This is my second time renting an EV. First time wasn’t too bad. We stayed local and only had to charge once.

This Thanksgiving we had to drive from Chicago to Omaha to Minneapolis and back to Chicago. It was approximately 1400 miles total. $289 in electric charges. (that feels a lot more expensive than gas). We had to stop every 2 hours to charge for an hour so it extended our trips by 50%. This was quite challenging when we were in a caravan of cars and the ICE ones beat us by several hours. A 6 hour drive turned into 10 hours. I shaved off a few hours by always running the car down to the last couple miles and charging it to 100%. One time was not by choice as we almost ran out due to a dead zone. We were then charged $50 to fill up 3/4 tank at an EA in the middle of Minnesota. That was kind of our breaking point.

Some positives are it was a smooth ride and felt great in the snow.

We wanted to buy an EV but wanted to see how they fair on road trips in the midwest. This experience may scare us away for a while as it was exhausting stressful and expensive. Wondering what we did wrong since so many enjoy EV.

  • EaglesPDXBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I shaved off a few hours by always running the car down to the last couple miles and charging it to 100%

    You may have made your trip longer. Most recommend not running battery to below 10% and not charging above 80% as your charges will be faster. Last 20% can take as long as first 80%.

    With just 232 in range, figure 150 in winter cold so you are going to charge frequently on a long trip in that vehicle.

    Did you try and use https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ It says your charging should have bee about two hours total and Chicago to Omaha a 10 your trip with no stop longer than 20 minutes.