No More Road Trips

[dbsb3233]

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.

And of course there's sometimes an opportunity to grab one that doesn't require 2 spots, First choice is the one on the far right if there's enough space to park just right of it. Or if the left end is an open lot, nose in sideways. And some have at least one charger that stick out along side the spot.

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[dbsb3233]

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.

We road trip ours between Denver and Vegas every 7-8 weeks, even in the winter, in 10F-30F temps thru the CO mountains. There's certainly some range loss when it's that cold, but at most I need to add one extra charge stop (ER battery). Usually not even that because I'm fairly conservative with my drive plan anyway (typically living in the 20-80% area of the battery).

Below zero (F) temps would probably be a lot worse though. Coldest I've put mine through is single digits.

 

[shutterbug]

Should the government also stop providing funds for mass transit?

Yes, when an average bus has 0-5 passengers, as is the case where I live.

 

[AliRafiee]

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.

Not sure why you think Teslas would be different? There are probably more DCFC plugs than Tesla supercharger plugs in the US.

 

[Sikkun]

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.

And yet somehow I’ve traveled half the country in an EV with 0 issues and minimal time increase over taking my other vehicle.

But I guess it’s impossible to plan or do.

 

[kkgg]

Not sure why you think Teslas would be different? There are probably more DCFC plugs than Tesla supercharger plugs in the US.

Mach E range beats Tesla Y, but reliable charging network is not Mach E strong suite

 

[Mandretti]

Bizarre? More like smart. Reduces driver fatigue. Allows for bio-breaks, including eating. My days of doing 6 straight hours are long behind me. I get the urge to get to your destination as quickly as possible, I really do. I do an 800+ mile roundtrip road trip every weekend in the spring. And we're usually extremely tired on Sunday night coming home. Stopping every 2 hours has been a life safer for us.

Not having a choice about when you want to stop, with 150-180 being the furthest one should go, is bizarre in comparison to what’s out there now. My friends pickup truck can go 500 miles on a tank. Even more frustrating than the frequency of stops required is having to deal with the charging issues once stopped. If we owned a gun, my wife would have shot up half the chargers on I-5 by now.

150-180 miles is 2 hours of freeway driving . We don’t need to stop every two hours to stretch our legs or use the restrooms. When we stop with an ICE we can get gas for 400 miles of travel, stretch legs, use restrooms and be on our way in 5-10 minutes - not the 20-30 (or often more) minutes with the EV. After 3 and a half years of this I’m done.

As numerous people have pointed out the Tesla adapter could be a game changer for the charging aggravation part of it anyway. Once the adapter arrives I’ll do a solo test road trip.

We both love driving the car, just not for these multi-charge road trips.

 

[RickMachE]

We road trip ours between Denver and Vegas every 7-8 weeks, even in the winter, in 10F-30F temps thru the CO mountains. There's certainly some range loss when it's that cold, but at most I need to add one extra charge stop (ER battery). Usually not even that because I'm fairly conservative with my drive plan anyway (typically living in the 20-80% area of the battery).

Below zero (F) temps would probably be a lot worse though. Coldest I've put mine through is single digits.

Stop posting facts, it destroys the narrative.

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.

Likely to save money. Some places Tesla is much more expensive.

And yet somehow I’ve traveled half the country in an EV with 0 issues and minimal time increase over taking my other vehicle.

But I guess it’s impossible to plan or do.

Moderators, please delete this factual post.

 

[AhardFSU]

To

Mach E range beats Tesla Y, but reliable charging network is not Mach E strong suite

What are you even talking about? Do you have the NACS adapter? I do. You can actually stop of a bunch of Tesla superchargers with the adapter if you have a Mach E or other EV like a Rivian. Imagine that!

And EA had gotten more reliable. Took a 500 mile roadtrip last April and only used EA and FPL charging stations. Great trip and a peaceful drive. I’ll be doing the same trip this coming April and i now have my adapter. So more options for me on the roadtrip.

 

[AhardFSU]

My friends pickup truck can go 500 miles on a tank.

You can get a Lucid or the Mercedes EQS if want to do that in an EV. Not sure how many people can drive 500 miles before needing a bio break, but go for it if that’s what you want. There are options.

 

[doogie63]

I don't see an advantage taken EV on long trips. With the lower mileage and the price of charging from home it cost about the same as an ICE car. Say gas is 3.00 gallon, my ICE get 30 mpg. Charging on the road say average is .45. so 3.00 divided by .45 is 6.7. so then take 6.7 X 3 mpk which is high more like 2.5. but at 3 would be 20 miles for the same price for my 30 mpg. Plus I can stop anywhere when I want. I don't have to wait in line or to charge. Don't have to get off hwy to find a charger. Around town I save a lot with EV charging at home. I pay .09 a kwh. Big savings around town. On a trip not so much.

 

[EEcav]

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've only had a few weird issues on long trips, but now that we can use Tesla chargers and I've received the adapter, I've actually been optimistic about all the extra options I'll have on my next road trip.

 

[2FlyMache]

I don't see an advantage taken EV on long trips. With the lower mileage and the price of charging from home it cost about the same as an ICE car. Say gas is 3.00 gallon, my ICE get 30 mpg. Charging on the road say average is .45. so 3.00 divided by .45 is 6.7. so then take 6.7 X 3 mpk which is high more like 2.5. but at 3 would be 20 miles for the same price for my 30 mpg. Plus I can stop anywhere when I want. I don't have to wait in line or to charge. Don't have to get off hwy to find a charger. Around town I save a lot with EV charging at home. I pay .09 a kwh. Big savings around town. On a trip not so much.

I will use recent real world experience. I just did a 600 mile round trip which cost me $25 total at charger. That would be $60 for your ice example. I did take advantage of hotel charging but even if i didn’t it would at most add another $15 to my cost so $40.

 

[n2585722]

Not having a choice about when you want to stop, with 150-180 being the furthest one should go, is bizarre in comparison to what’s out there now. My friends pickup truck can go 500 miles on a tank. Even more frustrating than the frequency of stops required is having to deal with the charging issues once stopped. If we owned a gun, my wife would have shot up half the chargers on I-5 by now.

150-180 miles is 2 hours of freeway driving . We don’t need to stop every two hours to stretch our legs or use the restrooms. When we stop with an ICE we can get gas for 400 miles of travel, stretch legs, use restrooms and be on our way in 5-10 minutes - not the 20-30 (or often more) minutes with the EV. After 3 and a half years of this I’m done.

As numerous people have pointed out the Tesla adapter could be a game changer for the charging aggravation part of it anyway. Once the adapter arrives I’ll do a solo test road trip.

We both love driving the car, just not for these multi-charge road trips.

She defiantly would not have been happy in one of my first cars then. It would only get about 10-12 miles per gallon and had 15 gallon gas tank. You would want to stop at a 1/4 tank but that was still a lot of stops on a trip. Of coarse that was not uncommon then and there were gas stations everywhere.

 

[dbsb3233]

I don't see an advantage taken EV on long trips. With the lower mileage and the price of charging from home it cost about the same as an ICE car. Say gas is 3.00 gallon, my ICE get 30 mpg. Charging on the road say average is .45. so 3.00 divided by .45 is 6.7. so then take 6.7 X 3 mpk which is high more like 2.5. but at 3 would be 20 miles for the same price for my 30 mpg. Plus I can stop anywhere when I want. I don't have to wait in line or to charge. Don't have to get off hwy to find a charger. Around town I save a lot with EV charging at home. I pay .09 a kwh. Big savings around town. On a trip not so much.

You're right that the price per mile for gas and DCFC is roughly the same (for comparable size vehicles). Although when you factor in some free or cheap L2 charging, the EV often comes out cheaper. A typical full drive day for us is around 500 miles, usually starting from 100% from a home or hotel charge. That covers around 200 road trip miles at highway speed, so roughly 40% of it. We don't *always* find hotel charging, but with the help of Plugshare, we often do.

The other advantages that make me prefer to take the MME over our Bronco Sport are the super quiet cabin and all the extra tech features, and of course the extra/instant power. We love the Bronco Sport too but there's pros and cons to each. If we need to squeeze an extra 1-2 hours out of the drive day, or it's a poorly covered route for DCFC, we'll take the ICE. But usually we take the MME.

EV road tripping isn't for everyone though. There is no right or wrong either way.

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