When Idiots Attempt an EV Road Trip

[Torv]

This article, from the Wall Street Journal, illustrates the need for a minimum level of intelligence when embarking on an EV road trip. The article is chock-full of bonehead decisions, and inaccurate perceptions and is laced with a naive understanding of what what driving long distance in an EV is about. Of course, the WSJ, a well-known unbiased source of green technology, is doing its best to discourage EV adoption.

https://apple.news/AVKj3Qx50Qeyq0fGqcT4z8Q

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[TXAG]

It's behind a paywall, so I can't access it. Can you summarize their top 3 boneheaded decisions please? Did they drive a Taycan? I'm thinking they only used Level 2 chargers enroute. Amazing how much ignorance is published as wisdom.

 

[Torv]

Here's their summary:

“Our reporter’s four-day, three-night EV road trip included many charging stops, little sleep—and less junk food than you might expect

Miles driven: 2,013

Number of charges: 14

Total charging cost: $175

Hours spent waiting to charge: 18

Hours of sleep: 16

Calories of junk food consumed (estimated): 1,465

Giant chicken statues passed: 1”

Bottom line, they were driving a Kia EV6, with no knowledge of planning a road trip and an absurd reliance on Plugshare.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-rent...e-charging-it-than-i-did-sleeping-11654268401

 

[nickmdp]

I think calling them idiots is a bit much. There's a huge difference between someone on an EV forum (or any car forum), and a more typical US consumer that sees a car as an appliance and not something that they need to plan around. People aren't used to the mere concept that different stations might charge at different rates, or how to plan for an EV road trip as a result.

Yes, some people seemed to be charging at L2 chargers on long road trips, being upset about L3 charger costs if they were to use them as their daily chargers, charging cars to 100%, and probably half a dozen other things, but that's not something that really surprises me from a group that maybe spent a couple weeks trying to figure out how they want to handle things.

Myself, I've been planning out my home L2 charger, 2,000 mile round trip plan this summer, and everything else about owning an EV for about 10 months now (mostly waiting for it to show up). It's equivalent to throwing me into taking a high school standardized test and comparing my score to someone that took the class. There are a lot of caveats to using an EV as your only car, and to be fair, they did agree that EVs did great for local commutes, especially when you had home charging, but until those long distance trips become as easy as it is to do on gas, we're just not going to have much success.

That said, I think things like the Tesla superchargers opening up CCS charging and the continued expansion of service stations with EV chargers will really be what makes it simple for consumers.

 

[kort]

I think calling them idiots is a bit much.

agreed.
foolish, clueless, naive, ill prepared are some choices.

they appear to have done absolutely no research into how long distance travel in an EV happens.

it is like they just got in the car and drove off, no planning and little research.

in addition that trip in four days is absurd.

I have made the trip from Fla to chicago, northbound I spend two nights in nashville, southbound I stayed in louisville KY.

that trip was more than five years ago in a telsa model S 90 kw battery.
I charged exclusively at tesla superchargers except for a destination charger in both Chicago and Louisville.

 

[DerekS]

Very disappointing article, and certainly won't help EV adoption.
Thanks a lot WSJ.

I've got two road trips coming up this summer and plan to document the hell out of them. Frisco TX<->Los Gatos CA and Frisco TX<->Nashville TN.

Hopefully mine go better, having the sense to plan around EA and avoid crappy chargepoint etc.

 

[Jrkennedy37]

I’d like to hear more from Deborah Carrico with the ID.4. Seems like she has some stories to share.

 

[SwissTaycan]

Very sensationalist. And thus disappointing.

 

[B61]

Very disappointing article, and certainly won't help EV adoption.
Thanks a lot WSJ.

Someone should send them a link to @tigerbalm ’s journeys

 

[tigerbalm]

Someone should send them a link to @tigerbalm ’s journeys

Always happy to provide some "consultancy"!

 

[McgR]

This is a nice road trip report. Comparing long trip Mach E, Taycan, Ioniq 5, Model X, Model 3. 830 miles trip.

Shows that fast charging is more important than a longer range for road trips.

 

[f1eng]

I think calling them idiots is a bit much.

They are more profoundly, proudly and determinedly ignorant than idiots - though that could define idiot...

 

[Mike in CA]

I wasn't able to actually read the article either due to the paywall so I have a couple of questions for anyone who has.

If the author drove 2013 miles and charged 14 times; that's an average of 143 miles between charges. The Kia EV6 has a projected range of 310 miles. Why so many stops? Also, the Kia, like the Taycan, has 800 volt architecture so it should be possible to charge to 80% in around 20 minutes. Even if 350kw charging stations weren't always available, spending an average of almost 80 minutes for each charging session seems like a lot. Were all the charging locations 50kw?

BTW, if she had driven 2013 miles in a vehicle getting 35mpg, the cost of gas at the current going rate would have been in the neighborhood of $400, more than double the cost of charging.

 

[McgR]

I wasn't able to actually read the article either due to the paywall so I have a couple of questions for anyone who has.

If the author drove 2013 miles and charged 14 times; that's an average of 143 miles between charges. The Kia EV6 has a projected range of 310 miles. Why so many stops? Also, the Kia, like the Taycan, has 800 volt architecture so it should be possible to charge to 80% in around 20 minutes. Even if 350kw charging stations weren't always available, spending an average of almost 80 minutes for each charging session seems like a lot. Were all the charging locations 50kw?

BTW, if she had driven 2013 miles in a vehicle getting 35mpg, the cost of gas at the current going rate would have been in the neighborhood of $400, more than double the cost of charging.

The projected range is often not the practical range on a road trip.
The Taycan does function pretty well on road trips. The highway range for the Ioniq 5 was 225 miles and for the Taycan 250.

The Taycan keeps it efficiency relatively better with colder temps and highway cruising speeds. Tesla for example loses a lot of range in highway driving and practically the range is not a huge difference anymore.

What also comes out of the video I posted above. Strategy is really important. Daring to go down to less than 10% SoC to optimize charging. Being lucky / planning for the correct charger being available and functioning. But also being able to preheat the battery.

 

[friskygeek]

Im a private pilot and the best analogy for doing long trips in an EV is flying long cross-countries in my Cirrus. I have to carefully plan my route, and figure out when and where I might need to stop to refuel.

In short - if you dont pre-plan, you will fail.

f.

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