Some people like to take leasury trips, and perhaps the trendy Tesla lounges are appealing to the annoying soy latte sipping hipsters wealthy EV owners. However, once EVs are mainstream, charging lots are going to become as shady as any highway rest area, and even worse during busy travel seasons with people fighting over available charger spots. It's going to be a much greater source of amusement than peopleofwallmart.

 

Then we'll just send our butlers and indentured servants to charge our cars. Problem solved 🙂

 

Make sure they charge your car at renewable energy carbon neutral stations only. And let them grab you a hyper local grown kale smoothie on the way back.

 

You forgot locally grown and ethically sourced. Anything else is unacceptable

 

Yes, sourced from the bioswales at Skid Row.

 

please try to stay on topic, this has nothing to do with charging EVs on long trips.

 

I have a 2020 model 3 performance with an original range of 320 miles at 100%. With a little battery degradation, I'm at a maximum of 300 miles per charge.

In regards to charging on long road trips, I just drove from Chicago to Orlando(over 1000 miles) in March which is still freezing in Chicago. Generally you can drive 2 to 2.5 hours and charge for 20-30 minutes. It took 24ish hours with charging stops, 3 hour nap, and sit down dinner. Normally it would take 18 hours without breaks except for fuel. I have noticed a good rule of thumb is it will take 25% longer but most of the time you use the restroom or order food while charging.

Pros of driving an EV on a road trip;
autopilot(almost refuse to drive long distance without it. Much much safer and less stressful)
a little cheaper compared to unleaded gas
zoom zoom around all the slow drivers with ease and way more fun than any economy car or large SUV
plenty of bathroom breaks
sometimes you get free charging at destination chargers that save you up to an hour at superchargers and around $20 for a full tank

Cons;
25% longer trip due to charging
You're limited to only the major highways and interstates. This will add time to your trip because there may be other routes that can save time or avoid traffic.
range anxiety is real. I'm always making sure I have enough range to make it there or burn enough energy to make it there with less than 10% battery.
Can't really speed because it'll burn up all your energy. Every 5mph above 60mph costs 5% more energy.
Tires, wheels, roof racks, extra weight all mess with your efficiency
Even when you make it to your destination, You still have to find a way to charge locally.

Still the best daily driver

 

This is great perspective from someone who doesn't live in California and doesn't have the higher infrastructure buildout. I'm assuming most of the charging took place at a version 2 Supercharger (150kw max). When I roadtrip, I typically only charge at the V3 Superchargers which decreases charge times under 20 min and I don't have to deal with colder temps like you described. Also, I switched to 18 inch wheel setup to get more comfort and range The 20s took a beating on bad California roads.

 

david005 thanks for your very informative post.

 

Thank you David for your perspective. Thankfully we don't have the same charging or weather challenges in California. It's good to hear the real world perspectives from people who have taken the EV plunge in other states. I definitely would not drive my EV outside of California. I would just fly if I had to travel outside the state

 

I'm lucky I only do 120 mile round trips say four times a year.
All my other trips are just local, or well under 40 miles.

The last time I drove 1,000 miles sleeping in a Motel overnight was back in August 1994.

Normally, if I have to travel long distances - I just fly.

 

​​​​​​ Like you, my daily drive is very short. I do about 700 miles a month normally. The longest drive I did was LA to Houston when I was 19... almost 3 days. Never again. The most I do now is San Jose to SoCal, that's my limit!

 

Sometimes I clear that in a span of 3-4 days.

 

I think you will notice most of the people that don’t mind taking their EVs on long trips live in CA. The charging network must be light years ahead of everyone else. I mentioned this before but when plotting my rout on a road trip recently just for fun it would have taken me an hour and a half longer in my EV to get to the same destination. It’s not just the charging times, it’s also finding enough places to charge that are along the quickest route to your destination. That doesn’t seem like a problem on the west coast.

 

^ not sure about the entire west coast, but CA is pretty covered


source: PlugShare - which is useful for those of you planning long trips with an EV