EVs aren’t so bad today
Before testing more modern EVs, and especially as a person who rents a home, I thought the same thing as many people still do: “There’s no way in hell I’d be able to take an EV on a road trip. Charging it would be too hard.” There’s still considerable room for EVs to grow in terms of public charging, but it has dramatically improved since they first became mainstream. More and more stations are cropping up, and they’re a lot more reliable than they were just five years ago. So, is range anxiety still something worth holding onto?
Kristen Brown
Yes and no. And I say that because it heavily—and I do mean heavily—depends on two things: what kind of EV you’re driving, and where you’re driving. In California, chargers are almost just as easy to find as gas stations, especially in areas like the San Francisco Bay Area or Southern California. You could throw a stone in any direction and hit an EVgo or a Tesla Supercharger station. If you’re in an EV that charges quickly and you’re heading from San Francisco to Los Angeles, charging is nothing. But if you’re in something like the Kia Niro EV and you’re driving from Barstow to Phoenix, you’re obviously addicted to gambling. So, is road tripping in an EV still a dicey proposition? I took my daughters on one to find that out.
First, let’s dig into the trip details
Before my husband and I moved to Oregon, we lived in Monterey, California. We loved it there—but we had our oldest daughter, and living in a studio wasn’t going to cut it. Before we moved, though, we wanted to take our daughter to the aquarium, but it didn’t end up happening due to her colic. We didn’t want to be the people holding a crying baby while others are trying to admire the Open Ocean exhibit. Now that we’re back in the Golden State and she’s almost four years old, we wanted to give the Monterey Bay Aquarium a go. From Bay Point to Monterey is about 130 miles, so I figured it’s long enough to test the range without having to worry too much. My tester was the GT-Line Long Range AWD model, so the maximum range was 304 miles. However, the charging limit was at 80%, and I couldn’t change it to 100%, so my maximum range before I left was 277 miles. So, with the round trip being 260 miles, I’d most definitely need to charge before I made it home.
Kristen Brown
That maximum range still isn’t horrible for everyday living since I’d have to fill up on the way home in a gas car, but that number only stays that high if conditions are ideal. Like anywhere else in California, there’s a lot of traffic getting to Monterey—especially once you get into the Fremont or San Jose area. Therefore, you could be crawling at super slow speeds for up to an hour and a half, which doesn’t do any favors in terms of overall range. Yes, you can turn on one-pedal driving, and that does help maintain the range—but when you factor in climate control for the rear or anything else that can passively eat away at the battery, the overall range can be affected. The day I drove it down was chilly and raining, so I absolutely had the heater on for my daughters.
The drive down was easy, breezy, and comfortable
It shouldn’t surprise anyone to find that the nearly three-hour drive (closer to three and a half because of traffic) to Monterey was incredibly comfortable. We all loved the excellent visibility, the smooth ride, the cozy chairs, and how smoothly the highway driving assist with one pedal driving worked in traffic. My husband was in the car to help with the kids, but when I needed to fish something out of my purse, grab something from the snack bag, or dole out goodies to the toddlers, that feature was truly a blessing. The regenerative braking is pretty good, but not as effective as other EVs I’ve tested, and because I had so much going on inside the car to keep the kids comfortable, it didn’t maintain the range as well as it could if I were alone and using the “Driver Only” function.
Kristen Brown
But my kids loved the big panoramic sunroof and the large windows with built-in sunshades. We didn’t need the sunshades since it was cloudy and rainy, but on the days that it was sunny, they liked not having to worry about the sun glaring into their eyes because the shade covered almost the entire window. Since the trip down was 129 miles, we didn’t have to worry about charging. I wouldn’t have to worry about charging once I got to the aquarium either, because a simple search of “EV chargers near the Monterey Bay Aquarium” revealed there were tons of chargers to choose from, including in a parking garage close by. But I didn’t want to have to worry about idle charging fees or leaving my family to disconnect the EV from the charger, repark it, and walk back to the aquarium, so I decided I’d deal with charging after our visit. My husband and I figured the girls would be sleepy from the day’s venture anyway, so we didn’t think it’d be too much of a hassle.
Kristen Brown
Of course, the cargo space was more than enough for two toddlers and two adults. We didn’t bring a stroller, and we kind of wish we had because of how often our kids wanted to be held after their little legs got tired. We also brought a bag full of extra clothes, pull-ups, shoes, underwear, socks, snacks, water bottles, and toys to keep the tots busy during the drive or if we had to stop and charge. If we did bring a stroller, though, there would have been plenty of room for one.
Charging on the way home wasn’t too bad
After leaving the aquarium, we looked at a map and found an EVgo charger in Garlicky Gilroy, about 47 miles from where we were parked (a drive of about an hour and two minutes without traffic). But we had 149 miles of range left, so I felt confident that we’d be able to make it elsewhere if the charger was full or inoperable. From that charger, the trip home was only 86.9 miles, giving us more than enough range to get home with some to spare. We picked Gilroy largely because I knew for a fact that the toddlers would be out cold by the time we’d plug in, so at least my husband and I could charge it in peace. And that’s exactly what happened. The EV9 has an NACS port built in, and it has either DC or CCS charging—but the EV9 came with a DC to NACS adapter in the frunk, so it wasn’t a problem. There were Tesla chargers close by, too, but they were full, so.. I stuck to the EVgo charger.
Kia
Once hooked up (I took the last available spot), it charged quickly. I was able to get it back up to 80% in a little more than 25 minutes, since it was a 350kW charger and the EV’s 800-volt architecture helps it charge fairly quickly. The only anxiety I felt when it came to charging was my husband and I hoping and praying the kids didn’t wake up while we had to charge. If they did, one of us would have to get out and walk around with them while the car charged. But we got lucky—the kids stayed fast asleep the entire time. Once we were charged, I paid the $21 and went on my merry way. Did it take longer than filling up a gas car would have taken? Yes. But was it as bad as most people make it sound? Absolutely not.
Some things to keep in mind, though
Reading this, it may sound like I’m saying, “Charging an EV on a road trip is easy! What is everyone worrying about?” And that’s not what I’m saying. Charging an EV in a very populated area of a state that’s very pro-EV, with businesses that are very gung-ho about installing chargers in front of their stores because they get tax credits, is fairly easy. However, my family’s experience was simple because of how much planning my husband and I did before we even hit the road. We pulled up Google Maps, plotted the EV chargers we’d like to stop at, picked alternatives along the way, took the range and the distance between chargers, our house, and the aquarium, and of course, what we’d do if our kids were awake when we had to charge the EV. We had to come up with several plans of attack for “just in case” scenarios. Even if we didn’t bring the kids, we would have to do the same sort of planning with chargers along the way.
You don’t need me to tell you this, but this sort of mental gymnastics isn’t needed for gas-only cars or hybrids. You don’t even need to think about where the nearest gas stations are, or worry about how long it will take to charge. We all know stations are plentiful, and refueling is quick. However, my husband and I both noted something: it wasn’t that bad, because we don’t make a lot of long-distance trips with our kids for the same reasons we don’t do it in a gas car: it’s hard. Kids, or at least my kids, take a lot of preparation and mental strength to stay happy on longer drives, and there are a lot of bathroom stops along the way. But if we had to do this sort of planning every once in a while, it wouldn’t be all that bad. And the more we did it, the better we’d get at it. As long as you’re smart and you plan ahead, I promise you—it’s not all that bad.
Kristen Brown
And, once again, the EV9 charges quickly, and I’m in a state with plenty (and I do mean plenty) of EV chargers to go around. So, our “easy” trip was made easy because of our car and the environment we were driving in. If I were in a car that charged slowly and chargers were more sparse, my tone would be in an entirely different octave. That’s another incredibly important factor to keep in mind.
Final thoughts
Road tripping in an EV was nowhere near as impossible or daunting as people (mainly the older generation) make it sound. Unless you’re doing a road trip like the one I did, or an even longer one, regularly, it’s not horrible. It took a decent amount of pre-planning, which, unless you’re a person who prefers to fly by the seat of their pants, isn’t a humongous, daunting task. But that’s the hardest part—the planning ahead. But, as I mentioned before, it’s nowhere near as hard to find a charger as it was just a few years ago, and I didn’t have an EV with a higher maximum range, either. So, do I think range anxiety is worth investing in? Only if you’re in an area with limited charging and you drive a show charging EV. Otherwise, get out there and explore in your EV. It’s not as bad as you think it is.
About the author
Kristen Brown
Contributing Writer, Autoblog