Four valuable lessons I learned taking a road trip in an electric car
With gas prices climbing, we took one of the market’s least expensive electric cars on a 1,100-mile road trip to get our range anxiety in check.
Many people contemplating electric cars for the first time wonder about EV range for out-of-town trips. We wanted to know first-hand how to reach enough chargers along a busy East Coast corridor and then climb winding mountain roads to see how it affects range. We also wanted to experience how hot weather affects battery range and what, if any, charger difficulties we may encounter, and report our findings to you.
A map from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center website pinpoints electric vehicle charging stations. It’s searchable by location, and you can filter results by charger types and connectors to help plan stops for charging. That site and essential EV charging apps such as PlugShare — a user-generated map of public chargers — helped me sketch a route and charging sessions based on the car’s charging connector and range.
I made a rookie mistake by assuming the accuracy of range estimates — and my mileage did vary. In my defense, the vehicle was new to me. I spent less than an hour behind the wheel of this loaner car before hitting the open road. Meanwhile, a gas station at the exit advertised regular unleaded gas for $4.09 per gallon. I would use nearly 5 gallons of gas, costing about $20 to drive 136 miles in my gas-powered Chrysler Pacifica.3. Prepare to use different EV charging networks Some hotels have Level 2 chargers available for EV drivers lodging with them. The place in Augusta where we stayed did not provide that perk.
This location had four chargers, each with two plugs. Three of the machines had two CSS Combo connectors; one had a CSS Combo and a CHAdeMO connection. The Leaf uses the less-common CHAdeMO type of charger connector. When we arrived, a Volvo XC40 Recharge was using the only machine compatible with the Leaf.
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