnpike, and their rates are reasonable (for the area) if you use the app.
The weather was pleasant and I generally drive five miles over the speed limit, which means 55, 60, or 65 mph, depending on location. 65 is a good compromise between speed and efficiency, and slower speed brings greater range. We also had some slow traffic, which EV's handle extremely efficiently (no idling).
We made it to the last service plaza on I-95 before NYC, thus the last AppleGreen, with about 50%, in Darien, CT. We needed dinner so again I set the car to 100% (rather than the typical community-respecting 80%) to give us a bit more time.
Yes, that's a fact–sometimes it's a problem that the car reaches 80% before you're ready for it.
I bought a quick sandwich and wolfed it down, then went to check whether anyone was waiting on a charger; they weren't, and the car reached about 95% by the time my wife finished her sandwich and joined me. So the theme of the trip was inadvertently getting more charge than we planned on.
We drove to Port Chester just across the NY state line and stayed overnight. The next morning we drove to NYC, then drove to IKEA and Home Depot with our offspring for apartment storage stuff, about an hour of slow driving. In the evening we drove back to Port Chester, and then in the morning headed home.
I had planned a charging stop on the way home but it appeared that we had the range to make it all the way, and indeed we did, arriving with 18% remaining and the car giving us stern warnings.
In summary, from the Connecticut charging stop we drove an hour into NYC, drove around town for about an hour, drove an hour back to the overnight location, then about 2.5 hours, all on one charge.
Had we needed a charge, there were many stops available.
EV road trips are marvellous. Some planning is needed. Initiating charging sessions is sometimes annoying. But overall, a joy. Don't worry about EV road trips!
In a gas car I would have found this trip crummy, stressful (due to traffic) and oppressive. Your taste may differ, of course.
Steve
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