You can't road-trip in an EV...hold my beer

[Mirak]

So, you’re convinced that road-tripping sucks in electric cars ( and apparently trying to convince those that enjoy their roadtrips that they are horribly mistaken), yet you still drive one, even though, from a previous post, you road trip quite often and suffer through it. Should I even ask the question?

Sure, you can ask the question. But I'll go ahead and answer it for you: I dropped 50 grand on a car. A car that I love in many respects. I'm not about to trade out of that car and take the massive depreciation hit. I could purchase, register, and insure a backup ICE, but that seems a bit wasteful, both financially and in environmental terms if one cares about such things.

So, I do the best I can on sporadic road trips. And if the road trip is particularly long, I rent.

Here's what I don't do... I don't blithely pretend that road tripping in an EV is as easy or convenient as in an ICE.

Hope that helps, Mike in Tampa!

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[Mirak]

Based on what progress I saw across the country in the past 20 months, I'll give it 3 - 5 years.

I hope you're right! But to me, this isn't just about DCFC reliability and availability - it's also about a car's range and charging speed. It's gonna take a better battery tech to really make EVs palatable for mass adoption.

 

[Mirak]

Sure. But that's why I don't tell people it's convenient. It isn't, for most people. But it is absolutely possible, and possible enough that some of us do it regularly. It can even be more enjoyable for people whose brains are wacky and wired like mine. ? And I hope that we crazy EV road trippers will help prove the demand for better infrastructure and more capable road tripping cars, so that eventually, it will be more feasible for the masses.

Quoted for truth!

 

[Tampamike]

Sure, you can ask the question. But I'll go ahead and answer it for you: I dropped 50 grand on a car. A car that I love in many respects. I'm not about to trade out of that car and take the massive depreciation hit. I could purchase, register, and insure a backup ICE, but that seems a bit wasteful, both financially and in environmental terms if one cares about such things.

So, I do the best I can on sporadic road trips. And if the road trip is particularly long, I rent.

Here's what I don't do... I don't blithely pretend that road tripping in an EV is as easy or convenient as in an ICE.

Hope that helps, Mike in Tampa!

Fair enough, Mirak in Kansas. So, I guess it’s a love/hate relationship. Hope it improves for you. In the meantime, could you just accept that, for some contingent of us here on this forum, while not blithely pretending anything, we have adapted to the different EV road tripping environment and don’t hate it?

 

[Mirak]

Fair enough, Mirak in Kansas. So, I guess it’s a love/hate relationship. Hope it improves for you. In the meantime, could you just accept that, for some contingent of us here on this forum, while not blithely pretending anything, we have adapted to the different EV road tripping environment and don’t hate it?

Sure! Let’s set the bar for EV road tripping at “I don’t hate it.”

 

[mkhuffman]

Sure! Let’s set the bar for EV road tripping at “I don’t hate it.”

My wife hates it.

 

[Mach1E]

Sure! Let’s set the bar for EV road tripping at “I don’t hate it.”

Yeah, not sure why people are hell bent to convince others that our weaknesses are somehow strengths.

EVERY car is a compromise. But it doesn’t help to be dishonest about where the weaknesses are.

I get the feeling some people here are former Prius drivers that liked to post videos with titles such as-

How to go off-roading in your Prius.
How to tow a boat in your Prius
7 Passenger Prius? It’s possible!
The guide to jumping your Prius- Dukes of Hazard style!

 

[Tampamike]

Sure! Let’s set the bar for EV road tripping at “I don’t hate it.”

Ok, you’re firmly below that bar and I‘m well above it, but if it works for you, let’s set it there and move on.

 

[bbulkow]

750 road-trip in my 2022 MME 4X

I think there are two groups with very different (rarely stated) perspectives:

* I want a vehicle that is perfect *for me*. I will judge and choose based on the pure functionality, and I don't care about external factors like climate change or having something cool and new.

For these people, the sensible answer right now is still ICE. The features better about BEV are almost entirely also in plug-in hybrids. The cost of Gas is "reasonable" (same as electrons for fast charging), availability of gas is much higher. For those old people, remember before automated pumps, when you had to find a gas station at 1am that was still open? Public charging networks, and/or the installation of a home charger, is burdensome at best and impossible for many. BEV cars have more torque and are fun to drive and are quiet and have a lot of tech for the price ~ some of the few positives.

* I want a vehicle that takes into account the climate change threat, and provides a barrier against the likely increases or variation in fossil fuels prices, or is the "new coming thing".

For these people, if they can swing a home charger, and if they have a bit of extra scratch (less so now that prices have come down), they are willing to take *some* decrease in functionality to get the external benefits. Slower and more complicated road trips is *certainly* a downside, battery tech will have to improve 10x before it's as fast as a gas fill-up, or if gas gets scarce.

I'm certainly a "neophile", attracted to new things. I only road trip for pleasure, the functional answer is always flying ~ I have one trip a year with a ton of gear and I still have an ICE in the driveway for that. Road trips even in an ICE vehicle is "the voyage is the pleasure", so having a road trip be slower is no problem. But that's just me, so I'm clearly a BEV owner, and here I am.

 

[ChehRob]

If that road trip is a vacation sort of thing, for the next couple of years plan your trips where good charging is available. That is my plan. My measuring tape for this is Joseph Oregon and Forks Washington. Forks has a Tesla Supercharger, but I don't know if accepts MMEs. Joseph - not finding any. So this year to friends in Payson Utah and stick mostly with freeways.

ps - a 50 amp Level 2 charger WITH reservations would work.

 

[Mach1E]

I think there are two groups with very different (rarely stated) perspectives:

* I want a vehicle that is perfect *for me*. I will judge and choose based on the pure functionality, and I don't care about external factors like climate change or having something cool and new.

For these people, the sensible answer right now is still ICE. The features better about BEV are almost entirely also in plug-in hybrids. The cost of Gas is "reasonable" (same as electrons for fast charging), availability of gas is much higher. For those old people, remember before automated pumps, when you had to find a gas station at 1am that was still open? Public charging networks, and/or the installation of a home charger, is burdensome at best and impossible for many. BEV cars have more torque and are fun to drive and are quiet and have a lot of tech for the price ~ some of the few positives.

* I want a vehicle that takes into account the climate change threat, and provides a barrier against the likely increases or variation in fossil fuels prices, or is the "new coming thing".

For these people, if they can swing a home charger, and if they have a bit of extra scratch (less so now that prices have come down), they are willing to take *some* decrease in functionality to get the external benefits. Slower and more complicated road trips is *certainly* a downside, battery tech will have to improve 10x before it's as fast as a gas fill-up, or if gas gets scarce.

I'm certainly a "neophile", attracted to new things. I only road trip for pleasure, the functional answer is always flying ~ I have one trip a year with a ton of gear and I still have an ICE in the driveway for that. Road trips even in an ICE vehicle is "the voyage is the pleasure", so having a road trip be slower is no problem. But that's just me, so I'm clearly a BEV owner, and here I am.

It’s a pretty weak sales pitch to buy a car based on climate change.

For one, the mining for battery resources isn’t great. https://earth.org/lithium-and-cobalt-mining/#:~:text=Though emissions deriving from mining,and potential for groundwater contamination.

If the #1 priority was climate change, people wouldn’t drive cars at all. They’d take a bicycle or walk.

Your other definition “* I want a vehicle that is perfect *for me*.” Is for everyone.

People just throw in the environmental impact argument to make themselves feel better. When it comes to environmental impact, sure BEVs are better than ICE, but carpooling is better than that. So is public transportation. Then so is biking or walking.

It’s also most likely better to NOT buy a new car and keep your old one. The manufacturing of a car is a huge impact by itself.

In the end, buy what’s best for you. If you’re happy with the environmental impact of that vehicle, it’s just a bonus. ?

 

[Hammered]

It’s a pretty weak sales pitch to buy a car based on climate change.

Doing anything based on the AGW carbon narrative is a waste (outside of using it to sucker all sorts of $$ from fools willing to burn it for it). I'd prefer CO2 levels to be around 700ppm due to all of the benefits. Unfortunately we're still in an interglacial period and not even that trace amount would yield a statistically relevant means in preventing the next ice age ---it wouldn't increase atmospheric heat retention but around 3 watts per square meter. So by all means profit away, but certainly don't waste a penny chasing the foolish climate narrative. No amount of species level narcissism will prevent cyclical climate trends doing what they do.

 

[BamaGene]

”It’s a pretty weak sales pitch to buy a car based on climate change.”

Not sure about the rest of you but wrt my M3P, I’m just here for the torque! ?

 

[mkhuffman]

”It’s a pretty weak sales pitch to buy a car based on climate change.”

Not sure about the rest of you but wrt my M3P, I’m just here for the torque! ?

Me too. Zero to sixty, baby! And smashing the go-pedal in the curves? So, so much fun.

And then I can refuel at home.

 

[RandyMache]

If you want proof of how much more ridiculously complicated and burdensome it is to take a long road trip with an EV than an ICE... look no further than all the videos proclaiming that it's no big deal.

You don't see ICE drivers posting videos on this topic, because no ICE driver ever even thinks about this stuff.

I take a different approach. Just about the only thing EV owners are concerned about is DCFC. However, ICE owners have to worry about bad gas, fan belts / electric fans, fuel injectors, radiators, transmissions, axles, spark plugs, fuel filters, getting robbed or scammed at gas stations, fuel tank leaks, ........ I could go on and on.

We are on an EV forum, go on an ICE vehicle forum and see how many complaints and issues they have. Out of the millions of EV's sold, only a handful come on these forums and complain. I'm at 10,000 miles with my first EV, including a 3,200 mile round trip from San Diego to Whitefish Montana and have had no issues worth mentioning. My last ICE vehicle had transmission issues after 3,000 miles. Let us not judge.

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