Road trip with kids?

[duncan12]

We are an all-Ford electric family, with a Mach-e and a Lightning. We mostly do driving within an hour of our home and have home chargers. We were planning our first roadtrip from Northern Virginia to near Atlanta in a few weeks and I just discovered that the latest app version no longer has the trip planning feature (wtf) and I have tried both the PlugShare and ABRP apps and they both predict a pretty grim trip (what should take about 9 hours is forecast to take over 12 with charging stops). We also have kids—a 6yo and a 22mo—and I’m wondering whether anyone else is doing road trips in these cars with kids, because this sounds awful enough that I’m thinking renting a gas-powered car is our only option for this trip. Has anyone else had decent experiences roadtripping in the SE or should I be lowering my expectations of how this works with electric cars (and kids)?

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[RickMachE]

Since you say you used ABRP, it's pretty accurate. My rule of thumb is that EV charging adds roughly 20% in time to my trips, but I would drive a bit less than 9 hours a day.

Myself, when we had kids, I would drive like a maniac, focused on the end goal - getting there with my sanity. A 12 hour trip would have the last 2 hours focused on "I can make it, I can make it."

I would never do a trip that long with little kids in an EV. And we have driven to 25 states and trips of 4,700 and 5,300 miles with our EVs. With little kids? Shoot me now.

That said, when I plug in a trip from Washington, DC to Atlanta, leaving with 100%, it has me stopping to charge 3 times. Total of 1:18 in charging time. That will turn into 1:45 or more with navigating to chargers, but it is 10 hours of driving and 11.5 hours total.

 

[music_cities]

It's been a long time since I've had kids that young, but just yesterday hiking with my adult kids we were reminiscing about a hike when the youngest was almost three years old and we had to stop for a bit because he had discovered dust on the trail. "Look, Dad! Dust!!!". A few years later we spent quite a bit of time on the Great Wall Of China looking at all the amazing bugs on the great wall. The playgrounds in the small towns of Java, Indonesia are really great places to see how locals actually play in Indonesia, but they take time to see. And stopping for gelato frequently in Rome is really the best way to see Rome, especially if you can also dip your hands in a fountain with a Bernini sculpture.

My advice is to slow down, and try to find charging stations that might have bugs, playgrounds, dust, water features, or ice cream. When your kids are teenagers they might be less entertained by the random delights of the world that might appear at charging stations, so enjoy it while you can. Does plugshare have a filter for playgrounds?

Or rent an ICE car and give'er.

 

[music_cities]

Also check if there is a hotel along the way with an EV charger in their parkade and a water slide feature.

 

[duncan12]

Since you say you used ABRP, it's pretty accurate. My rule of thumb is that EV charging adds roughly 20% in time to my trips, but I would drive a bit less than 9 hours a day.

Myself, when we had kids, I would drive like a maniac, focused on the end goal - getting there with my sanity. A 12 hour trip would have the last 2 hours focused on "I can make it, I can make it."

I would never do a trip that long with little kids in an EV. And we have driven to 25 states and trips of 4,700 and 5,300 miles with our EVs. With little kids? Shoot me now.

That said, when I plug in a trip from Washington, DC to Atlanta, leaving with 100%, it has me stopping to charge 3 times. Total of 1:18 in charging time. That will turn into 1:45 or more with navigating to chargers, but it is 10 hours of driving and 11.5 hours total.

? this is sort of what we’ve been thinking

 

[duncan12]

Also check if there is a hotel along the way with an EV charger in their parkade and a water slide feature.

Based on my search, the chargers on our route do not seem optimally placed and the ones near the hotels I was considering did not get great reviews/had issues (which is why I was wondering if the charging situation is particularly bad in the SE). Although I am all for slowing down with kids at times, this is ultimately a pretty quick trip for us so it may just not be the right choice for this trip. Sounds like your family has had some amazing experiences though!

 

[kdonnel]

A two DCFC stop trip is the most I like to take before I start looking at flying.

If I could not fly, I would probably have to split a 12 hour trip over two days whether it was in an EV or ICE.

 

[RickMachE]

Based on my search, the chargers on our route do not seem optimally placed and the ones near the hotels I was considering did not get great reviews/had issues (which is why I was wondering if the charging situation is particularly bad in the SE). Although I am all for slowing down with kids at times, this is ultimately a pretty quick trip for us so it may just not be the right choice for this trip. Sounds like your family has had some amazing experiences though!

I think you're not using ABRP correctly then.

Leave with 100%, stop at EA in Henderson, charge from 18% to 83%. Stop at Tesla in Gastonia, charge from 10 to 67% (I would go to 80%). Stop at Tesla in Commerce, GA and charge from 10 to 47%. Arrive with 20%.

If you don't have a Tesla adapter, ABRP tells you to charge in Henderson, then Greensboro and Greenville. No issue at all.

 

[kltye]

I find trip planning apps can be overly conservative with charging stops/times. Having said that, I'd also spend the money on the A2Z or Lectron J3400 to CCS adapter to get access to Tesla Superchargers. That money is probably what you'll spend on a rental, plus you actually have something to show for it.

Are your kids good with sitting in the car for 4+ hours straight without breaks? (as the case would be in an ICE) Just wondering, because I don't have kids and have no idea ?.

 

[ebeponyan]

Having done a couple of 2000mi+ road trips now with a toddler, just embrace the charging as a natural way to break up the trip and let the kids run around. And as others have said, take advantage of overnight charging where possible.

 

[MacherAWD]

Are your kids good with sitting in the car for 4+ hours straight without breaks? (as the case would be in an ICE) Just wondering, because I don't have kids and have no idea

We dont let our kids use any screens for a trip under 2.5 hours (90% of our roadtrips). Then on longer we give them tablets and a hotspot, they can go for hours on end!

 

[Mach-Lee]

Yeah that would be a long day with kids, split it up into two days with a hotel night.

 

[music_cities]

Based on my search, the chargers on our route do not seem optimally placed and the ones near the hotels I was considering did not get great reviews/had issues (which is why I was wondering if the charging situation is particularly bad in the SE). Although I am all for slowing down with kids at times, this is ultimately a pretty quick trip for us so it may just not be the right choice for this trip. Sounds like your family has had some amazing experiences though!

When I bought my Mustang I thought "I can always rent an ICE car if I don't want to wait to charge". In fact over the decades as our owned cars got old, we'd often rent cars for trips just to get a newer and usually bigger car than the one we owned. Or we'd just fly lol.

But, so far with the EV, I've been able to make all my charging stops relatively enjoyable, either by eating a good meal, or doing some shopping, catching up on email, going for a short walk, taking a Polaroid photo, or watching a TV show.

 

[phidauex]

Another vote for "just slow down and enjoy the trip". When travelling with our toddler I wouldn't try to do giant days regardless of the vehicle, and honestly in most real world cases the need to stop for potty and snacks happens as often as charge stops, and my charge is usually above my target % by the time everyone is done with those things anyway. Basically, the charge stop isn't actually slowing things down more than just the sanity stops we'd need either way.

I do recommend bringing a small travel potty if your 22mo is starting to use it, that helps with charge stops that don't have an easy bathroom nearby. Also, have a few outdoor toys to play with so they can squirt water or wave ribbons around in a grassy spot while charging - that will let them burn off some energy, and make it more likely that they will sleep between charges. Helps you too - I find I'm a lot less stiff and irritable after long drives in the MachE than in previous cars, partly due to the lower noise, and partly due to the enforced walking/stretching breaks.

 

[CarsIMBwife]

I do recommend bringing a small travel potty if your 22mo is starting to use it, that helps with charge stops that don't have an easy bathroom nearby.

A friend mentioned a hack for the potty. Bring some large/adult diapers to line the inside of the potty. Makes for easier cleanup on the road. I personally haven’t tried it yet, my granddaughter isn’t quite there.

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