When Idiots Attempt an EV Road Trip

[JimBob]

I have to carefully plan my route, and figure out when and where I might need to stop to refuel.

When the network of fast DC charges becomes dense enough, than this goes away too. The tipping point is when the cost to own and operate an EV is generally known to be less than an ICE.

Last man standing will be an a**h*** in a jacked up F150. (Comment added as one wanted to play games with me this week.)

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[steveBK123]

Fundamentally the whole premise is idiotic. 2000mi round trip in a few days? That sucks in an ICE car too. Doing it in an EV in US regions least covered in charging networks is purposefully ignorant.

My family used to do the Northeast -> Florida trip by ICE growing up.
I remember the 1000mi down over 2 days being extremely tedious, and we never stayed less than 1-2 weeks before turning around to do the 1000mi return.

The vast majority of people never ever take road trips this long.

Personally in the last 20 years, the max I'll do in a day for a day trip is about 350mi round trip.
The furthest I go by car is usually about 200-300mi to then stay overnight a couple nights & return. Granted this is Northeast traffic levels so I am really only going at best average 60mph, so these distances are 3-6hrs of driving. At some cutoff point well south of 500mi, I'd rather read a book on train/plane and have more time at my destination...

 

[nickmdp]

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

I've certainly been told that I'm overly positive and see the good in people too much, but I just can't agree with that. There are real problems with EV infrastructure today, and while there are absolutely ways to be a full time EV driver without issues, it's not for everyone right now for the same reason that building a PC, using manual aperture/shutter/ISO settings on a camera, doing your own car maintenance, or a million other things aren't for everyone.

Yes, you can figure any of those things out, but it's foolish to expect that anyone else's priorities match up with your own. EV infrastructure needs to improve, existing EV owners need to help new EV owners learn the pitfalls of EV, manufacturers need to improve availability/cost/range of vehicles, and calling people idiots because they put themselves into an unfamiliar situation and had a bad experience isn't going to help anyone.

As it stands right now, I could see any of those stories being told by someone from my family/friends, and I certainly wouldn't be calling them idiots because they couldn't figure it out on their first try.

 

[kort]

When the network of fast DC charges becomes dense enough, than this goes away too.

the tipping point will be when L3 fast chargers are as ubiquitous as gas stations are.
in most of the US you will find a gas station at about 2/3 of the exits of any interstate. when people can have access to charging like you can fuel a car that then it is all over for ICE vehicles.

 

[jld1]

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

So, like... idiots?

I mean, we shouldn't shy away from using "mean" words in scenarios like this. At best, it's written by people who have no clue what they're doing, while insinuating it's all due to the shortcomings of the technology, rather than their own ignorance. At worst, it's an intentional hit piece backed by the oil industry.

For us in this forum, sure, it's an article about some bumbling luddites slandering something they don't fully understand. But the readers who are still on the fence about EVs may now shy away from them, and the ones in the "EVs are bad" crowd will feel validated and probably resend the article to others as "proof" of their beliefs. It's no wonder why adoption is moving at a glacial pace.

 

[DerekS]

Fundamentally the whole premise is idiotic. 2000mi round trip in a few days? That sucks in an ICE car too. Doing it in an EV in US regions least covered in charging networks is purposefully ignorant.

Ah come on, where's your sense of adventure?

I've done NorCal<->North Texas many times in ICE cars which is around 4000 round trip.
Two days each way with a Flagstaff stopover.

I'm going to do the same thing in the EV and whatever happens, happens!

 

[RingoDingo]

I've certainly been told that I'm overly positive and see the good in people too much, but I just can't agree with that. There are real problems with EV infrastructure today, and while there are absolutely ways to be a full time EV driver without issues, it's not for everyone right now for the same reason that building a PC, using manual aperture/shutter/ISO settings on a camera, doing your own car maintenance, or a million other things aren't for everyone.

Yes, you can figure any of those things out, but it's foolish to expect that anyone else's priorities match up with your own. EV infrastructure needs to improve, existing EV owners need to help new EV owners learn the pitfalls of EV, manufacturers need to improve availability/cost/range of vehicles, and calling people idiots because they put themselves into an unfamiliar situation and had a bad experience isn't going to help anyone.

As it stands right now, I could see any of those stories being told by someone from my family/friends, and I certainly wouldn't be calling them idiots because they couldn't figure it out on their first try.

I think it’s a reasonable premise to say that any old person couldn’t pack an EV and head out on the road the way you could with a Chrysler Pacifica. That’s useful information for someone thinking about an EV. That said, I agree you must consider the source…. And that writing such a cautionary article was never the goal here.

The WSJ has absolutely zero interest in promoting EV adoption. This type of article is produced solely so that some curmudgeonly and skeptical dinosaur can find it on his or her Facebook page and repost it for their friends. “See” they say. “EVs won’t ever work here.” And Rupert counts his billions as the world burns around him.

 

[Zcd1]

Amazingly, the EV6 (and Ioniq5) don’t have any built-in “navigate to DC fast charger” capability. That’s a stunning omission in a brand new EV, IMHO.

As for those cars’ range, in the real world it appears to be significantly less than advertised, so the “143 miles between charges” average seems in the ballpark.

 

[B61]

As it stands right now, I could see any of those stories being told by someone from my family/friends, and I certainly wouldn't be calling them idiots because they couldn't figure it out on their first try.

that’s right…but your (my) family/friends are not talking/writing such stories for magazines where public opinios are created…and that is a big difference.

 

[nickmdp]

I think it’s a reasonable premise to say that any old person couldn’t pack an EV and head out on the road the way you could with a Chrysler Pacifica. That’s useful information for someone thinking about an EV. That said, I agree you must consider the source…. And that writing such a cautionary article was never the goal here.

The WSJ has absolutely zero interest in promoting EV adoption. This type of article is produced solely so that some curmudgeonly and skeptical dinosaur can find it on his or her Facebook page and repost it for their friends. “See” they say. “EVs won’t ever work here.” And Rupert counts his billions as the world burns around him.

Anyone that makes their decision to not buy an EV solely based on articles that show the negatives of EVs is the sort of person that shouldn't buy an EV though. Owning an EV requires thought and planning, and that includes before they've even bought the car.

I don't think anyone but the staunchest "EV batteries are worse for the environment than ICE" crowds think that EVs aren't the future, it's just a question of when they'll be ready for it. Currently, we don't even have the ability to support every car if they were all EVs, so it's not a big deal in my mind if there are articles telling people that it's not ready yet, because for them, it almost certainly isn't. Even if Rupert himself organized and edited the article, I still don't care if what's being written is accurate and not some crazy anti-EV fanfic where the car catches on fire after self-driving into a McDonald's.

 

[Wakesurfer]

Fundamentally the whole premise is idiotic. 2000mi round trip in a few days? That sucks in an ICE car too. Doing it in an EV in US regions least covered in charging networks is purposefully ignorant.

My family used to do the Northeast -> Florida trip by ICE growing up.
I remember the 1000mi down over 2 days being extremely tedious, and we never stayed less than 1-2 weeks before turning around to do the 1000mi return.

The vast majority of people never ever take road trips this long.

Personally in the last 20 years, the max I'll do in a day for a day trip is about 350mi round trip.
The furthest I go by car is usually about 200-300mi to then stay overnight a couple nights & return. Granted this is Northeast traffic levels so I am really only going at best average 60mph, so these distances are 3-6hrs of driving. At some cutoff point well south of 500mi, I'd rather read a book on train/plane and have more time at my destination...

I am kind of like you...............the most that I will do in a day trip is about 300 miles............anything over that means we take a plane. Yeah, it probably takes a little long for short flight - DFW to New Orleans because of time driving to the airport arriving early, etc., but I am just not interested in spending hours upon hours in the car. That's just me.

 

[steveBK123]

I am kind of like you...............the most that I will do in a day trip is about 300 miles............anything over that means we take a plane. Yeah, it probably takes a little long for short flight - DFW to New Orleans because of time driving to the airport arriving early, etc., but I am just not interested in spending hours upon hours in the car. That's just me.

Exactly.
And I also get that different people have different preferences!
The thing that makes this article idiotic is - who is making 2000mi road trips but not really "into cars" or at least knowledge about their car.. AND also does zero planning?

 

[TXAG]

Good comments here, thanks.

For those of y'all not blocked by the paywall, did the article allow for user comments?

 

[Mike in CA]

Amazingly, the EV6 (and Ioniq5) don’t have any built-in “navigate to DC fast charger” capability. That’s a stunning omission in a brand new EV, IMHO.

As for those cars’ range, in the real world it appears to be significantly less than advertised, so the “143 miles between charges” average seems in the ballpark.

According to a recent test posted at "InsideEV's" the Kia EV6 returned over 250 miles of range at 70mph.

Kia EV6 AWD Exceeded 250 Miles In 70 MPH Range Test (insideevs.com)

Whether that's consistently reproduceable or not, it would seem that an average of 143 miles would likely be on the very low end of the scale. For the sake of discussion, however, let's assume that the author of the piece was, for some reason, only topping up 143 miles worth of charge at each stop. Why did that average almost 80 minutes per charging session in a vehicle with 800V charging architecture?

The only possible answer, aside from incompetence, is that low output EVSE were being used which gives a very skewed perspective on the utility of an EV for long trips. The author may not be an idiot, but as has been pointed out, her total lack of planning resulted in a negative evaluation of EV's which is maybe what the WSJ intended in the first place.

BTW, while it's been reported elsewhere in this forum, in case someone hasn't seen it, a Taycan RWD recently set a charging record of 2 hours 26 minutes for a 2834 mile cross country trips. That's around 1/7 as much time spent charging as the WSJ author spent for 2013 miles. Just to show what can be done with proper planning.

Porsche Taycan sets world record for shortest cross-country charging time | Auto News (hindustantimes.com)

 

[Zcd1]

According to a recent test posted at "InsideEV's" the Kia EV6 returned over 250 miles of range at 70mph.

Interestingly, in mixed driving, the EV6/Ioniq5 dual motor version seem to do WORSE than in freeway cruising. My guess is that's due to the front motor being physically decoupled at low loads, such as when maintaining freeway speeds.

Why did that average almost 80 minutes per charging session in a vehicle with 800V charging architecture? The only possible answer, aside from incompetence, is that low output EVSE were being used which gives a very skewed perspective on the utility of an EV for long trips.

And yes, it seems clear that L2 chargers were part of the mix, which is crazy unless they're used overnight/during an otherwise extended stop. 800V architecture is useless if not using a charger that can take advantage of it.

Also, here's a pretty comprehensive resource for EV efficiency and range:

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