No More Road Trips

[Mandretti]

Welcome to the dark side. I gave up before I even started - have never once charged on the road. I agree that the electric car is great around town. Road trips are why God gave us gasoline.
[/QUOTE

Should the government also stop providing funds for mass transit?

No.

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[rhougey]

True that! Having to stop every 150-180 miles is kind of bizarre.

Absolutely!
My road trips are usually right around 1000 miles in 15 hours each day. I just don’t have any desire to sit around anywhere when I have somewhere else I want to be. EV’s are fine under 300 miles with free charging at either end of the trip.

 

[Sikkun]

... except that Tesla chargers are never broken... not a nightmare.

Never…I’ve seen the SuperCharger next to Atlanta airport be half down more than once…..it’s not like searching the Tesla app and finding stalls down is impossible. Like this one.

 

[SonicBlue]

I think most people have no idea how glacially things move when it comes to government funding, especially when spread out over 50 states, and billions of dollars are up for grabs. Coupled with watchdogs who are scrutinizing every penny being spent.

You’re providing an explanation. And I doubt there are many people who are terribly surprised that the government is not built for speed or efficiency.

But there is a world of difference between an explanation and a justification. There is no justifying this.

In fact, you really couldn’t ask for a better example of bureaucratic waste and malaise than comparing NEVI to the Tesla Supercharger network.

Or, how about NASA versus SpaceX?

I’m well aware that Musk’s “private” ventures are publicly subsidized, but that’s a far better model than the top-down NEVI crap show.

 

[rpr]

After 3.5 years of ownership I’ve finally tossed in the towel with lengthy road trips. The poor mileage under freeway conditions, unpredictable charging infrastructure, wait lines for charging, and the Walmart parking lot ambiance makes for a longer and unpleasant experience. My wife has been putting up with this up to now, but has finally put her foot down. Not doing it ever again.

This is for trips 300 miles or more. Great car for around town and shorter trips.

I think a lot of this is very location dependent. I'm in Southern Oregon, and have not had major issues with charger access on road trips. And I have not yet used my NACS adapter, which should improve things in a pinch.

However, I have NOT yet taken a trip through far Northern Oregon. It would be useful if you could provide folks more info about WHERE you've experienced the big delays that have soured your experience. Portland area, or Seattle area, perhaps?

I'll note one learning experience I had. I stopped at the Vacaville, CA EA station around 10pm on weeknight. No reason to expect it to be busy. One charger was down, the other seven were occupied (not bad at all for EA!), but thankfully somebody pulled out just as I was going to give up. As I charged, I walked around and observed: three of the stations were occupied by ID4s, one was at ~85% and another over 90% charge. A little further observing found that nearly every vehicle was occupied by someone just sitting in the drivers seat, and some appeared to be rideshares (Uber, Lyft, etc.). I've seen other posts about this, I think what you have in and on the fringes of some major metro areas is an unhealthy combo of ID4 owners getting every electron they think they deserve, and rideshare drivers camping out while awaiting their next ping (many are both, of course). I now plan my trips to avoid stations like that.

 

[dbsb3233]

There is no one-size-fits-all. Some people love EV road-tripping, some hate it. Some people are in a hurry where every hour matters, some like a leisurely pace. Some road trip in areas of the country with good DCFC coverage, some in bad. Some need to travel at peak times (holidays/weekends), some not.

Personally, we love it. We've done 50,000 road trip miles in ours, thru 39 states. We like the 2 hour drive+30 minute charge stop pattern, now that we're used to it. Wasn't sure we would before getting the MME, but we do. Adds at least an hour to the drive day though. We're retired so works for us, but it's not for everyone.

But we also have a Bronco Sport for those trips that have bad DCFC coverage. 90% of our road trips take the MME tho. Including our 6300 mile trip last Spring CO-NC-MA-MI.

 

[Womps]

I personally know 2 Tesla owners who take an adapter with them so they can charge at non Tesla stations. Not saying they need to but the option is now there. It’s quite frequent to see a Tesla at the chargers at our local Ford dealership. I guess it goes both ways. I know here in Alberta Tesla charges considerably more for electricity than many other charging companies.

 

[AliRafiee]

Yeah dude, dwell times are longer than you think they are. 15-20 mins is normal. In fact, it's so normal that entire business empires have been built around that amount of time to stop and refuel.

I guess I’ve been lucky the past few years. There were a couple time that I got there and they were full, but there was another one down the road towards my destination.

 

[Scarpia]

The short cords aren’t an issue. I had no problem getting close of them

I have pulled up to stations I could not charge because there were not 2 open spots to take.

Everyone has a different threshold, I guess, but taking up two spots or having to park sideways fits my definition of a "problem".

 

[n2585722]

Everyone has a different threshold, I guess, but taking up two spots or having to park sideways fits my definition of a "problem".

Just make sure well over half of them are empty and there should not be an issue. Right now the one by us is 7 open out of 12 so I am not sure I would go there or I would have a backup to go to. If you have the ones planned for a trip just check how busy they are at the time of day you would expect to use in on the same day of the week for a few weeks to get an idea how busy they are normally at that time. i have only used the one near me once and that was just checking out the adapter. So even if someone were needing the charger I was using I could have stopped it and left but there were only like 4 other cars there. I had that happen at a EA charger but even then I was just checking it out so I unhooked and let them have the spot.

 

[iam-s-Hon]

I would tend to disagree with OP. Does it take a little longer, Yes. But really it's negligable to me and my situation. If I am on my own, there is no big deal. The question comes with the Family. Well hell, usually the wife can't make it 3 hours striaight regardless if it is ICE or EV; so, we are stopping either way. With a little pre-planning (that I think I enjoy; reminds me of the old AAA map days) for chargers that are solid and have some amenities (food and restrooms) it is almost a wash.

OP, it you get in the mindset you don't have to charge much past your next stop; I bet it really won't cost you much time. I believe some of the issue is people are in a GAS mindset. They're are going to "Fill Up", even though their destination may have a charging station close or on property and you only need 40% charge to get there.

Just MO!!

Charge stops must be multifunction/multi-infrastructure. I may be able to skip a restroom every other stop. But not the one who occupies the navigator's seat, who's often sleeping a lot of the time anyway.

 

[Billyk24]

True that! Having to stop every 150-180 miles is kind of bizarre.

In the past several years, I have made 800 mile trips with my dog and sometimes towing a small trailer. Usually make a point of stopping every 2 hours or so for a break/food/drink/fuel and dog walk. This trip may involve 250 miles of two lane highway thru multiple small towns. A long day but no way could I drive 4 hours non-stop.

 

[n2585722]

In the past several years, I have made 800 mile trips with my dog and sometimes towing a small trailer. Usually make a point of stopping every 2 hours or so for a break/food/drink/fuel and dog walk. This trip may involve 250 miles of two lane highway thru multiple small towns. A long day but no way could I drive 4 hours non-stop.

We used to take a trip once a year that was 417 miles and we made three stops along the way one of the stops was just across the street from the hotel we would stay at but I guess you would still consider it a stop. Those were not all for gas. So I figure if we start doing it again we would still be doing the same amount of stops but in different locations. One of the stops was at Buc-ee's so was probably longer than what it would take to charge the car and the one we used to stop at has both types of chargers. I heard another Buc-ee's is getting chargers put in that is also along the way. So I think the Mach E would work for that trip without any issues. It would be in July so cold temp would not be an issue.

 

[Sikkun]

Everyone has a different threshold, I guess, but taking up two spots or having to park sideways fits my definition of a "problem".

I deff agree not being able to charge because you can’t take two spots is a problem.

 

[kkgg]

Yeah, no road trips in a ev. You can not practically plan for the unknowns.
EV's(non Tesla) are good for round town and commuting (not sure about Tesla).

Add in cold weather, and it becomes embarrassing.

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