Posted on 06/05/2022 8:19:50 AM PDT by American Number 181269513
I thought it would be fun.
That’s what I told my friend Mack when I asked her to drive with me from New Orleans to Chicago and back in an electric car.
I’d made long road trips before, surviving popped tires, blown headlights and shredded wheel-well liners in my 2008 Volkswagen Jetta. I figured driving the brand-new Kia EV6 I’d rented would be a piece of cake.
If, that is, the public-charging infrastructure cooperated. We wouldn’t be the first to test it. Sales of pure and hybrid plug-ins doubled in the U.S. last year to 656,866—over 4% of the total market, according to database EV-volumes. More than half of car buyers say they want their next car to be an EV, according to recent Ernst & Young Global Ltd. data.
By the Numbers
Our reporter’s four-day, three-night EV road trip included many charging stops, little sleep—and less junk food than you might expect
• Miles driven: 2,013
• Number of charges: 14
• Total charging cost: $175
• Hours spent waiting to charge:18
• Hours of sleep:16
• Calories of junk food consumed (estimated): 1,465
• Giant chicken statues passed: 1
Oh—and we aimed to make the 2,000-mile trip in just under four days so Mack could make her Thursday-afternoon shift as a restaurant server.
Less money, more time
Given our battery range of up to 310 miles, I plotted a meticulous route, splitting our days into four chunks of roughly 7½-hours each. We’d need to charge once or twice each day and plug in near our hotel overnight.
The PlugShare app—a user-generated map of public chargers—showed thousands of charging options between New Orleans and Chicago. But most were classified as Level 2, requiring around 8 hours for a full charge.
(Excerpt) Read more at vigourtimes.com ...
I’m not against EVs per se, and I can certainly see their place in our lives. But it will take time for the prices to come down and the supportive infrastructure to be built before most of us can even entertain the idea of purchasing one. Until then, I’m sticking with an ICE vehicle and all the badgering and insults in the world won’t make me budge.
See #5
That would have been one very pricey Honda...
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