Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This post isn't intended to bash on EV's. I actually like them and have been considering a Tesla for some time now but I am unsure if I can functionally and financially justify it, or any EV...
I personally am someone who frequently makes cross country road trips. Usually once every other month, sometimes more frequently than that up to twice a month at maximum. Those trips are typically in the range of aproximately 1,000 miles and I usually complete them without stopping for rest.
My maximum distance I have traveled without stopping for rest would be from Atlanta to Seattle which was just slightly under 3,000 miles and took about 52 Hours, gas and food only but that would be an anomaly and not the norm for me.
Once in awhile if I leave without being fully rested I won't mind stopping at a rest stop along the way for a quick nap but I typically like to end road trips as quickly as possible while stopping as few times as humanly possible...and yes, I do this safely. I just have alot of stamina and don't fatigue very easily, I'm pretty much dependent on melatonin for regular sleeping
Thats where I would have my biggest hiatus with an electric car unfortunately. I'm seeing most models only get around the 250 - 275 mile range. The Tesla S on the other hand is advertised to get about 400 miles to a full charge but from actual users I'm hearing on the highway they stop every 180 - 220 miles to recharge on road trips which would about kill it for me, that wouldn't even get me out of Texas. The next issue is charging. From what I hear it takes anywhere between 40 mins to an hour per charge. If that is the real case with them, unfortunately for me it would be a deal breaker because it would cause me to stop too much and for far too long.
I could probably deal with 20 minute charges every 400 miles but on a road trip I can't forsee myself being able to deal with those charge times and short distances.
On the other hand, getting around town where I don't need to worry about recharging anywhere outside my home, I would be perfectly content with an EV.
I guess for me, I could own an EV for getting around town, commuting to work, grocery getting, ect, but I would still need a secondary gasoline powered vehicle for longer trips outside the state. So then that brings me to the next question.. ..would it be worth it to multiple vehicles for the sake of saving on fuel with an EV when it comes to vehicular maintenance costs, charging and such.. ..which is a hypocritical question of mine given I currently own a Camaro (my toy) and a Prius (daily beater) ... I would say, realistically and financially.. ..no.. any savings in fuel would be eaten up in the secondary car ownership fees... HOWEVER... for me particularly I could practically see myself trading my Prius in for an EV so long as it was intended for a local only car....
...but for a primary and only car, I personally feel EV's still have a ways to go before I could see myself being able to utilize them as a only car mainly due to how far and how frequently I travel. If I didn't travel though it probably wouldn't be much an issue.
Last edited by Need4Camaro; 03-18-2021 at 03:08 AM..
I think you've answered your own question. As a frequent "road tripper", I don't think an EV is for you. I've mentioned it in other EV discussions, possibly on this website, that I used to make the trip from western NY, to the coast of South Carolina, pretty much annually. The one car that we made the trip in, 5-6 times, was an early 90s Chevy Caprice, with a fuel injected V-8. The car would give us an honest 25 MPG, and combined with it's 25 gallon gas tank, that meant we needed to stop for gas only once, every 600 miles. SC is 825 miles from where I live. Long story short, I needed a "bladder break" more frequently that the car needed fuel. That was an excellent "road tripping" vehicle....
If i had to do a lot of driving i would pass. But since i only drive 50 miles per week it has worked perfect since i got my EV this last weekend. Another 6 years and the tech will be much better.
If your habit is monthly road trips stopping only for gas and food, and your habit for those are very short stops, then the only electric cars that could be considered are very long range ones which are generally very expensive and come loaded with features you probably don't need or plug-in hybrids that can use electric for your daily commutes and have good mileage for your long trips.
For longer range EVs, the Model S Long Range got a rated bump to 412 miles and a charging speed bump. There's a version of the Model S probably released within a year of now that's slated for an EPA range of 520+ miles, but its sales price is $150K. The Lucid Air has trims that go over 500+ miles, but won't be released until the latter half of this year. Like the Model S, it's an expensive full-size luxury sedan. Like the Model S, it'll probably also have the attribute that the charging from 5% to 50% will be rapid, but then start slowing down especially at the 90%-100% stretch which is why people in the long range vehicles are stopping every 200 miles or so to recharge because they're trying to charge at maximum charge rate as often as possible so they're opting for shorter, but more frequent stops that cumulatively add up to less time overall than longer, less frequent stops. In an even larger range / larger battery pack vehicles mentioned with 500+ miles, this means you get that fast recharge time for a larger amount of range so your miles per minute of waiting will generally be better alongside the larger fully charged range.
Anyhow, since you aren't planning on doing longer stops like a sit-down meal or such during your frequent long road trips, then I think unless you really want and can afford a luxury full-size sedan*, plugin hybrids are your best bet for the next few years especially ones whose all-electric range are enough for your daily commute and their mileage is good so they save you some gas money on those long trips--that would seem like a good replacement for your Prius. There's actually a plugin hybrid version of the Prius called the Prius Prime (25 mile EPA electric-only range) and there's also the recently introduced RAV4 Prime (42 mile EPA electric-only range) though the limited supply and the great popularity of the latter has meant it's hard to come by. Of course, there are also non-Toyota plug-in hybrids.
*you may have the option of this electric vehicle that's not quite a car but supposedly gets up to 1,000 miles per "tank"
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 03-18-2021 at 07:13 AM..
I think you've answered your own question. As a frequent "road tripper", I don't think an EV is for you. I've mentioned it in other EV discussions, possibly on this website, that I used to make the trip from western NY, to the coast of South Carolina, pretty much annually. The one car that we made the trip in, 5-6 times, was an early 90s Chevy Caprice, with a fuel injected V-8. The car would give us an honest 25 MPG, and combined with it's 25 gallon gas tank, that meant we needed to stop for gas only once, every 600 miles. SC is 825 miles from where I live. Long story short, I needed a "bladder break" more frequently that the car needed fuel. That was an excellent "road tripping" vehicle....
I remember this, but I thought this was presented as a frequent trip and while towing.
OP's not towing, but he is doing these trips once a month.
This post isn't intended to bash on EV's. I actually like them and have been considering a Tesla for some time now but I am unsure if I can functionally and financially justify it, or any EV...
I personally am someone who frequently makes cross country road trips. Usually once every other month, sometimes more frequently than that up to twice a month at maximum. Those trips are typically in the range of aproximately 1,000 miles and I usually complete them without stopping for rest.
.
If you live in a one-driver household and you only have one car, the EV is probably not a great choice; BUT keep in mind that you can rent cars for long trips. There was a period when I was young, where my wife and I both were driving very old cars, and we just rented big comfortable road cars for long road trips a few times a year. This worked really well as the cost to rent a car for two weeks twice a year was a lot less than the money we were saving by staying with our old cars for another couple of years.
I think the perfect application for the EV is where you have two or more drivers and two or more cars in a household - most people will have the two cars of different types anyway (pickup truck and small sedan, for example) so one of them could be an EV in a large fraction of multi-car households.
It's definitely subjective - what constitutes a PITA versus what is a simple adjustment to habits. I will say though that while certain regions and certain interstates have good coverage with DC fast-charging (which is what you want on long trips), others still don't, so I don't think EVs are a good choice for everyone yet, especially if it's the only vehicle in the household. I think they'll be a good deal more attractive for the masses in 3-5 years - new battery designs are coming out and charging networks will be improved too.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,577 posts, read 81,186,228 times
Reputation: 57818
Like you, we often drive to places like Portland Oregon or Vancouver, B.C. and back the same day, round trips of 384 and 306 miles, plus running around while there. We also drive several times a year to California/Nevada on vacations, usually about 10 hours one day, 4-5 the next. We would never consider an EV because of that. We might consider one as a second vehicle, however, if we did a lot of local driving, but we are not Uber drivers, and now are working from home so no commute.
I would say you're a good candidate for Rav4 Prime plug in hybrid. We have a Model Y and have taken it on several trips of 3000 mile roundtrip and it is an inconvenience to have to stop and charge on a long trip. If you're not in a big hurry, it's fine.
Overall we love our Model Y but we still have a diesel truck Ram 3500 with a 50 gallon tank for most long travel. I would say we could get by with just the Y but you have to accept being slowed down on long trip....we are retired so no need to minimize travel time.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
