Does A Lack Of Spontaneity Make EV Road Trips Less Fun?

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Recently, I was watching a YouTube video explaining why many people have a less-than-stellar experience visiting national parks. The problem is a bit of a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. Plan too little, and you end up not being able to find a place to sleep, or worse, find yourself not being able to get into a park at all. But, plan too much, and your vacation can start to feel more like a checklist than relaxation. In the end, he calls for a balanced approach, where you plan the essentials, give yourself plenty of time, and then spend more time roaming free while you’re there.

This reminded me of traveling in an EV today and how different it can be from some of my first gasoline-powered road trips.

Not long after graduating high school, I drove out to Dallas with one of my younger brothers to visit some family friends. My almost-new Ecotec-powered Cavalier really taught me the value of efficiency (for those days). I averaged 37 MPG, even mostly going 80 MPH. While I was tracking MPG using gas receipts and the trip odometer, I wasn’t planning fuel stops at all. I was getting more than 400 miles out of a tank, so I knew that when the needle got below a quarter, it was time to start looking at interstate signs to see where the next town was to get gas.

Today, trips in my Bolt EUV are a lot more complicated. I’m getting 3.0 miles/kWh at 65 MPH with Michelin truck tires that are more rock-resistant than the stock eco tires. But the days of seeing that the needle is below ¼ and looking for fuel are long gone. Before leaving, I now need to use a trip planning app to make sure I won’t unexpectedly run out of charge before getting to the next station.

Like the people unhappy feeling like overly-planned national park trips are no fun, I can relate. I find myself looking for things to do while charging instead of just looking for places to see. I try to plan bathroom stops during charging, but when I take my kids along, it often doesn’t work like that. Sometimes my own bladder can’t last as long as a 65 kWh battery does. Meals? It’s not always fun eating at whatever place is nearest the charger or eating drive-thru food we pick up on the way to it.

The worst thing on some road trips was reserving hotels. I’d look for hotels with Level 2 charging so that I could make one less stop along the way on a trip, sleeping while I charge like at home. But I found that it was mostly the most expensive ones that had charging, and sometimes they’d already be in use, have a car ICEing the space, or just not work.

It’s Not A Problem Unique To EVs

After thinking about it a little more, I remembered that my ICE car driving had changed a lot in the years after that first trip out to Dallas. That trip went pretty well, but it was during a time when gas was cheap and I could get away with driving a sedan. After having a family and needing to carry more things around, I ended up with larger vehicles that got around half the mileage. Add in more expensive fuel during some years, and the need to save money on fuel became a lot more important.

I’ve seen people say that needing apps to find charging stations proves that they’re not ready, but that’s exactly what I did toward the end of my time driving ICE vehicles. Instead of using PlugShare, I’d use GasBuddy to find the cheapest prices along a given route. I’d then figure out roughly how far I could go between fill-ups and plan ahead to find Costco, Sam’s Club, and other discount fueling places along the way. In one less pleasant case, I regretted going for the lowest price in Memphis, at a gas station where I had to show someone that I was carrying a gun to avoid being robbed.

COVID only made things harder for travelers who would otherwise just start looking for gas and hotels as they needed them. 24-hour businesses often started to close at night, as I found out on one trip in a gas car in 2021. Motels started either being more full or had to close half the rooms, making reservations a must, even for Motel 6. Motel ratings from independent sites also became more important, as quality at many is only getting worse.

Finding Balance Along The Way on EV Trips

Even with all of the above, there are still ways that EV trips can be a lot more regimented than ICE trips. After all, using GasBuddy to save a few bucks is different than avoiding being stranded. But, that doesn’t mean that EV road trips can’t be a little better.

One way I’ve found better balance is to avoid the temptation to plan longer travel days to avoid spending extra days on the road. By the time I eat meals, stop for bathroom breaks, and run into little delays, I find myself arriving without enough time to get a good night’s rest before checkout time. After going on more trips, I found that it’s wise to plan for an early arrival to arrive when you wanted to and sleep well.

I’ve also found that my relationship with destination charging has changed. Along the way to the destination, I don’t bother to book hotels with EV charging. They’re cheaper, easier to find, and more pet friendly. This allows for more choice and better flexibility. But, once I arrive, I find that destination charging becomes a plus for flexibility. By having a full battery every morning at the destination, I don’t have to worry about spending time charging on most days.

Whether in ICE or in an EV, spending more time at the destination is key to feeling relaxed instead of needing a vacation from a vacation. Having time to get to know a place instead of rushing on to the next “must see” sight makes for a real trip.

Featured image by Jennifer Sensiba.