My First Road Trip - Insights and Questions

[EdP]

Based on my admittedly anecdotal experience of driving an EV in an extreme northern winter climate for the past 3 years I would have to respectfully disagree with you but I am happy to reconsider your statement if its based on something other than probabilistic evidence.

That would depend on your needs. I'm not ready for one yet as it does not work well yet for my circumstances.
If i had two cars, yes, one an EV would work very well. Commuting to work, shopping, short trips, they are great. Long trips, not so much. My garage has the main panel with 200A service too

For right now, long trips are not easy. A few times a year I do a trip that is 1130 miles one way. An EV right now would add many hours to that trip, each way. In the future, charge times will be down considerably and range improved.

On that trip, I do stop at a motel for about 6 hours to sleep. I've not found a motel with chargers yet. They may exist but even more will in the new few years. As the OP started out, the safe range was 200 to 220 miles For 1100 miles, or at least 5 stops to charge, maybe 6. One of those trips I add another 150 miles so two more charges.

It will happen, but will be a few year. I read this stuff to remain abreast of what is happening for when I do jump in.

 

[upa]

That would depend on your needs. I'm not ready for one yet as it does not work well yet for my circumstances.
If i had two cars, yes, one an EV would work very well. Commuting to work, shopping, short trips, they are great. Long trips, not so much. My garage has the main panel with 200A service too

For right now, long trips are not easy. A few times a year I do a trip that is 1130 miles one way. An EV right now would add many hours to that trip, each way. In the future, charge times will be down considerably and range improved.

On that trip, I do stop at a motel for about 6 hours to sleep. I've not found a motel with chargers yet. They may exist but even more will in the new few years. As the OP started out, the safe range was 200 to 220 miles For 1100 miles, or at least 5 stops to charge, maybe 6. One of those trips I add another 150 miles so two more charges.

It will happen, but will be a few year. I read this stuff to remain abreast of what is happening for when I do jump in.

I think you have some valid points. I also think you may be eluding to the fact that it not so much that " EVs are not ready for prime time yet" as much as the infrastructure isn't ready to support the different way of travelling with an EV.

We made a 1300 miles drive each way from Winnipeg to Dallas, Tx in the summer with our Ioniq 5. It was a great trip overall, we stopped 7 times per leg and spent a total of 3.5 hours DC charging along the way. Most stops were at EA with 150+kW chargers which were very quick 12-20 minutes stops. A couple of the very slow 50kw DC chargers in less populated areas took close to an hour. If I took a gas car we may have stopped 4-5 times and probably would have spent at least an hour or more with fueling, minimal obligatory bathroom breaks and meals. It probably would have been longer as I don't like to do marathon 4-5 hour drives without a break anymore. All in all spending the extra couple of hours charging was not a big deal.

Now if I did that same trip in the winter at lets say 32 at degrees and if your plug in your details into a better route planner it would add another charge stop and another hour overall assuming my car could not pre condition its battery. The GV60 can but my Ioniq 5 could not.

Nonetheless my point is EVs like the GV60 or Ioniq 5 are more than capable of travelling long distances safely, very comfortably, economically and in a very reasonable amount of time as long as there are reliable fast DC chargers along the way. Again the cars don't need more range they just need a reliable way to refuel. EVs are ready for prime time, the infrastructure is not.

 

[EdP]

I think you have some valid points. I also think you may be eluding to the fact that it not so much that " EVs are not ready for prime time yet" as much as the infrastructure isn't ready to support the different way of travelling with an EV.

We made a 1300 miles drive each way from Winnipeg to Dallas, Tx in the summer with our Ioniq 5. It was a great trip overall, we stopped 7 times per leg and spent a total of 3.5 hours DC charging along the way.

Depending on the trip, it may not be a problem. On a vacation type, sure the stops can even be enjoyable if there is something to do, have a meal, etc. In my case, I've seen the "in between" stuff already the destination is my only consideration.

Infrastructure is getting better. On I95 in CT I saw a lot of convenient charging stations. In the first 700 miles of my trip though, I see none in the rest stops or nearby gas station I use. I have no idea if they are just around the corner or a 10 mile detour. The 3.5 hours you had was not bad but still not the 1 hour I'd spend.

There was a time gas stations were rare too. It will happen.

 

[EdP]

Running the heater seemed to lower the Kwh rate by half a mile per Kwh. Does that sound right?
Later, when it warmed outside, I actually had the AC running slightly but it didn’t seem to effect miles to Kwh rate. Does that sound right?
Any thoughts on what I could have done better? Any thoughts in general?

Thinking about this, it is logical. Most EVs use a heat pump of sorts. Let's say the optimal temperature you want in the cabin is 70 degrees. With AC it has to remove enough heat energy to reduce 10 or 20 degrees and varies with solar load. To heat, it has to gather and move enough heat energy to change the cabin from 10 to 60 degrees and there is less heat source to get it. Probably some exceptions but makes sense heating would take more.

 

[Trixie86]

I think you have some valid points. I also think you may be eluding to the fact that it not so much that " EVs are not ready for prime time yet" as much as the infrastructure isn't ready to support the different way of travelling with an EV.

We made a 1300 miles drive each way from Winnipeg to Dallas, Tx in the summer with our Ioniq 5. It was a great trip overall, we stopped 7 times per leg and spent a total of 3.5 hours DC charging along the way. Most stops were at EA with 150+kW chargers which were very quick 12-20 minutes stops. A couple of the very slow 50kw DC chargers in less populated areas took close to an hour. If I took a gas car we may have stopped 4-5 times and probably would have spent at least an hour or more with fueling, minimal obligatory bathroom breaks and meals. It probably would have been longer as I don't like to do marathon 4-5 hour drives without a break anymore. All in all spending the extra couple of hours charging was not a big deal.

Now if I did that same trip in the winter at lets say 32 at degrees and if your plug in your details into a better route planner it would add another charge stop and another hour overall assuming my car could not pre condition its battery. The GV60 can but my Ioniq 5 could not.

Nonetheless my point is EVs like the GV60 or Ioniq 5 are more than capable of travelling long distances safely, very comfortably, economically and in a very reasonable amount of time as long as there are reliable fast DC chargers along the way. Again the cars don't need more range they just need a reliable way to refuel. EVs are ready for prime time, the infrastructure is not.

I agree. I should have said the whole system is not ready. The vehicles are outpacing the infrastructure for sure, but they still need to be able to travel longer than 300 miles in any kind of climate. Faster charging and availability like gas stations need to be more abundant.